OVERVIEWSECTOR
OVERVIEWSECTOR INSIGHTVedanta is sponsoring anoncology facility.MiningThe 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 inthe critical minerals subsector. Diamonds were the firstreason for miners to descend on the area now known asthe Northern Cape, asbestos and limestone have alsobeen attractions over the years, but it was iron ore and manganesethat really set the region up as a mining destination of note.The Kalahari Basin is home to between 70% and 80% of theworld’s manganese resource. The website Mindat.org refers tothe Kalahari Manganese Field as “one of the geological andmineralogical wonders of the world”.Now copper and zinc are trending because of the role theyplay making production processes greener. While iron ore andmanganese continue to deliver huge volumes of material, it is thecritical minerals that are attracting new investments and gettingthe headlines.The Premier of the Northern Cape, Dr Zamani Saul, says he wantsto “ensure that the mining sector remains competitive, sustainableand integrated into the green economy”. A national EnergyAction Plan envisages a role for electron-based renewable powerand green hydrogen and the Premier has pledged that his provincewill actively support the plan.One of South Africa’s biggest investors in infrastructure andsectorally significant industries, the Industrial DevelopmentCorporation (IDC), has its own Critical Minerals Game Plan. It isthat commitment that explains the IDC’s investment role in twoprojects of Orion Minerals whichare currently gathering pace.Having received the allclearearly in 2025 to proceedfrom the Takeover RegulationPanel in respect of the company’sBlack Economic Empowerment(BEE) Entrepreneur ShareAcquisition Agreement, Orionhas moved into the projectfinancingphase for its OkiepProject, the feasibility stagehaving already been reachedand approved.Mining Weekly reported inMarch 2025 that for the PrieskaCopper Zinc Mine to achievefirst-concentrate productionwithin 13 months wouldrequire R560-million in capitalexpenditure. It is estimated thatthe total capital cost for this minewill amount to R7.59-billion.Orion Minerals MD and CEOErrol Smart told the magazinethat it was “an incredibly strongproject” and that the IDC hadbeen “fantastically supportive”.The IDC has identified keyopportunities for the nationaleconomy on the path to zincindustrialisation includingfertiliser phospates, zinc-coatedsteel and battery storage. TheNew Industries unit of theIDC has developed a strategyfor zinc-bromide redox flowbatteries. There is potential fora copper smelter plant in theNamakwa Special EconomicZone (NAMSEZ), which wouldfurther stimulate explorationand mining.NORTHERN CAPE BUSINESS 2025/2636PHOTO: Vedanta Zinc International
OVERVIEWCentral to any plan to establish a smelter would be a partnershipwith the biggest new mine in the country, the Gamsberg projectof Vedanta Zinc International at Aggeneys. The mine will deliver600 000 tons of zinc when phase three is complete. The provincialgovernment is using the mine’s location (and possible futuresmelter) as the basis for a new Namakwa Special Economic Zone.The SEZ forms part of a larger “multi-nodal” corridor envisaged forthe province.The provincial government is in a partnership with VedantaZinc International to establish an Oncology Treatment Facility inSpringbok. The R22-million facility is expected to be completed byDecember 2025.Another miner in the critical minerals sector is Copper 360, whichmore than doubled its potential capacity when it bought NamaCopper from Mazule Resources. The company controls 12 mines on19 000ha north of Springbok and has been focused on processingwaste to generate copper cathode but in 2025 it expects to startworking the underground Rietberg mine.Multiple assetsHotazel is at the centre of a manganese mining hub, with severalcompanies operating mines nearby. Nchwaning and Gloria minesare collectively known as Black Rock and they are owned byAssmang, a joint venture between Assore and African RainbowMinerals. Several new manganese mines have opened in recentyears, including Tshipi Borwa, UMK, Kalagadi and Kudumane. TheEverything about the Sishen mine is big, including the explosions.ONLINE RESOURCESKathu Industrial Park: www.kathuindustrialpark.co.zaMinerals Council South Africa: www.mineralscouncil.org.zaNorthern Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism:www.northern-cape.gov.za/dedatcompany has two other iron-oremines in the Northern Cape.Everything about theKolomela iron-ore mine nearPostmasburg is large. Previouslyknown as Sishen South, KumbaIron Ore is the largest iron-oreproducer in Africa. Kumba IronOre owns 76.3% of Sishen IronOre Company (SIOC) with thebalance held by Exxaro and theSIOC Community DevelopmentTrust. Through the SIOC, KumbaIron Ore owns three mines, oneof which, Sishen, is also in theNorthern Cape. The Sishen/Kolomela-Saldanha iron-oreexport channel sees to it thatvast amounts of iron ore areexported through the latterport. Trains weighing 34 200tons leave the mines every ninehours, each train having five tosix locomotives and 342 wagons.Diamonds are still mined inand near Kimberley and PetraDiamonds operates the FinschMine near Lime Acres. Awayfrom the undergroundkimberlite pipes and fissures,river and coastal deposits ofdiamonds are also present in theNorthern Cape.Diamonds have been recoveredalong the Orange, Buffels, Spoeg,Horees, Groen, Doom and Swartrivers in the province, whilecoastal deposits have beenfound from the mouth of theOrange River to Lamberts Bay.AfriSam quarries 15-milliontons of limestone west ofDelportshoop and producesone-million tons of cement therein addition to holding propertiesfurther south where it hasacquired three mines from CozaMining. KP Lime has bought PPCLime’s mines at Lime Acres. ■PHOTO: Kumba Iron Ore37NORTHERN CAPE BUSINESS 2025/26
