The twin pearls of Africa

The sand dunes of the KwaZulu-Natal shoreline in South Africa have for three decades been providing Richards Bay Minerals with a rich harvest of raw materials for the production of titania slag, pig iron and other products, while on Africa’s western seaboard, at the edge of the sandy Namib desert, Rössing Uranium is embarking on an investment programme that will extend the mine’s life by at least ten years.

Shifting sands

Most mines go downward from the surface, either as an underground operation or as an ever deepening, and widening, open pit. But Richards Bay Minerals (Rio Tinto: 50 per cent) in South Africa is different. It is a mine on the move.

Over the last 30 years the mine has been gradually edging its way northwards along the sand dunes on the KwaZulu-Natal coast, and in the process it has yielded vast quantities of ilmenite (a rich source of titanium dioxide and iron), rutile and zircon.

Although the mining operation at Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) uses sophisticated technology, in concept it is quite simple.

A huge dredger floating in its own artificially created freshwater “pond” (there are currently five such ponds) burrows into the sand at the base of the dune wall. This causes part of the dune to flow into the pond, and the sand-water slurry is hoovered up by the dredger, working as a massive floating vacuum cleaner.