Kumba Moves Ahead with Sishen South Development


Kumba Iron Ore Ltd. has initiated development of its new Sishen South iron ore mine 80 km south of its currently producing Sishen mine in South Africa’s Northern Cape province. The project is scheduled to start production in 2012, ramping up to design capacity of 9 million mt/y in 2013. Capital expenditures to complete the project are budgeted at 8.5 billion rand ($1.15 billion). Orders for long-lead-time equipment have been placed.

The Sishen South mine will produce 64% Fe lump and 63.5% Fe fine direct shipping ores for export. The ore will be transported on the main Sishen-Saldanha rail line to the port of Saldanha Bay via a rail link to be built from Sishen South. Approximately 750 people will be employed by the mine, and 2,000 jobs will be created at the peak of construction. Indirect job creation in the region is estimated at about 4,000 jobs.

Kumba produced 32.4 million mt of iron ore in 2007. A 13-million-mt/y expansion project at the Sishen mine is currently in the ramp-up phase and is expected to reach full production in 2009. A pre-feasibility study to further increase production by 5 million to 10 million mt/y is due to be completed by year-end 2008.

As featured in Womp 08 Vol 7 - www.womp-int.com