Slender and snappily dressed Fortune Mojapelo was bent on living up to his first name when I met him at the Mining Indaba in Cape Town; his optimism left you feeling that fate, as well as fortune, would favour the brave. The young mining entrepreneur had a dream to capture a tenth of the multi-billion dollar world market for battery metals, his only concern was that Africa would not be able to keep up with demand. Weeks later, a bolt struck from the blue – COVID-19.
There is no doubt that the disruption of COVID-19 has set back the dream, but Mojapelo is far from giving up.He says his vanadium open cast operation at Bushveld Minerals, just outside Brits west of Johannesburg, has ramped back up to full production ahead of a multi-million dollar investment to supply more battery metals to the world.
Bushveld Minerals Limited (LON:BMN), together with its subsidiaries, engages in the exploration and development of mineral projects in South Africa. It operates through three segments: Vanadium and Iron Ore, Coal Exploration, and Vanadium Mining and Production.