The clean energy transition has unleashed unprecedented demand for key minerals and metals. Lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite are crucial to battery performance, longevity and energy density. Rare-earth elements are essential for permanent magnets used in wind turbines and electric vehicle (EV) motors, while copper underpins electricity-related technologies. These so-called critical minerals and metals are considered the building blocks for the green and digital economy, without which there will be no batteries, no EVs, no wind turbines and no solar panels. Creamer Media’s ‘Battery Metals 2023: Powering the green economy’ report provides an overview of the battery metals market in this context. Globally, the focus of the report is on supply and demand and the creation of a sustainable battery value chain, as well as the environmental and social impact of battery metals production. In Africa, the report’s focus shifts to some of the key mining projects under way on the continent.

Global climate change issues and environmental, social and governance pressures continue to attract significant attention, not least regarding the impact of coal on the environment. Some investors are divesting from companies involved in fossil fuel extraction, including banks and other funding institutions, which are increasingly limiting access to finance for the development of new coal-fired power stations and thermal coal mines. Many governments have pledged to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions under the Paris Agreement to avoid the worst effects of climate change, which is, consequently, impacting on demand for thermal coal. South Africa is an outlier with regard to its dependence on coal. It is the most coal-dependent country in the Group of 20 major economies. Nonetheless, it has arguably set the most aggressive carbon abatement targets of any developing country. The country's aim in 2010, as per a submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), was to reduce emissions by 34% below business as usual by 2020 and 42% below business as usual by 2025. Some, however, argue that only the developed world should decarbonise, allowing South Africa to fuel its growth with coal. South Africa’s Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe is opposed to an “accelerated transition” away from coal, despite the concept having recently featured again in a political declaration signed between South Africa and several developed countries, this time at the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC in 2021. He argues that if South Africa were to stop mining, trucking, shipping and burning coal, ten ghost towns would be created. Accepting that this would be a likely eventuality if the transition were to be mismanaged, however, is by now common cause, and outgoing Minerals Council South Africa CEO Roger Baxter has contended “[the] process . . . must be carefully and pragmatically managed so that employees and communities are not worse off”. Creamer Media’s ‘Coal 2023: Phasing down, not phasing out’ report reflects on the current state of the coal sector, including demand for, and world trade in, coal; and the main participants in South Africa’s coal sector, their projects and some of their initiatives to combat climate change. The report also considers South Africa’s just energy transition, which requires the coal mining sector to be involved.

Gold continues to be regarded as a good safe-haven asset for investors during difficult and uncertain times. The World Gold Council contends that 2022 was a textbook example of how gold’s assorted sources of demand and supply can offset one another, “providing gold with its uniquely stable performance as an investment asset”. In South Africa, once the world’s top producer, the country’s mining industry is facing a deteriorating security environment and a crime crisis that is costing the sector as much as R20-billion a year. While there are bright spots and new investment in productive capacity, ever-increasing electricity tariffs, ongoing and worsening loadshedding, and the need for mining houses to decarbonise their operations remain challenges. Creamer Media’s ‘Gold 2022/23’ report delves into these issues, looking for instance at the investments that mining companies are making in renewable energy, labour relations and illegal mining, as well as mergers and acquisitions. It also gives an overview of South Africa’s major gold miners, focusing on their financial and operational performance. Finally, the report reflects on the main issues affecting the industry globally, including supply and demand, pricing, and the responsible production and sourcing of gold. This report is a summary of information published in Engineering News and Mining Weekly, as well as of information available in the public domain over the past 12 months. The report does not purport to provide analysis of market trends.