South African minister of mineral resources Gwede Mantashe met with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Kobylkin Tuesday at the third South Africa-Russia PGM conference in Johannesburg, part of the lead up to the 10th annual BRICS Summit to be held in the country on July 25-27.

The department of mineral resources said the two countries had agreed to increase demand for platinum group metals (PGM) and develop alternative uses, including fuel-cell technology, jewellery fabrication and investment applications.

They also spoke about risks to the growth and sustainable development of the PGM sector, including the illicit trafficking of raw PGMs, and shared innovation in mineral processing.

According to the DMR, South Africa pledged to share the technology in water and energy efficient technologies being developed at South African autonomous research and development organisation Mintek, which hosted the conference.

Mantashe said stronger collaboration in the exploration and geological spheres was required to sustain the country's mining, with South Africa intending to partner with Russia in the area of airborne geophysics

"To make a sustainable difference, we must make our MoU implementable, and continuously work to strengthen our partnership, including the exchange of knowledge and skills transfer," he said.

South Africa holds almost 90% of the world's platinum reserves.