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Cape Town - An Australian-based mining company has committed itself to injecting more than R5bn into the Western Cape economy over the next five years.
Mineral Commodities Ltd (MRC) positions its Tormin mineral sands mine project as a niche supplier to a market which is experiencing growing demand, with limited new supply.
The mine, located on the West Coast about 400 km north of Cape Town, has active beach deposits of heavy minerals zircon, rutile, ilmenite and garnet. Extraction started in December 2013, from a beach north of Strandfontein.
MRC expects to invest over R1bn a year into the provincial economy for five years, believed to be the lifespan of the mine.
Speaking to an investor gathering at the Mining Indaba on Wednesday, CEO Andrew Lashbrooke said: “The Tormin project is fully funded and under budget. It remains on track to pay back its investment by the end of June 2014, a feat few mining projects anywhere in the world can emulate.”
Lashbrooke also focused on the contribution Tormin has made to the economic transformation of a number of poor communities associated with the project.
The building phase of Tormin mine created close to 65 local jobs, and 100 people will be employed during the life of the mine. It is envisaged that up to 400 indirect jobs will result from the expansion of the transport and other feeder services.
Almost 40% of the new employees had never had a job before. Lashbrooke admits that this was "a huge challenge to the working relationship", but added that it has also been "extremely rewarding to witness".
Empowerment has also been very much on management's mind.
"We were able to... ensure that management representations, employment equity, training and development as well as our supply chain was designed in such a way as to deliver benefits to a broader base of South Africans and new entrepreneurs."
Because of this, over 50% of the management team will be black "from the outset, including a number of women". Lashbrooke promises that "no job is restricted in terms of gender".
The company is confident that the offshore area, which is the source of the minerals and to which MRC has recently been awarded the prospecting rights, will replenish the beach and extend the mine life by at least a further five years.
Demand for the minerals mined is driven mainly by increasing urbanisation, which in turn drives the need for ceramics (zircon) and coatings (rutile and ilmenite)
- Fin24
Mineral Commodities Ltd (MRC) positions its Tormin mineral sands mine project as a niche supplier to a market which is experiencing growing demand, with limited new supply.
The mine, located on the West Coast about 400 km north of Cape Town, has active beach deposits of heavy minerals zircon, rutile, ilmenite and garnet. Extraction started in December 2013, from a beach north of Strandfontein.
MRC expects to invest over R1bn a year into the provincial economy for five years, believed to be the lifespan of the mine.
Speaking to an investor gathering at the Mining Indaba on Wednesday, CEO Andrew Lashbrooke said: “The Tormin project is fully funded and under budget. It remains on track to pay back its investment by the end of June 2014, a feat few mining projects anywhere in the world can emulate.”
Lashbrooke also focused on the contribution Tormin has made to the economic transformation of a number of poor communities associated with the project.
The building phase of Tormin mine created close to 65 local jobs, and 100 people will be employed during the life of the mine. It is envisaged that up to 400 indirect jobs will result from the expansion of the transport and other feeder services.
Almost 40% of the new employees had never had a job before. Lashbrooke admits that this was "a huge challenge to the working relationship", but added that it has also been "extremely rewarding to witness".
Empowerment has also been very much on management's mind.
"We were able to... ensure that management representations, employment equity, training and development as well as our supply chain was designed in such a way as to deliver benefits to a broader base of South Africans and new entrepreneurs."
Because of this, over 50% of the management team will be black "from the outset, including a number of women". Lashbrooke promises that "no job is restricted in terms of gender".
The company is confident that the offshore area, which is the source of the minerals and to which MRC has recently been awarded the prospecting rights, will replenish the beach and extend the mine life by at least a further five years.
Demand for the minerals mined is driven mainly by increasing urbanisation, which in turn drives the need for ceramics (zircon) and coatings (rutile and ilmenite)
- Fin24
