The rarity of platinum, combined with a decline in supply and overwhelming demand, is a formula for a build-up of a “perfect storm”, says independent precious metals consultant Dr David Davis, who says that this will lead to significant upward pressure on the price of platinum, to which investors have already begun to react.

Given that platinum plays a critical role in the reduction of global warming and its essential role in diverse industrial and medical applications, global mine supply of the precious metal has grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 1.7% between 1990 and 2020.

In 2019, global mine supply was about 6.1-million ounces, according to research done by science and chemicals company Johnson Matthey (JM). Mine supply is, however, not without risk, as it depends heavily on the South African platinum group metals (PGMs) industry, which supplies about 72% of global platinum.

Global mine supply between 2006 and 2019 declined by a CAGR of 1%, while South African platinum supply declined by a CAGR of 1.4% mainly owing to the historical evolution of the mining mix ratio of the PGM reefs in South Africa

In a presentation authored by Davis, he notes that the PGMs industry has also been “starved” of expansion and ore reserve replacement capital for a number of years, though miners are now beginning to invest in reserve replacement.

While this quantum of investment is unlikely to stave off the decline in platinum supply, Davis notes that growth in platinum recycling from 2011 to 2020 has also remained relatively flat at an average of 1.2-million ounces.

“The quantum of platinum autocatalysts recovered by recycling is not expected to grow [up to] 2025 as platinum loadings are historically lower in light vehicles that are about to be scrapped, given the average age of light-duty vehicles being around 12 years.”

In comparison, Davis says the quantum of palladium autocatalysts recovered by recycling is expected to climb to over four-million ounces by 2025 from about two-million ounces at present.

This observation is important in that Davis says platinum secondary recycling supply will not likely support the expected decline in primary mine supply, thereby tightening platinum supply in a climate of ever-increasing demand.

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​Anglo American announces a collaboration agreement to complete a feasibility study to develop a “hydrogen valley” anchored in the platinum group metals-rich Bushveld geological area in South Africa. Spearheaded by South Africa’s Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), the collaboration agreement also includes energy and services company ENGIE, the South African National Development Institute (SANEDI) and clean energy solutions provider Bambili Energy (Bambili).

The proposed hydrogen valley will stretch approximately 835 kilometres from Anglo American’s Mogalakwena platinum group metals (PGMs) mine near Mokopane in Limpopo province in the north of South Africa, along the industrial and commercial corridor to Johannesburg and to the south coast at Durban.

This collaboration follows the launch in 2020 of the South African Hydrogen Society Roadmap, aimed at integrating hydrogen into the economy by capitalising on the country’s PGMs resources and renewable energy potential to revitalise and decarbonise key industrial sectors. The study will be conducted by ENGIE Impact and will identify tangible opportunities to build hydrogen hubs and explore the potential for green hydrogen production and supply at scale.

Natascha Viljoen, CEO of Anglo American’s PGMs business, commented: “The transition to a low carbon world is an opportunity to drive the development of cleaner technologies, create new industries and employment, and improve people’s lives. Anglo American was an early supporter of the global potential for a hydrogen economy, recognising its role in enabling the shift to greener energy and cleaner transport. Our integrated approach includes investing in new technologies, supporting entrepreneurial projects and advocating for policy frameworks that enable a supportive long-term investment environment for hydrogen to deliver that potential.”

The regional PGMs industry will be central to such a hydrogen valley, with PGMs playing an important role both in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) electrolysis used to produce hydrogen at scale and in fuel cells themselves.

Anglo American is already investing in renewable hydrogen production technology at its Mogalakwena PGMs mine and in the development of hydrogen-powered fuel cell mine haul trucks – the world’s largest to run on hydrogen.

Dr Phil Mjwara, DSI Director-General, said: “The Department’s hydrogen valley partnership with Anglo American, Bambili Energy and ENGIE is an example of leveraging investments made in the Hydrogen South Africa Programme to create mechanisms for the uptake of publicly financed intellectual property. The hydrogen valley is among the projects that will be implemented in partnership with the private sector to support the Platinum Valley Initiative, which is aimed at supporting small, medium and micro enterprises (SMME) to take advantage of opportunities in the green economy in support of a just transition.”

The public-private partnership is aligned to the Government’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plans for South Africa, with science, technology and innovation playing a key role in supporting the country’s plans to revitalise its economy.

Sebastien Arbola, ENGIE Executive Vice President in charge of Thermal Generation and Energy Supply activities, said: “ENGIE is delighted to be part of the hydrogen valley study. We are keen to share our knowledge and expertise encompassing the entire hydrogen value chain to accelerate hydrogen solutions’ deployment in South Africa and beyond. We already have a demonstration project under way to supply the hydrogen for the world’s first hydrogen mining truck being developed by Anglo American at the Mogalakwena PGMs mine.

