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2019] with our target being to deliver a Manning said it had been a challeng- Manning said.
total of 16,313MW, from a mix of all en- ing few years for Juwi in SA, with dif- “Certainly for an off-grid mining and
ergy sources.” ficulties in obtaining generational and energy solution you are looking for a
The merger of SA’s minerals and en- transmission licences the brunt of frus- long-term forecast and it is very hard to
ergy departments to form the Depart- trations. evaluate your options not knowing what
ment of Minerals and Energy (DMRE) “The Minister made an announce- the tariffs are going to be, what the re-
has meant “a ment at Inda- strictions are going to be and what your
more enabling ba earlier this energy security is. It has been challeng-
environment for year which was ing for us.
the mining and The SA ground-breaking “But the recent announcement by
energy sectors to for us, opening Minister Mantashe about where the in-
thrive”, according exploration up the licencing dustry is headed is getting better. We
to Mantashe, and budget is about $180 and allowing us think there is a real good opportunity to
is something Juwi to generate; that start getting these permits through and
milli
Renewable Ener- “on; a pittance made a big differ- licensing a few of these off-grid energy
gies Pty Ltd global but it is very easy to ence. We haven’t solutions and I think that will go a long
head of hybrid seen the fruits of way to giving investors some security.”
Dave Manning has double that. that yet, but we – Mark Andrews
warmly welcomed. are working on it,”

Smart money on exploration in SA

rrol Smart’s Orion Minerals Ltd may ties are now being realised and it is not ago and having prospecting rights for
Ebe on the cusp of closing a financ- just the juniors or the Aussies. I think exploration removed from the Mining
ing deal to see the historic Prieska some of the South Africans are doing Charter is the single biggest move,”
copper-zinc mine revived, however, the a little bit of introspective work and re- Smart said.
managing director’s enthusiasm for the alising that they missed an opportunity. “You don’t have to have a BEE part-
exploration prospects in South Africa’s That is why you see statements made ner now to be exploring. You don’t have
Northern Cape is clearly evident. by Anglo American [plc] about going to have local procurement obligations
And, shortly after his virtual pres- back into exploration because maybe to be exploring. Now there is a level
entation to delegates at Africa Down industry has reminded them of what playing field. We see the DMRE ab-
Under, Smart revealed that Orion had the opportunity is,” Smart said. solutely trying to engage with us and
intersected massive copper and zinc “Remember those [Anglo American] work with us to find a way to make this
sulphide mineralisation at the Kielder geologists aren’t a bunch of fools, they happen.”
project, 15km from the mill at Prieska. are very smart fellows but that was 30- In addition to setting the standard for
The near-surface intersections re- 40 years ago, and they didn’t have the exploration in SA, Orion hopes to start
sulted from testing for outcropping technology back then. The greenfields a new era of base metals production
VMS-style mineralisation from historic exploration opportunity is just amaz- not only in country but more broadly,
results, including 4.8m @ 0.46% cop- ing. There are some of the most prolific given the planned Prieska copper-zinc
per, 6.18% zinc and 15 g/t silver, pro- copper-producing fields in the whole mine is one of the few fully permitted
duced by Newmont SA in the 1970s. world, which have never had airborne and development-ready assets of its
Buoyed by striking base metal mas- EM flown over them, there has never type worldwide.
sive sulphides at two different pros- been big moving loop EM over them; A BFS released in May, indicated
pects in initial drilling at Kielder, Orion that is standard practice anywhere in the initial 12-year operation at Prieska
hopes to continue the exploration suc- the world for copper. The technology would require peak funding of $413 mil-
cess at the Jacomynspan nickel-cop- has never been used, so you don’t lion to get started at a rate of 22,000
per-cobalt-PGE prospect at Areachap. need to be a rocket scientist; there are tpa copper and 70,000 tpa zinc.
The company is targeting shallow, clear step-up opportunities.” A NPV (8% discount rate) of $779
high-grade, nickel-copper mineralisa- The application of technology in million was another highlight at Pries-
tion at Jacomynspan, with the objective parts of SA is proving fruitful for willing ka, in SA’s Northern Cape.
being to provide samples for metallur- explorers as is the removal of regula- Orion hoped to appoint a preferred
gical testing. tory roadblocks previously in place. EPCM contractor by the end of 2020,
Orion’s success has been well re- Smart said the single biggest chal- with an early-work programme under-
ceived, however, as Smart explained, lenge industry faced was the impedi- way in preparation for the project being
the company is far from a lone ranger ment of requirements under the old fully funded.
in SA’s exploration scene. Mining Charter related to exploration, – Mark Andrews
“I think there are now seven or eight which he labelled a “disaster”.
of us [ASX-listed companies] that are “The DMRE sorted that when we
exploring in SA. I think the opportuni- renegotiated the Charter two years

aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT DeCeMBeR 2020 - JaNUaRY 2021 Page 41