Latest news with #032
IOL News
06-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
South African gold miners grapple with rising costs despite record prices
For Gold Fields, which operates the South Deep mine in South Africa, all-in-costs have been spiking. All-in-costs for South Deep AIC increased by 6% to R1,032,462 per kilogram in the March 2025 quarter from R974,315 per kilogram in the December 2024 quarter. Tawanda Karombo South African gold miners are being weighed down by elevated costs, with the Minerals Council of South Africa saying on Tuesday that the sector recorded the highest increase in input costs. This comes as Gold Fields recently said all-in-costs for the 2025 March quarter grew by 6%. Bullion prices have been surging to record highs in the past few weeks although South African producers of the precious metal have largely not raised production due to higher costs. Andre Lourens, an economist with the Minerals Council said the gold sector has been experiencing higher input cost inflation. 'In March, the gold sector recorded the highest average increase in input cost inflation, although benefiting from strong market prices - with gold averaging $2 986 per ounce. This underscores the ongoing cost pressures linked to mining deep-level, lower-grade ore bodies,' said Lourens. For Gold Fields, which operates the South Deep mine in South Africa, all-in-costs have been spiking. All-in-costs for South Deep increased by 6% to R1 032 462 per kilogram in the March 2025 quarter, up from R974 315 per kilogram in the December 2024 quarter. Gold Fields attributed this to 'lower gold sold in the current quarter, partially offset by lower capital' expenditure. Total capital expenditure for the South Deep operation fell by 42% to R431 million in the March 2025 quarter from R741m in the December 2024 quarter. 'The main expenditure items relate to a decrease in major component spend, UG mobile equipment replacement and refurbishments, surface infrastructure maintenance and new UG Infrastructure and maintenance,' said the company. Its production for the quarter decreased by 8% to 2 244kg due to ore phasing and lower volumes processed despite an increase in mined volumes. It was not just the gold sector that experienced higher mine input costs as the Minerals Council said South Africa's overall mining input costs rose by 3.6% in the first quarter of 2025. 'The increase in mining input costs moderated to 3.4% year-on-year in March, down from 3.8% in February, marking a continuation of the downward trend that began late last year,' said Lourens. 'While this is higher than the subdued 2.7% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2024, the outcome is unsurprising given volatility in both the domestic and global economy, much of which has intensified since January.' This comes as a 'complex set of pressures continues to shape the cost landscape' including global trade frictions, pressure on the rand, and fluctuating Brent crude oil prices, which have all raised input cost volatility. On the domestic front, 'political and economic uncertainty have further dampened sentiment, weighing on capital markets and prompting the South African Reserve Bank to maintain a cautious monetary stance,' necessitating a delay in much-needed interest rate relief. Chemical prices and intermediate industrial inputs also stayed high relative to last year, reflecting persistent pricing pressure in key upstream supply chains, explained the Minerals Council. Other mining sectors that took a big input cost include the chrome sector, with the third-highest increases recorded in iron ore, manganese, and other metallic minerals. Nonetheless, the coal sector experienced the lowest input cost inflation of the major commodities - offering some relative stability in the cost of producing coal. BUSINESS REPORT
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Cyngn Secures its 22nd U.S. Patent: for its AI-Powered Autonomous Vehicle Technologies
Since August 2023, Cyngn has been granted twelve additional patents, bringing the total U.S. patents granted to 22. MENLO PARK, Calif., April 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Cyngn Inc. (the "Company" or "Cyngn") (Nasdaq: CYN) announced the official granting of a new patent, 12,246,733, for the Company's innovative autonomous vehicle (AV) solutions. The patent, System and Methods of Off-Board Centric Autonomous Driving Computation, introduces a cloud-based approach to autonomous vehicle operation, distributing computing tasks between the vehicle and the cloud to significantly reduce onboard hardware requirements. Vehicles transmit sensor data to cloud servers, where functions like environment mapping, decision-making, and route planning are processed before driving commands are sent back for execution. This allows the vehicle to prioritize safety-critical and time-sensitive functions. The significance of this patent lies in its ability to enable lighter, more cost-effective autonomous vehicles while enabling sophisticated driving algorithms. Furthermore, the patent includes fleet management functionality, facilitating seamless coordination of multiple autonomous vehicles through a centralized cloud infrastructure. "Since August 2023, we've been granted twelve additional patents, bringing our total to 22 U.S. patents," said Lior Tal, CEO of Cyngn. "This milestone reflects our ongoing commitment to driving innovation and advancing autonomous technology, as we continue to build out a robust patent portfolio to protect our intellectual property. Each new patent represents the hard work of our team and our dedication to developing real-world solutions that are transforming material handling." The