Diehards dig in, thwarting Kumba's plans
Old-town holdouts and riots among the relocated beset Sishen expansion
The only thing standing between Kumba Iron Ore and the expansion of its Sishen operation in the Northern Cape is 14 households. An aerial view of the small town of Dingleton, near the mine, reveals a few intact houses and a lot of empty space and demolished buildings. Most of the town has already been relocated to Kathu, 30km away. The remaining few have chosen to continue fighting the Anglo American-owned mining house for better compensation. Sishen, Kumba's opencast mine, has a life of 13 years. The expansion would extend this by another 20 years. But this cannot happen unless the whole community agrees to relocate from the 68-year-old town. Kumba has spent the past five years constructing the relocation area. It spent the five years before that doing feasibility studies in the area to see where else it could get access to more of the premium lumpy grade iron ore - which is currently selling at a premium of $82 a ton due to high demand in China, the EU, India, Japan, the Middle Ea...
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