Miningmx
Independent news/analysis on the African mining sector.
Afrimat Cements Its Turnaround Strategy
Afrimat posted a strong interim 2026 rebound after a 90% profit plunge in 2025, with revenue rising 29.9% to R5.3 billion and operating profit up 29.8% to R380 million. Earnings per share jumped 92.3% to 101.9 cents, pushing the stock to a 20‑times earnings multiple. The recovery stems from a diversified portfolio, tight cost control and the integration of the distressed Lafarge cement assets, which saw cement revenue surge 118.8% despite remaining loss‑making. Management is now focusing on de‑leveraging while maintaining disciplined capital allocation.
Expect More Platinum Price Gyrations, Warns WPIC
The World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) projects the platinum supply deficit to shrink dramatically to 240,000 ounces in 2026, down from a record 1.082 million ounces in 2025. Despite the narrowing gap, demand is expected to dip 8% to 7.62 million ounces...
Overlooked Tharisa, a PGM Bull Market Bridesmaid
Tharisa Resources has seen a 105% year‑on‑year rally but still lags larger PGM peers, trading at a deep discount despite strong fundamentals. The market penalises the stock for liquidity constraints and uncertainty around financing the Karo Platinum project. Spot PGM...
Rio Tinto Gives Green Light to RBM’s $473m Zulti South
Rio Tinto approved a $473 million expansion of its 74%‑owned Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) to develop the Zulti South project, ending a six‑year suspension caused by community unrest and empowerment‑partner issues. Construction, led by China Harbour Engineering Company, will begin this...
Northam Starts Initial Work on Zondereinde Expansion
Northam Platinum has approved a R500 million capital programme to widen an existing exploratory hole at its Zondereinde mine, creating an option to boost PGM output beyond 400,000 ounces per year. The reamed shaft will reach 1.4 km depth, a technical challenge...
Petra Diamonds Warns Rand Strength a “Major Headwind”
Petra Diamonds reported a $6 million operational cash outflow and a net loss of $188 million for the six months to December, driven by lower sales and a strengthening South African rand. Average realised prices held at $104 per carat, above last...
Cockerill’s 20-Bagger: Why Discovery Gives Endeavour Edge
Endeavour Mining, under new CEO Ian Cockerill, has emerged from a turbulent 2024 marked by a CEO exit and operational setbacks. The company hit a turning point by pouring first gold at the Lafigué mine in Côte d’Ivoire and completing...
Waste Not, Want Not: DRDGold’s R2.7bn Bonanza
DRDGold has surged from a marginal waste‑dump miner to a R47.6bn market‑cap company, driven by soaring gold prices and a shift to unhedged cash flow. In the six months to December 2025 the firm posted R2.7bn operating profit on R5bn...
SA Mining Baffled as Godongwana Fails to Address Energy Tariffs
South Africa’s Minerals Council criticised the 2024 budget for omitting any reduction in electricity tariffs for the ferroalloys sector, despite industrial power costs soaring over 900% since 2008. The omission threatens the ferrochrome industry, which supports more than 20,000 jobs,...
Zambia to Build ‘Rainy Day’ Fund While Metals Surge
Zambia will establish a “rainy day” stabilisation fund to lock away surplus copper revenues as production hits record levels and prices hover near historic highs. The Treasury plans to finalise the fund’s framework this year before beginning deposits, using the...
Valterra Spritzes up Maiden Year with R5.3bn Special Dividend
Valterra Platinum announced a R5.3bn special dividend, bringing its total payout for the 2025 financial year to R45 per share, equivalent to 71% of headline earnings. The payout follows an 89% rise in platinum‑group‑metal prices in the second half of...
SA Bank Says Gold to End Above $6,000/Oz This Year
Standard Bank’s African Markets Conference highlighted a bullish outlook for gold, with its head of precious metals projecting the metal to finish the year above $6,000 per ounce and potentially reach $7,000‑$10,000 next year if interest rates keep falling. Attendees...
DRC Replaces Top Officials at State Mining Company
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s president has replaced Gecamines’ chairman and CEO, appointing former justice minister Deogratias Ngele Masudi as chairman and EY mining partner Baraka Kabemba as chief executive. Gecamines, a state‑owned miner with minority stakes in copper‑cobalt projects...
ICCM Says Government Policy Has Tightened the Metals Cycle
The International Council on Mining & Metals (ICMM) warned that heightened government oversight is tightening the global metals cycle, curbing the explosive price spikes typical of past supercycles. In its 2025 Tax Contribution Report, ICMM members paid $37 billion in taxes...