grant of this patent marks a significant milestone in Cyngn's intellectual property strategy, further bolstering its position in the AV industry. This success follows Cyngn's recent patent issuance announcement of its 21st patent. Cyngn provides its customers a seamless way to adopt self-driving technology into their operations without high upfront costs. Previous patents include:Patent Number Title Publication Date 22. US-12,246,733-B2 SYSTEM AND METHOD OF OFF-BOARD CENTRIC AUTONOMOUS DRIVING COMPUTATION 3/11/2025 21. US-12,039,867-B2 ADAPTIVE OBJECT-BASED DECISION MAKING SYSTEM 7/16/2024 20. US-12,032,099-B2 ADAPTIVE MOTION COMPENSATION OF PERCEPTION CHANNELS 7/09/2024 19. US-11,851,074-B2 SYSTEM AND METHODS OF LARGE-SCALE AUTONOMOUS DRIVING VALIDATION 12/26/2023 18. US-11,837,090-B2 SYSTEM AND METHODS OF ADAPTIVE TRAFFIC RULE-BASED DECISION MAKING FOR AUTONOMOUS DRIVING 12/5/2023 17. US-11,837,089-B2 MODULAR EXTENSIBLE BEHAVIORAL DECISION SYSTEM FOR AUTONOMOUS DRIVING 12/5/2023 16. US-11,767,034-B2 SYSTEM AND METHOD OF COMPUTATION ACCELERATION FOR AUTONOMOUS DRIVING SYSTEMS 9/26/2023 15. US-11,760,368-B2 SYSTEM AND METHOD OF SAME-LOOP ADAPTIVE SIMULATION FOR AUTONOMOUS DRIVING 9/19/2023 14. US-11,747,454-B2 GRANULARITY-FLEXIBLE EXISTENCE-BASED OBJECT DETECTION 9/5/2023 13. US-11,745,762-B2 SYSTEM AND METHODS OF ADAPTIVE TRAJECTORY PREDICTION FOR AUTONOMOUS DRIVING 9/5/2023 12. US-11,745,747-B2 SYSTEM AND METHOD OF ADAPTIVE DISTRIBUTION OF AUTONOMOUS DRIVING COMPUTATIONS 9/5/2023 11. US-11,745,750-B2 SYSTEM AND METHOD OF LARGE-SCALE AUTOMATIC GRADING IN AUTONOMOUS DRIVING USING A DOMAIN-SPECIFIC LANGUAGE 9/5/2023 10. US-11,679,726-B2 VEHICLE SENSOR SYSTEMS 6/20/2023 9. US-11,673,577-B2 SYSTEM AND METHODS OF ADAPTIVE RELEVANCY PREDICTION FOR AUTONOMOUS DRIVING 6/13/2023 8. US-11,668,833-B2 OBSTACLE DETECTION SYSTEMS 6/6/2023 7. US-11,651,583-B2 MULTI-CHANNEL OBJECT MATCHING 5/16/2023 6. US-11,614,527-B2 SELF-ADAPTIVE LIDAR-CAMERA SYNCHRONIZATION SYSTEM 3/28/2023 5. US-11,592,565-B2 FLEXIBLE MULTI-CHANNEL FUSION PERCEPTION 2/28/2023 4. US-11,555,928-B2 THREE-DIMENSIONAL OBJECT DETECTION WITH GROUND REMOVAL INTELLIGENCE 1/17/2023 3. US-11,372,115-B2 VEHICLE LOCALIZATION 6/28/2022 2. US-11,186,234-B2 VEHICLE SENSOR SYSTEMS 11/30/2021 1. US-11,169,271-B2 OBSTACLE DETECTION SYSTEMS 11/9/2021 For a comprehensive view of Cyngn's patents focused on modularity and flexibility of autonomous vehicle systems with multiple sensor modalities and configurations, please visit the USPTO. About Cyngn Cyngn develops and deploys scalable, differentiated autonomous vehicle technology for industrial organizations. Cyngn's self-driving solutions allow existing workforces to increase productivity and efficiency. The Company addresses significant challenges facing industrial organizations today, such as labor shortages, costly safety incidents, and increased consumer demand for eCommerce. Cyngn's DriveMod Kit can be installed on new industrial vehicles at end of line or via retrofit, empowering customers to seamlessly adopt self-driving technology into their operations without high upfront costs or the need to completely replace existing vehicle investments. Cyngn's flagship product, its Enterprise Autonomy Suite, includes DriveMod (autonomous vehicle system), Cyngn Insight (customer-facing suite of AV fleet management, teleoperation, and analytics tools), and Cyngn Evolve (internal toolkit that enables Cyngn to leverage data from the field for artificial intelligence, simulation, and modeling). For all terms referenced within, please refer to the Company's annual report on Form 10-K with the SEC filed on March 6, 2025. Where to find Cyngn: Website: X: LinkedIn: YouTube: Investor Contact:Donald Alvarez, CFOinvestors@ Media Contact:Luke Renner, Head of Marketingmedia@ Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Any statement that is not historical in nature is a forward-looking statement and may be identified by the use of words and phrases such as "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "will," "will likely result," "will continue," "plans to," "potential," "promising," and similar expressions. These statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements, including the risk factors described from time to time in the Company's reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including, without limitation the risk factors discussed in the Company's annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 6, 2025. Readers are cautioned that it is not possible to predict or identify all the risks, uncertainties and other factors that may affect future results. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed, and actual results may differ materially from those projected. Cyngn undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. This new patent of System and Methods of Off-Board Centric Autonomous Driving Computation enables autonomous vehicles to operate with reduced onboard computing hardware by offloading heavy computing tasks to the cloud. The vehicles send sensor data to cloud servers, which handle complex tasks like environment mapping, decision-making, and route planning. The cloud then sends back driving commands to the vehicle for execution, which allows the vehicle to focus on safety-critical and time-sensitive functions. The significance in this patent lies in the fact that it allows for lighter, more cost-effective autonomous vehicles while enabling more sophisticated and safer driving algorithms. Moreover, the patent also supports fleet management capabilities, allowing multiple vehicles to be coordinated through the same cloud infrastructure. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Cyngn
