The state cobalt buyer will put in place a price floor of $30,000 a tonne for the cobalt it buys from artisanal miners.

The project will add more than three million ounces of gold production over an initial 13-year mine life.

The order exceeds C$13 million in value and was booked in the second quarter 2021.

The company is among the few remaining South African gold producers squeezing profits from mines that are among the deepest in the world and are becoming more costly to run.

A strong price environment had seen miners look at the economics of reopening mothballed operations, one consultancy says.

Demand for greener energy has put companies with uranium and base metal projects under the spotlight.