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Even though society had begun to move towards battery electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell technology would be the real disrupter of the electric vehicle market, Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman predicted on Tuesday.

Sibanye-Stillwater is the world’s largest primary producer of platinum, which is a key ingredient of fuel cells.

In a main stage address to the 2020 Investing in African Mining Indaba, Froneman described fuel cell technology as being “not too far away”.

“Car producers are already producing cars with fuel cells and fuel cells are going to be an important part of the Olympic Games in Japan. We just saw that U2 had a concert that was powered by fuel cells. Fuel cells are going to be the real disruptive technology and I’m talking about the hydrogen economy,” he said.

Sibanye-Stillwater is also the second largest primary producer of palladium and the third largest producer of gold (on a gold-equivalent basis), as well as a significant producer of rhodium. It is also the leading global recycler and processor of spent platinum group metals (PGMs) catalytic converter materials.

A week ago, the company achieved seven-million fatality-free shifts, which is unparalleled in the South African deep-level gold-mining industry and indicates going 500 days without a fatality.

“It is far safer underground in a deep-level gold mine in our company than it is driving on the road and we’ll continue to push the boundaries,” he said.

Froneman described PGMs as an integral part of positively influencing climate change.

“If you look at their primary uses in the automotive industry, they clean up the air by curtailing emissions. In terms of renewable energy, they play a key role. We are as a company very focused on the environment,” he said.

The Stillwater operations in the US are on the border of the Yellowstone National Park.

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The cost of producing hydrogen gas with renewables is likely to plummet in the coming decades, making one of the most radical technologies for reducing greenhouse gases economical.

That’s the conclusion of an analysis by BloombergNEF, which said the most abundant element is likely to play a growing role in reducing pollution from power producers and industry.

The findings add to the potential for widespread use of hydrogen. While the gas has been hailed for decades as a carbon-free energy source, the cost and difficulty of making it has confined it mainly to niches like fueling rockets and helping upgrade blends of oil.

“Once the industry scales up, renewable hydrogen could be produced from wind or solar power for the same price as natural gas in most of Europe and Asia,” Kobad Bhavnagri, BNEF’s head of special projects, said in the report on Wednesday. “These production costs would make green gas affordable and puts the prospects for a truly clean economy in sight.”
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If produced on a large scale, hydrogen could feed into a range of applications, fueling long-haul transport and steelmaking and the manufacture of cement. Each of those industries requires the sort of energy hydrogen packs, delivering temperatures hot enough to melt metal and stone.

Those industries that are finding it difficult to remove emissions. Hydrogen can also be stored, shipped and used to produce electricity or fed into fuel cells that are increasingly appearing in cars and small power plants.

BNEF looked at how to generate hydrogen from renewable sources such as wind turbines and solar panels. It also examined how the gas that’s produced can be stored to provide energy at times when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine.

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Load-shedding is a major problem for South African businesses, with telecommunications companies, manufacturing industries, and corporate enterprise suffering whenever Eskom decides to turn off the power.

Businesses with high power requirements such as data centres are especially vulnerable, and the diesel generators used to keep these powered under load-shedding have extremely high operating costs.

This makes them prohibitively expensive to run for an extended period of time, which means that regular load-shedding could financially cripple many businesses.

There may be a solution to this sustainable backup power problem, however, thanks to the efforts of energy companies like GenCell.

GenCell develops hydrogen power cells as a cost-effective replacement for diesel backup and off-grid power delivery, and this technology could have a big impact in South Africa.

MyBroadband spoke to GenCell CEO Rami Reshef about the company’s fuel cell technology and how it could be implemented locally.

Developing hydrogen fuel cells
“We did not invent the hydrogen fuel cell. They were first invented in 1839 by William Grove, and their first commercial use was in the US and Russian space programmes to provide power on board spacecraft,” Reshef said.

GenCell’s fuel cells require hydrogen and oxygen to create chemical reactions and generate energy, with the byproduct of this reaction being water.

“When we founded in 2011, we identified two main barriers – the capital expenditure for the cost of a platinum catalyst and the operating expenditure for the high cost of the hydrogen,” Reshef said.

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“If we could overcome these two barriers, we had a fair chance to present a fuel cell technology which could become mainstream.”

The company developed a non-platinum catalyst in 2011, dramatically reducing the capital expenditure required, and it had also implemented CO2 scrubbers to use oxygen from the surrounding air.

Crucially, GenCell also developed a way to use ammonia for the hydrogen component of its reaction, dramatically reducing the cost to operate these fuel cells.

