THERE has been a piquing of interest in the mineral wealth of Northern Cape, the “Cinderella Province”, with 13 new iron-ore and manganese mines being opened in the past three years.
After 130 years, the diamond-mining industry is slowing down, leaving the province with many ghost towns as other industries have struggled to take root.
But, according to Mehmood Ahmed, head of the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) Northern Cape, new life is being blown into the region, with housing developments popping up on every block and trucks travelling between bustling little towns again.
“Towns such as Kuruman, Kathu, Hotazel and Postmasburg can’t keep up with developments. The area is growing at a tremendous pace.” The new mines all have a strong black shareholding and ownership model driven by a mandate from the government to transform the country’s mining industry.
A black consortium led by Clyde Johnson has reopened the Sedibeng iron-ore mine at Postmasburg, which was first mined in the 1960s.
The Cape Gannet Properties consortium, which includes 11 different entities, in 2007 revisited the deposit lying between two of South Africa’s biggest iron-ore mines — Kolomela and Beeshoek.
In a quest for capital, the consortium partnered with Indian conglomerate Tata Steel and the IDC. Tata put down R375-million for 64% of the Sedibeng iron-ore mine, and the IDC took out R290m, of which R160m went towards securing the black economic empowerment ownership.
Tata Steel senior geology and planning manager Nandakumar Lakshmipathy said he had spent the past five years in South Africa working on the project. He was later joined by general manager Sanjit Kumar Adhya and three other technical staff members.
“Tata had to look for new iron-ore mines when the company bought over the second-largest steel plant in Europe. We needed new mines to feed this $12bn plant and the IDC showed us this deposit,” said Mr Lakshmipathy.
The mine has produced two shipments of 340000 tons since last October, and aims to produce twomillion tons a year by 2016.
For the rest of this article, click here: http://www.bdlive.co.za/businesstimes/2013/07/07/new-life-for-sa-s-small-mining-towns