White elephant ‘will be a black elephant spewing manganese’
Kalagadi Manganese, the R9bn manganese mine the industry thought would never happen is starting to ramp up production. The mining company, chaired by Daphne Mashile-Nkosi, is targeting October 2019 for steady-state production of 2.4-million tonnes a year of sintered manganese, a form of manganese no other company in SA produces except South32, which uses it in its own alloy smelters. "This white elephant which is so famous in the Northern Cape will be a black elephant spewing manganese," Mashile-Nkosi said, referring to the black colour of raw manganese. The 350m-deep mine has started blasting ore, with a steep ramp-up to 67,269 tonnes of manganese ore in December as the company embarks on bord-and-pillar development on the thick deposit, taking delivery of machinery each month to reach the target. The mine will generate 3-million tonnes of ore a year to convert into 2.4-million tonnes of sinter, which is in demand in Chinese steel mills because of its reduced levels of pollutant ga...
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