Limpopo Business 2021-22

OVERVIEW
Limpopo Premier Stanley Chupu Mathabatha (centre) cutting a
ceremonial ribbon, alongside members of the Platreef shaft-sinking
team, to signify the completion of the 850-metre top-cut station
development. Credit: Ivanhoe Mines
De Beers is expecting its Venetia underground project to start
delivering its first ore in the second half of 2022. Investment in
the project will amount to about $2.1-billion, from the start of the
project in 2013 through to 2025. The investment is expected to
extend the life of the mine to 2045 and possibly beyond that date.
An updated feasibility study published in 2020 showed good
results for Platreef’s palladium, platinum, rhodium, nickel, copper
and gold project. Ivanplats, a subsidiary of Ivanhoe Mines, is the
majority shareholder in the Platreef project. The local community
has a 26% stake with the other owners being a Japanese consortium
comprising ITOCHU Corporation, Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National
Corporation and Japan Gas Corporation.
Beneficiation plans
The soils of Limpopo are rich in platinum group metals, coal,
copper, diamonds, gold, iron ore, nickel, rare earth minerals and tin.
Limpopo contributes 4% of coal mining in South Africa, according
to the National Department of Mineral Resources but it is likely that
within the next three decades, the province will be supplying about
half of South Africa’s coal.
ONLINE RESOURCES
Department of Mineral Resources: www.dmr.gov.za
Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection: www.mistra.org.za
Minerals Council South Africa: www.mineralscouncil.org.za
South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: www.saimm.co.za
Limpopo’s Waterberg coal
field is estimated to contain
about 75-billion tons of coal.
Exxaro’s two coal mines in the
Waterberg represent threebillion
tons of Measured Coal
Resources and 1.8-billion tons
of Indicated Coal Resources.
This is where Exxaro operates its
giant Grootegeluk mine. Nine
plants serve a 4km-long and
120m-deep opencast mine on a
1 200ha site. Originally intended
to supply the nearby power
plants, Exxaro is now eyeing the
export market with countries
such as Ethiopia, Egypt and
Pakistan potential markets.
Mineral beneficiation is a
key component of the Musina-
Makhado Special Economic
Zone (MMSEZ) in the far north
of Limpopo and coal is needed
for the making of steel.
In 2018 nine Chinese
companies committed to
investing more than $10-billion
in projects related to the zone’s
four main areas of activity: a
coking plant, a power plant,
an alloy factory and the
manufacture of steel.
The planned Tubatse
Platinum SEZ will focus on
the beneficiation of platinum
group metals, magnetite,
vanadium and chrome. The
other strong mineral focus in
the eastern part of the province
is at Phalaborwa where Palabora
Copper, a subsidiary of Palabora
Mining Company, produces
about 45 000 tons of copper
annually, most of which is sold
domestically. It runs a smelter
and a refinery and also mines
magnetite, vermiculite, sulphuric
acid and nickel sulphate. ■
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