Editor’s take: Stronger together: Progress through partnerships
China just delivered a masterclass in How toWin Friends with its announcement that starting May 1, 2026, it will implement a zero-tariff policy on 100% of tariff lines for imports from 53 African nations. This major initiative expands previous limited duty-free access, aiming to balance trade deficits, boost African exports, and enhance economic partnerships.
Redefining gold processing economics
Across the global gold industry, processing plants are finely tuned circuits. Leaching circuits are designed to strike a careful balance between recovery efficiency, throughput, reagent consumption, capital intensity, and operational stability. Under these constraints, they perform remarkably well. Yet even in the most optimised operations, a reality remains: a measurable portion of gold exits the plant in as-arising tailings.
AZTEC Mining, a technology-driven engineering company, has positioned itself at the forefront of the technology shift with its flagship technology: the AZTEC Upflow Reactor (AZ-UFR). Rather than replacing conventional leach circuits, the AZ-UFRs are installed downstream as a scavenging circuit. The AZ-UFR's purpose is simple in concept but sophisticated in execution — to create an intensified reaction environment that extracts additional gold from slurry that would otherwise report to final tailings.
Thermal Coal’s ‘face-off’: Indonesia vs. China
Right now, the outlook for South Africa’s long-US$5bn, 60 mtpa thermal coal export industry – source of 5% of the global trade – depends heavily on the outcome of an evolving point of mostly supply-side conflict between Indonesia and China.
What’s going on? Indonesia – source of 45% of the 1 btpa globally traded thermal coal – continues to dramatically ‘chop and change’ its core strategy to boost the prices and tax returns of its massive 0.5 btpa export industry. Meanwhile, China – biggest buyer of Indonesia’s coal – is pushing back on these price-hiking strategies, by periodically marginalising the trade flow with its own locally mined coal, source of a staggeringly large 4.8 btpa raw coal.
Bengwenyama targets first concentrate production in 2028
Strong demand and rising prices for platinum group metals (PGMs)—which have more than doubled over the past year—are prompting miners across the sector to realign strategies and fast-track production growth. Project developers such as Southern Palladium are advancing greenfields projects at pace to capitalise on improving market fundamentals.
Dual-listed Southern Palladium is targeting first PGM concentrate production from its Bengwenyama project by as early as February 2028 contingent on the granting of the Mining Right, Managing Director Johan Odendaal tells Modern Mining.
Leveraging mining tyre management to reduce costs and emissions
Leading tyre service provider, Kal Tire, and tyre manufacturer, Michelin, recently released a joint white paper outlining how improved mining tyre management can deliver both cost savings and measurable emissions reductions.
The white paper, Unlocking Hidden Synergies: How to Leverage Mining Tyre Management to Deliver Cost Savings and Emission Reductions, explores practical, data-driven strategies that enable mining operators to reduce Scope 1 and Scope 3 emissions while lowering operating costs. These gains can be achieved through extended tyre life, reduced fuel consumption and improved productivity—without the need for major capital investment.