OVERVIEW SECTOR INSIGHT
OVERVIEW SECTOR INSIGHT Vedanta is sponsoring an oncology facility. Mining The Northern Cape has a critical role in critical minerals. Vedanta’s huge zinc mine is giving the province a lead in critical minerals. The Northern Cape is rapidly becoming a major player in the critical minerals subsector. Diamonds were the first reason for miners to descend on the area now known as the Northern Cape, asbestos and limestone have also been attractions over the years, but it was iron ore and manganese that really set the region up as a mining destination of note. 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”. Now copper and zinc are trending because of the role they play making production processes greener. While iron ore and manganese continue to deliver huge volumes of material, it is the critical minerals that are attracting new investments and getting the headlines. The Premier of the Northern Cape, Dr Zamani Saul, says he wants to “ensure that the mining sector remains competitive, sustainable and integrated into the green economy”. A national Energy Action Plan envisages a role for electron-based renewable power and green hydrogen and the Premier has pledged that his province will actively support the plan. One of South Africa’s biggest investors in infrastructure and sectorally significant industries, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), has its own Critical Minerals Game Plan. It is that commitment that explains the IDC’s investment role in two projects of Orion Minerals which are currently gathering pace. Having received the allclear early in 2025 to proceed from the Takeover Regulation Panel in respect of the company’s Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) Entrepreneur Share Acquisition Agreement, Orion has moved into the projectfinancing phase for its Okiep Project, the feasibility stage having already been reached and approved. Mining Weekly reported in March 2025 that for the Prieska Copper Zinc Mine to achieve first-concentrate production within 13 months would require R560-million in capital expenditure. It is estimated that the total capital cost for this mine will amount to R7.59-billion. Orion Minerals MD and CEO Errol Smart told the magazine that it was “an incredibly strong project” and that the IDC had been “fantastically supportive”. The IDC has identified key opportunities for the national economy on the path to zinc industrialisation including fertiliser phospates, zinc-coated steel and battery storage. The New Industries unit of the IDC has developed a strategy for zinc-bromide redox flow batteries. There is potential for a copper smelter plant in the Namakwa Special Economic Zone (NAMSEZ), which would further stimulate exploration and mining. NORTHERN CAPE BUSINESS 2025/26 36 PHOTO: Vedanta Zinc International
OVERVIEW Central to any plan to establish a smelter would be a partnership with the biggest new mine in the country, the Gamsberg project of Vedanta Zinc International at Aggeneys. The mine 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. The provincial government is in a partnership with Vedanta Zinc International to establish an Oncology Treatment Facility in Springbok. The R22-million facility is expected to be completed by December 2025. Another miner in the critical minerals sector is Copper 360, which more than doubled its potential capacity when it bought Nama Copper from Mazule Resources. The company controls 12 mines on 19 000ha north of Springbok and has been focused on processing waste to generate copper cathode but in 2025 it expects to start working the underground Rietberg mine. Multiple assets 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 Everything about the Sishen mine is big, including the explosions. 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 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, Kumba Iron Ore is the largest iron-ore producer in Africa. Kumba Iron Ore owns 76.3% of 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. Diamonds are still mined in and near Kimberley and Petra Diamonds operates the Finsch Mine near Lime Acres. Away from the underground kimberlite pipes and fissures, river and coastal deposits of diamonds 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. 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. ■ PHOTO: Kumba Iron Ore 37 NORTHERN CAPE BUSINESS 2025/26
