Samancor Manganese is expanding beneficiated product capacity at its GEMCO operations on Groote Eylandt, Carpentaria Bay, Northern Territory, Australia, from 4.2 million mt/y to 4.8 million mt/y. The expansion will also address infrastructure constraints by increasing road and port capacity to 5.9 million mt/y, creating 1.1 million mt/y of latent capacity for future expansions. The $279-million project is scheduled for completion in late 2013.

Samancor is owned 60% by BHP Billiton and 40% by Anglo American. The company produces a combination of manganese ores and alloys at sites in Australia and South Africa. BHP Billiton operates all of Samancor's operations.

The mine at Groote Eylandt was commissioned in 1965 and currently accounts for more than 15% of the world's high-grade manganese ore production. Ore is mined by open-cut, strip mining methods from GEMCO'S 84-km2 mining lease on the western side of the island and is exported around the world.