The Republic of South Africa is well-trodden ground for Australian explorers and the two countries have enjoyed a two-way knowledge exchange in the resources sector for many decades. Established RSA manganese producer Jupiter Mines Ltd is one Australian company that reflects the benefits of that relationship in practice with the long-term success of its Tshipi project.
Managing Director and CEO Brad Rogers told Africa Downunder that Tshipi was one of the world’s best manganese mines and was the fourth largest by production in the world.
Incredibly, the project has a remaining mine life estimate of more than 100 years and also benefits from being one of the lowest cost mines in the world as well.
Located in the Northern Cape of South Africa, Tshipi benefits from first class infrastructure including a dedicated rail access, its own rail loop and relatively simple processing ahead of DSO shipping.
Tshipi produces 3.5 million tonnes per annum on a stable basis for the last four years of production, with head room to grow in terms of 5 million tonnes per annum of capacity on the rail loop.
“It really is manganese heart land, not just in South Africa, but globally. The Kalahari manganese field contains 80 per cent of the world’s Reserves and 32 per cent of the world’s production,” Mr Rogers said.
“Tshipi is well-run, and I say non-stop because it has been non-stop. In 10 years since operations commenced that mine has never stopped.
“It never stopped for an hour, not for protests, strikes or any civil disruption reasons. I know there are sometimes concerns about operating in South Africa, but we can point to the score board and say this mine has operated without stopping – part of that is that it has its own dedicated power, but it is also well run and managed to be very successful continuously in that period of time.”
The predominant use of manganese today is in steel making and development of specialty alloys, which accounts for between 90-95 per cent of global production.
The emerging use for manganese is in lithium-ion batteries, which although representing a small percentage now, is a market that is expected to grow significantly in the form of high purity manganese sulphate.