Namakwa Sands, South Africa

Namakwa Sands, South Africa

At our operations on the West Coast of South Africa, we mine and beneficiate heavy minerals to produce titanium dioxide feedstock (chloride and sulphate grades), zircon, rutile and high purity iron products. The products are used as feedstock in a wide range of applications including pigments, metals, ceramics, and foundries.

The open-pit mine and concentration plants are situated at Brand-se-Baai, 385km north of Cape Town. Here the ore is mined and processed at the primary concentration plants to produce a mineral concentrate. It undergoes further processing at the secondary concentration plant to yield a magnetic and non-magnetic stream. These concentrates are transported 60km to the Mineral Separation Plant where the minerals in the streams are separated to produce zircon, rutile and ilmenite. Rail trucks are used to transport the products 270km to the smelter at Saldanha Bay where the ilmenite is processed in furnaces to produce titanium dioxide slag and pig iron. The zircon and rutile is stored on site for export.