DRDGold Moots Plan to Buy Sasol’s Cyanide Facility
DRDGOLD CEO Niël Pretorius warned that South Africa’s sole cyanide producer, Sasol, is scaling back sodium cyanide output, creating a looming supply gap for gold miners. He suggested a consortium of local gold producers purchase the plant and partner with...
B2Gold Founder Johnson to Retire as CEO
B2Gold announced that founder and long‑time chief executive Clive Johnson will retire at the June 4 annual general meeting, handing the reins to chief financial officer Mike Cinnamond. Johnson will become Chair Emeritus, while board chair Kelvin Dushnisky shifts to an...
Lebanon Gold Sale Mooted to End Financial Crisis
Lebanese officials are debating selling or leasing part of the country’s 280‑ton gold reserves, now worth roughly $45 billion after a 70 % price surge. The gold, the largest Middle‑East reserve after Saudi Arabia, could fund a financial‑gap law essential for an...
Behind the Boardroom Coup at Copper 360
Copper 360, the JSE‑listed pure‑play copper miner, announced a boardroom shake‑up as CEO Graham Briggs and CFO Stephan Du Plessis were placed on leave, with COO Gordon Thompson acting as CEO. The move follows a costly R1.15 billion recapitalisation that tripled the...
Anglo Takes $2.3bn Hit on De Beers as Gem Destock Continues
Anglo American reported a 66% plunge in basic underlying earnings per share, driven by a $511 million EBITDA loss at De Beers and a $2.3 billion impairment on its stake. The loss stemmed largely from "stock balancing initiatives" that forced the company to...
Gold Fields ‘Guinea Pig’ in Ghana Royalty Talks
Gold Fields has boosted its Tarkwa mine reserves by 70%, raising them to 7.4 million ounces and resources to 11.2 million ounces as it prepares for a lease renewal due in April 2027. The company is navigating Ghana’s new sliding...
Kumba Upbeat on Iron Ore Contract Talks with China
Kumba Iron Ore says it will wrap up contract negotiations with Chinese steelmakers this year, despite the ongoing dispute between China Minerals Resources Group and major miners. China now represents 56% of Kumba’s 2025 export sales, up from 54% in...
Gold Fields Delivers on New Power Dividend
Gold Fields announced a final dividend of R18.5 per share, a 164% increase year‑over‑year, and added a special dividend of R4.5 per share. Including the interim payout, the total regular dividend of R25.5 represents 35% of free cash flow, aligning...
Sibanye-Stillwater to Recognise R5.3bn in Impairments
Sibanye‑Stillwater will record R5.3 bn of impairments in the second half of its 2025 financial year, bringing total FY2025 impairments to R14 bn. The write‑downs stem from a R3.8 bn reduction at the Kloof gold mine and a R138 m impairment on the Keliber...
DRDGold Makes Light of R10bn Outlay with Record Dividend
DRDGOLD posted a record 50c interim dividend while financing its R10 billion Vision 2028 expansion entirely from free cash flow, despite a 9% dip in gold output. The company benefited from a $3,788‑per‑ounce gold price, which boosted revenue and lifted cash balances...
Glencore to Extend KCC in Land Deal with Gécamines
Glencore announced a lease agreement with DRC state miner Gécamines that secures additional land titles, extending the Kamoto Copper Company (KCC) life of mine into the 2040s and targeting 300,000 tonnes of copper output by 2028. The deal follows a...
A Decade on, Lily Mine Rescue Remains Unresolved
The Lily Mine collapse in 2016 triggered a business rescue that has now stretched ten years without resolution. The mine remains closed, the three miners unrecovered, creditors unpaid, and no funding has been verified for revised rescue plans. The case...
Pan African Dusts Off Historic Gold in Drive for Growth
Pan African Resources announced a maiden interim dividend of 12 South African cents per share, translating to a R280 million payout. The six‑month results showed earnings up 192% to US 0.073 per share, while net debt collapsed 69.3% to $46.2 million and cash...
Sibanye-Stillwater Cuts Gold Reserves as Kloof Curtailed
Sibanye-Stillwater reported a 6.3% decline in gold mineral reserves, now standing at 9.4 million ounces, after a 1.4‑million‑ounce writedown at its Kloof mine. The broader South African gold resource base fell 25.5% to 36.4 million ounces, while platinum‑group metal (PGM)...
