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On-The-Air (07/02/2014)

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7th February 2014

By: Martin Creamer

Creamer Media Editor

  

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Every Friday morning, SAfm’s AMLive’s radio anchor Dhashen Moodley speaks to Martin Creamer, publishing editor of Engineering News and Mining Weekly.  Reported here is this Friday’s At the Coalface transcript:

Moodley: There has been the C40 climate change talks currently in South Africa, 40 mayors and international leaders currently in Johannesburg to talk about climate change, focusing on reducing emissions in our cars and platinum could be the key to that.

Creamer: The government should boost the struggling platinum industry by outlawing these dirty emissions from our car exhaust pipes. That was a point made at the Mining Indaba and it was brought up by SFA Oxford analysts saying that this is the best beneficiation you can get.

You have got the platinum and this reason to clean the air and platinum can do it. Another person who pushed this heavily at the Mining Indaba was the new upcoming investor in platinum Robert Friedland from Ivanhoe. He said platinum equals healthier air and when he looks at the dirty air in Beijing, Delhi and Shanghai he links it directly to his investment in Limpopo, where he is going to set up a platinum mine.

What he is saying is that we used to talk of fuel cells as something of the future, but it is something of the present. Car manufactures like Toyota and Ford are bringing out commercial vehicles with fuel cells, with an advantage of a radius of 700 km.

Also, the benefit of having heat in cold countries normally that heat in the car would come from a battery if you are looking at an electric car and it would drain the battery, but fuel cells giving you that extra benefit. The window of opportunity is wide open for fuel cells. We don't see South Africa actually following it with the vigour that it should.

We know that the government is working with big platinum companies on fuel cells, but they are not saying much, but I think they need to be saying quite a lot. We see other countries starting to move on that and if we really want beneficiation here, this fuel cell is the opportunity and we have been told over and over again that we should get into it, now even analysts from SFA Oxford saying do this.

Moodley: So that could be a world first if we could get it right here in South Africa.

Creamer: It is not going to be easy but it could really give us an opportunity to breakthrough now. Fuel cells are starting to be used and they are researched intensely in other countries. We need to move fast if we are going to be the country to offer the fuel cell.

Moodley: A big driver in platinum, hopefully AMCU can raise control of the mining talks, R400-million a day is what the platinum mining industry is losing while AMCU remains on strike.

So we have had the Kreepy Krauly, which is a South African invention, Pratley putty was an original invention. The digital laser, which we produced recently was also a first world South African invention. Now, we have got this thin-film solar technology is taking the world by storm.

Creamer: This South African developed thin-film solar technology as debuted in Stellenbosch at a demonstration plant. This is really thanks to the relentless effort of the University of Johannesburg Prof Vivian Alberts.

For 21 years, Alberts has slogged it out on this and he has created this unique alloy with five elements in it. The thinness of this film is something to talk about, because it is like 100 times thinner then the original silicon technology of like 300 micron. We are talking about technology, which is coming into the world at a time when photovoltaics are bursting into the scene.

South Africa now on the front foot, thanks to this early research, beginning in 1993 coming through now on Monday with a demonstration plant. The demonstration plant is going to lead to a commercial plant in South Africa. Investors are talking about that at the moment, which will be one-million panels a year.

That is not the whole story because the demonstration plant is really to show the world that this is an economic proposition. They have patented in 17 countries, so they will invite potential investors here to take this technology as a licenced technology into Africa and the rest of the world, showing them that this plant can give you a return in three to five years and stay working for 20 years.

It actually creates more jobs per equivalent power output then a coal-fired power station, given the downstream activities in the marketing and maintenance. So something that has been backed by the South African government laudably, also backed by the State-owned Industrial Development Corporation and now we have a demonstration plant to show the world how it works.

Moodley: Thanks very much. Martin Creamer is publishing editor of Engineering News and Mining Weekly, he’ll be back with us at the same time next week.

 

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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