JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) –
If South Africans make use of their superior sunlight and their prime wind, they can generate a lot of carbon-free electricity at a cost potentially cheaper than when Eskom burns coal and pollutes the air.
That, in itself, is in line with the world’s decarbonisation demands. But there is more. For example, if one puts that clean electricity through water, in an electrolyser, one can generate hydrogen, helped by platinum and iridium dug up in South Africa’s many platinum group metals (PGMs) mines.
This hydrogen can, in turn, be sent to a fuel cell, where more locally mined platinum and ruthenium can be put to work, this time to persuade the hydrogen to generate electricity.