Vedanta Zinc Opens Gamsberg Mine in South Africa

Vedanta Zinc International has officially cut the ribbon on its Gamsberg zinc mine in South Africa’s Northern Cape province.

The mine has a reserve and resource of over 214 million tonnes with a grade range of 6 to 6.5 percent zinc and an estimated mine life of over 30 years. On Thursday (February 28), phase 1 of the operation kicked off, which is set to produce 4 million tonnes per year (mtpa) of ore from the open pit and 250,000 tonnes per year (tpa) of concentrate from the concentrator plant.

The company is currently exploring phases 2 and 3, which would boost mined ore to 8 mtpa and zinc-in-concentrate production to 450,000 tonnes per year, the latter being ultimately boosted to 600,000 tpa. According to Vedanta, phase 1 represents a US$400-million investment, while phases 2 and 3 will indicate an additional US$350- to US$400-million investment.

“Local procurement is critical to economic development. More than 90 percent of our US$400-million investment at Gamsberg has been spent in South Africa,” Vedanta CEO Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan said in a statement.

“Our expenditure with local enterprises was around R77.5 million in 2018, while we invested more than R44.6 million in 2018 on training and social projects aimed at skills development, education, health, enterprise development and municipal infrastructure support. And this was before the mine had made a single cent.”

Alongside Gamsberg’s unveiling, the company is currently working on a feasibility study to develop and construct a smelter-refinery complex. Construction of the project’s first phase employed over 3,000 people, while full production at Gamsberg is set to employ 800 to 850 people.

Vedanta acquired Gamsberg as part of the Black Mountain Mining complex in 2011 and went on to officially green-light the project in 2014, with the first blast occurring in 2015.

“The Vedanta Gamsberg project is an important step in our shared journey to revive our mining industry,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said. “It confirms our view that with an effective regulatory framework, improved collaboration between all stakeholders and sustained investment, mining has the potential to be a sunrise industry.”

“South Africa has vast undeveloped mineral deposits that we have the opportunity to exploit for the benefit of all the people of this country.”

As of February 27, zinc was trading at US$2,771 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Olivia Da Silva, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.