“The cost of ammonia is half or even one third as the equivalent weight of diesel,” Reshef said.
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The Department of Science and Technology (DST) is working with other government departments to plan the roll-out of hydrogen fuel cell technology in agricultural parks in South Africa, as well as in schools and clinics. Print Send to Friend 1 0 DST director-general Phil Mjwara told the Hydrogen South Africa (HySA) technical meeting in Cape Town on Tuesday that, within the next two or three years, HySA technology could be rolled out to about 20 agriparks in the country.
Some 27 priority districts across the country have been earmarked for agricultural parks in a bid to boost agriculture, create jobs and transform the rural economy. R2-billion has been set aside for the establishment of the parks. Mjwara said the DST was also in discussions with the departments of Basic Education, Health and Energy about using fuel cells as standby power in schools and clinics across the country. The technology is being used in a pilot project in three schools in the deep rural area of Cofimvaba in the Eastern Cape. Fuel cells are being used to support basic energy requirements for charging stations for computers, fax machines and tablets. Mjwara was upbeat about introducing fuel cell technology in special economic zones in the country, which would be boosted by incentives and tax breaks. He said the country’s energy challenges provided an opportunity to look differently at the prospect of hydrogen fuel cell technology.

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“The generator produces electricity in an environmentally friendly way, without pollution or noise,” said Piotr Bujlo, leader of the generator project and a technology specialist at HySA Systems.

Fuel cells are already used to power vehicles and provide power in remote or inaccessible places, including on space capsules and satellites.

Researchers at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) hope that their work on hydrogen fuel cell innovations may help with the global quest to cut reliance on fossil fuels, as well as helping with South Africa’s own attempts to give more of its population access to electricity.

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The work of the newly launched Hydrogen South Africa (HySA) Infrastructure facilities located at the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), in Pretoria, would promote South Africa’s hydrogen economy, as well as the beneficiation of platinum-group metals (PGMs), CSIR CEO Dr Sibusiso Sibisisaid on Thursday.
The facility would be jointly used by HySA Infrastructure and the CSIR’s batteries research group to conduct research aimed at developing novel materials to meet challenging hydrogen and energystorage requirements.
“There are boundless opportunities for hydrogen as a fuel inenvironmental management and mineral resource beneficiation in South Africa through fuel cell deployment and advanced manufacturing,” HySAInfrastructure director Dr Dmitri Bessarabov said at the lauch of the facility.

He explained that fuel cells using PGM catalysts, used hydrogen as a fuel, resulting in little or no polluting emissions as chemical energy was converted into electrical energy.

However, the challenge was to develop the infrastructure to produce, store and make hydrogen available for these applications in addition to getting cheaper replacement catalysts.

Bessarabov told Engineering News Online that the facility located at the CSIR would conduct its research in collaboration with the other HySA Infrastructure research centre located at the North West University (NWU).

He explained that HySA Infastructure had two key programmes designated by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) namely KP4 and KP5.

KP4 related to hydrogen storage and would be carried out at the CSIR-based facility, while KP5, which was being carried out at the NWU, pertained to hydrogen production.

He said the newly opended facility was, therefore, dedicated to benchmarking research in terms of hydrogen storage materials.

This process had already started with some outputs having been received.

Going forward, the facility would also aim to develop new materials for hydrogen storage, while also investigating ways in which storage materials could be adapted for commercial applications.

To achieve this, the HySA Infrastructure facility at the CSIR included laboratories dedicated to materials synthesis, equipped with specialised fume-hoods, and materials characterisation, equipped with an inert atmosphere glovebox with a built-in vacuum oven, a surface area and a porosity analyser with a cryostat and a pycnometer.

The facility also included a performance testing laboratory with a pressure-composition-temperature gas analyser, an in-house designed and built Sieverts-type apparatus and a centrifugal granulator.

The laboratories would also be further equipped with additional state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation in due course.

Further, the facility would also, through the CSIR batteries group, focus on the development of lithium-ion batteries for stationary and mobile applications.

Speaking at the launch, CSIR energy materials manager Dr Mkhulu Mathe noted that the key mission of the battery programme was to enable the local manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries through the development of a pilot-scale battery cell manufacturing operation based on South African materials.

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“Carbon Busters” designed a low cost solution that is available to low income earning consumers of energy and takes the purchaser totally off grid. This energy generation method is also available for isolated communities and current rural development projects. Once the initial layout costs for the system has been done it generates the energy supply with minor low cost maintenance to keep system running indefinitely.

The installed system can be easily and rapidly expanded to facilitate greater energy demand without any disruption in the supply.

The “Carbon Buster” system is described in three phases. The first phase is supplying the energy to the fuel cells to split the Hydrogen and Oxygen.

The second phase is to fill the Hydrogen Storage Vessels with 99% Hydrogen and the third phase is to supply the 99% pure hydrogen to the energy utilisation mediums to cook heat or supply electricity for lighting. (Pure hydrogen can also be used with LPG type Gas Lighting platforms.)

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