OVERVIEW the Gamsberg
OVERVIEW the Gamsberg project of Vedanta Zinc International, which will deliver 600 000 tons of zinc when phase three is complete. The provincial government is using the mine’s location (and possible future smelter) as the basis for a new Namakwa Special Economic Zone. The SEZ forms part of a larger “multi-nodal” corridor envisaged for the province. While copper and zinc are trending, iron ore and manganese continue to deliver huge volumes of material. The Kalahari Basin is home to between 70% and 80% of the world’s manganese resource. The website Mindat.org refers to the Kalahari Manganese Field as “one of the geological and mineralogical wonders of the world”. Hotazel is at the centre of a manganese mining hub, with several companies operating mines nearby. Nchwaning and Gloria mines are collectively known as Black Rock and they are owned by Assmang, a joint venture between Assore and African Rainbow Minerals. Several new manganese mines have opened in recent years, including Tshipi Borwa, UMK, Kalagadi and Kudumane. The company has two other iron-ore mines in the Northern Cape. Everything about the Kolomela iron-ore mine near Postmasburg is large. Previously known as Sishen South, the mine produced 10.8-million tons in 2022. Together with its other mines, Kumba Iron Ore is the largest iron-ore producer in Africa. Kumba Iron Ore owns 76.3% in Sishen Iron Ore Company (SIOC) with the balance held by Exxaro and the SIOC Community Development Trust. Through the SIOC, Kumba Iron Ore owns three mines, one of which, Sishen, is also in the Northern Cape. The Sishen/Kolomela-Saldanha iron-ore export channel sees to it that vast amounts of iron ore are exported through the latter port. Trains weighing 34 200 tons leave the mines every nine hours, each train having five to six locomotives and 342 wagons. Kimberley first came to be known to the world because of the fabulously rich store of diamonds in its soil. Oddly, the town was not named for the kimberlite pipes that made many people very rich after 1866, but rather its was named for the UK’s then Secretary of State for the Colonies, John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley. Diamonds are still mined in and near Kimberley and Petra Diamonds operates the Finsch Mine near Lime Acres and in the 2022 financial year generated revenue of .7-million. AfriSam quarries 15-million tons of limestone west of Delportshoop and produces one-million tons of cement there in addition to holding properties further south where it has acquired three mines from Coza Mining. KP Lime has bought PPC Lime’s mines at Lime Acres. Away from the underground kimberlite pipes and fissures, river and coastal deposits of diamonds are also present in the Northern Cape. WORLD 13.4% of lead exports 70-80% of manganese resource at Aggeneys, Namaqualand region 25% of the manganese used in the world Source: DEDAT 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. Trans Hex, which took over De Beers diamond mine in West Coast Resources, the Trans Hex subsidiary which bought De Beers’ Namaqualand mine, has been in business rescue since 2019, but Trans Hex itself paid out a R128- million dividend, having delisted from the JSE in the same year. It has assets elsewhere in the Northern Cape, Namibia and Angola. ■ ONLINE RESOURCES Kathu Industrial Park: www.kathuindustrialpark.co.za Minerals Council South Africa: www.mineralscouncil.org.za Northern Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism: www.northern-cape.gov.za/dedat NORTHERN CAPE BUSINESS 2024/25 PHOTO: Anglo American Vast quantities of iron ore are mined and exported.
Copper 360 is revitalising mines Copper 360 has launched a School of Mining in the Northern Cape to complement its investment in the metal vital to the green energy revolution. The Northern Cape will be the next mineral province of South Africa and Copper 360 has invested significantly towards realising this ideal. As the move towards a greener and more clean-energy conscious global economy continues to gather momentum, so too will the potential that the province holds to create opportunity for its citizens increase. Copper 360 presently operates its ore and historical dump processing plant in Nababeep where it produces copper cathode and concentrate. The company’s Rietberg mine will be the first in a series of mining projects where historical mines are being revitalised and copper extracted that will be coming into production during 2024 and 2025. In addition, the company also acquired Nama Copper in early 2024, which has further added to its production capacity. Copper 360 is also investing in the people of the Northern Cape. In 2023 it launched the School of Mining, an educational institution that will ultimately offer accredited certification and degreed courses in partnership with other mining specialist schools internationally. Presently, the School of Mining offers shorter, experiential courses in career-focused subjects like surface geology and other key skills relevant to the mining sector. The School is also in the process of rolling out a high school programme, whereby learners are exposed to the potential that a career in mining could hold. Nababeep, where Copper 360 has its facility, is near Springbok where the first formal mineral discovery in South Africa was made by Simon van der Stel in 1665. It is however known that the Khoi San tribes native to the area had made the discovery of copper long before the colonisation of the Cape. The Northern Cape developed from 1935 to 1980 into one of the major copper-producing districts in Africa and the world. However, a downturn in the copper price saw all activity in the district come to an end by 2005. Now, nearly two decades, later the world has changed. Copper’s exceptional conductivity properties and the growing role that it plays in the production of electric vehicles, for example, and the generation and distribution of renewable energy has seen global demand surge. It is expected to continue growing at an exponential rate. This upward trajectory holds significant promise for the Northern Cape, its people and its economy. ■ 41 NORTHERN CAPE BUSINESS 2024/25
