Views
5 years ago

Northern Cape Business 2018-19 edition

  • Text
  • Africa
  • Africa
  • Zone
  • Solar
  • Energy
  • Development
  • Technology
  • Energy
  • Manufacturing
  • Agriculture
  • Economic
  • Sectors
  • Array
  • Northern
  • Cape
  • Mining
  • Province
  • Kimberley
  • Provincial
  • Municipality
Officially supported and used by the Northern Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism, Northern Cape Business is unique as a business and investment guide that focuses exclusively on the Northern Cape Province. In addition to comprehensive overviews of sectors of the economy, this publication has several special articles which focus on transformative projects, such as the solar and wind farms rapidly coming on line and the massive potential represented by the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope, a multi-billion rand international project already taking shape in the vast open plains of the Karoo. Updated information on Northern Cape is also available through our monthly e-newsletter, which you can subscribe to online at http://www.globalafricanetwork.com/subscribe/, in addition to our complementary business-to-business titles that cover all nine provinces as well as our flagship South African Business title.

OVERVIEW Vedanta Zinc

OVERVIEW Vedanta Zinc International’s Gamsberg project has created a whole new town. New houses for staff were added in 2018. CREDIT: VEDANTA ZINC INTERNATIONAL (VZI) Petra also recently entered into a joint venture, Kimberley Ekapa Mining Joint Venture. KEM JV comprises Petra, Ekapa Mining (jointly owned by Petra and Ekapa Mining) and a third party, Super Stone Mining. Rockwell Diamonds is listed on the TSX and JSE. The company’s assets in the Northern Cape lie between Prieska and Douglas, southwest of Kimberley: Wouterspan, Nieuwejaarskraal, Remhoogte and Saxendrift. Away from the underground kimberlite pipes and fissures, river and coastal deposits are also present in the Northern Cape. Diamonds have been recovered along the Orange, Buffels, Spoeg, Horees, Groen, Doom and Swart rivers in the province, while coastal deposits have been found from the mouth of the Orange River to Lamberts Bay. Diamond mining company West Coast Resources (WCR) completed its production plant at Mitchells Bay at the end of 2016 and started mining in 2016. Trans Hex, with a 40% shareholding in WCR, will manage the mine and market the diamonds produced from it. The National Department of Trade and Industry (dti) owns 20% of WCR. By 2020 the project intends creating 686 jobs. By May 2016 there were 166 permanent employees and 24 part-timers working at Mitchells Bay. In 2018, Trans Hex sold two mines to LOR Diamonds, a blackowned company led by women, but will continue to mine the property as an independent contractor. Assets Mining contributes 23.4% to the Northern Cape economy and makes up nearly 7% of South Africa’s total mining value. NORTHERN CAPE BUSINESS 2018/19 44

OVERVIEW Whatever cyclical ups and downs affect the sector, it remains a most important component of the provincial economy. The mineral resource of the province is wide-ranging and impressive with significant deposits of iron ore, manganese, zinc, copper, lead, titanium, pig iron, zircon and gypsum. The overwhelming majority of the world’s manganese comes from the Postmasburg and Kalahari regions of the Northern Cape. The province is responsible for 25% of the world’s exports of the mineral. Assmang has two manganese mines in the province: Nchwaning and Gloria. The Northern Cape produces more than 84% of South Africa’s iron ore. The province has two major iron belts, from Postmasburg to Hotazel, and running through Sishen and Kathu. Sishen is the most important iron-ore mine in South Africa, where operations include extraction and four beneficiation plants. The availability of natural resources, labour and infrastructure (including the Sishen-Saldanha railway line) make Sishen the ideal location. Kumba Iron Ore has the huge Sishen facility at Kathu and Kolomela. Assmang, a joint venture comprising African Rainbow Minerals and Assore, mines at Khumani. After initially saying that it wanted to get rid of everything outside its core assets (copper, platinum group metals and diamonds), Anglo American has backtracked somewhat in the light of the recovery of iron ore and other mineral prices. (Anglo does not have diamond assets in the Northern Cape.) Assuming that it will go ahead with disposals, the sale of Anglo’s 69.7% shareholding in Kumba Iron Ore will have the biggest impact. South32 is very active in the Northern Cape. Hotazel Manganese Mines is made up of two mines, Wessels (underground) and Mamatwan (open cut), and the Metalloys manganese smelter. The company has 30% of the product from its mines processed at the smelter where a managese alloy is made. South32 produced 8% more manganese in the six months to December 2017 than it did in the corresponding period, a trend which all South African miners mirrored. ONLINE RESOURCES Geological Society of South Africa: www.gssa.org.za Minerals Council South Africa: www.mineralscouncil.org.za Mining Qualifications Authority: www.mqa.org.za National Department of Mineral Resources: www.dmr.gov.za Northern Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism: www.economic.ncape.gov.za South African Mining Development Association: www.samda.co.za Hotazel is also the site of a relatively new manganese mine, Tshipi é Borwa. Tshipi e Ntle Manganese Mining (Tshipi) is a joint venture between Pallinghurst Co-Investors (led by Brian Gilbertson) and a black empowerment company representing several groups called Ntsimbintle Mining. A number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as the Black Sash have a 2.2% stake in the mine through Ditikeni Investment Company. Indications are that Tshipi can produce about 2.2-million tons of ore per year, for about 60 years. Engineering News reported in 2017 that Ntsimbintle celebrated a R300-million dividend payout in July, with a further R500- million agreed on for disbursement in September. The Northern Cape is responsible for around 18% of South Africa’s total copper production, with the two most prominent mines located in Nababeep and Aggeneys. The Carolusberg Mining Complex has copper reserves of 37.5-million tons, while the Nigramoep deposit has 15-million tons. Galileo’s initial tests at their Concordia Copper project near Okiep suggest that prospects are good what it calls “large-scale copper targets”. Tungsten has also been found in the area. In 2016 Horomela Investments received prospecting rights for its property near Aggeneys. The only 100% black-owned and black-managed base metals mining company in South Africa, Horomela will be mining for lead, silver, copper and zinc. 45 NORTHERN CAPE BUSINESS 2018/19

Other recent publications by Global Africa Network: