South Africa’s largest mineral sands producer, Richards Bay Minerals (RBM), said on Thursday it aims to restart its Zulti South project next year as it announced its plan for combating climate change.
MD Werner Duvenhage told the media on Thursday RMB would seek approval from its own shareholders and Rio Tinto to develop Zulti South.
“Next year sometime we will get a decision and we hope that if it is favourable we can start next year with the project.”
He said RBM was taking a long-term view regarding the company’s sustainability. “Part of that plan is the development of Zulti South as well.”
In April 2019 Rio Tinto approved a $463m investment to construct the Zulti South project — a high-margin zircon and rutile producer — in a bid to sustain RBM’s capacity and extend the mine’s life. The development was suspended in April 2019 as crime directed at employees escalated, with one employee being shot and seriously injured.
Duvenhage said the Zulti South project was suspended with the condition that it would resume once stability returned.
“We did not want further loss of life, threats to people’s lives and things like that.”
With the help of national government, RBM was now able to resume operations at Zulti South.
“The current operations are running very smoothly. Unrest or disruptions are almost unheard of since 2021 after the KwaZulu-Natal riots, it has been quiet at RBM from that perspective. We are glad about that. We recognise everyone’s role in that. It has allowed us to continue our work on Zulti South in preparing for and taking it for approval to Rio Tinto and the RBM shareholders for approval,” he said.
On Thursday RBM announced a 20-year power purchase agreement with Khangela Emoyeni Wind Farm. It will secure 140MW of wind energy from the wind farm straddling the Western and Northern Cape provinces, which is expected to reduce the miner’s annual carbon emissions by 20% and cut its existing reliance on Eskom.
“Financially it is beneficial for us compared to the current rates we are paying at Eskom, especially keeping in mind the rates we are paying during seasons like now, the winter season, where rates are significantly higher.”
We have 5,500 people that work permanently at RBM. It is a significant workforce whose future gets secured by power deals like this
— Werner Duvenhage, RBM MD
Duvenhage said the deal is a win given its financial benefits for RBM.
“We have now locked in ways of calculation in the agreement and in the Eskom rate we are left to the regulator’s decisions on Eskom’s request for rate increases — which we might expect to be higher than inflation. It is really a win-win,” he said.
Duvenhage said decarbonising was key to expanding markets for RBM, whose biggest clients are in North America, Europe, and the Far East.
He said the group was trying to differentiate itself as a carbon-neutral producer, especially at its smelter operations for its markets in the EU that demand a cleaner carbon footprint on imported goods.
“It definitely is an incentive for us. We want to retain our markets, we want to grow our other markets as well. We are a significant player in mineral sands, even internationally,” he said.
While no jobs will be created in KwaZulu-Natal through the construction of the wind farm, communities around Richards Bay will benefit from the project as it sustains the business.
“We have 5,500 people that work permanently at RBM. It is a significant workforce whose future gets secured by power deals like this.”
RBM said Khangela Emoyeni Wind Farm will produce 460GWh of renewable energy a year, through a wheeling agreement with Eskom to its operations. The project is expected to come online in the next two years.
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