Hotazel, Northern Cape – A former Soweto rioter is kicking up a beneficiation storm in South Africa’s dusty Kalahari manganese field.

Daphne Mashile-Nkosi, who was in the thick of it when students went on the rampage for better education on that historic June 16, 1976, day in Soweto, is currently more than halfway through the mining and sintering segment of an integrated project at an overall capital cost of R11-billion, which also includes a planned, but still not contracted, ferromanganese smelter at the Coega industrial development zone at the deep-water Ngqura port, near Port Elizabeth.

The former Sekano Ntoane High School maths and science pupil – who instead of completing her matriculation in 1976 found herself dodging police teargas and live bullets and then later being detained – is now dodging beneficiation naysayers and those who turn up their noses at women in mining.

She is also having to deal with observations that she has not yet invited tenders for the smelter although time is running out.

Meanwhile, the Kalagadi executive chairperson has already overseen the erection of the area’s tallest mine headgear at 85 m and in the next few years, she expects a strong revenue flow from the structures under vigorous construction at Hotazel currently as well as the Eastern Cape smelter to come.

“From 2014 onwards, we’re looking at an annual revenue generation of about R12-billion to R13-billion,” says Mashile-Nkosi, who is also targeting a 50% female employee complement.

The projected revenue takes into account the high-carbon ferromanganese segment of the project, for which tenders must still be called and a construction contract awarded.

Unless that contract is awarded soon, Mining Weekly believes that it may well be a tough ask to expect the total project to meet the third quarter of 2012 commissioning date.

However, Mashile-Nkosi, who is used to confounding the Doubting Thomases, says that she is confident that all project segments will come together in the third quarter of 2012 as planned, and that the smelter will be in place at Coega in time to receive sinter from Hotazel.

Mining Milestone

Mashile-Nkosi hosted a media visit last week to mark the holing-through of the main shaft across the lateral developments to the ventilation shaft, at a depth of 281 m, the latest milestone at the Kalagadi mine.

The 281 m depth is the production depth from which stoping will advance.

Thus far, all mine development has been achieved without a fatal or disabling injury. “As women, we give life – we don’t take it away,” says Mashile-Nkosi, who is a stickler for safety.

With the hole-through, there are now two escape routes from the mine and good ventilation in the underground workings.

The next major mine milestone will be when both shafts reach the loading level at a depth of 317 m, which is scheduled to take place in November.

The Mining Weekly team took a kibble down the ventilation shaft under the watchful eye of Grinaker-LTA contracts manager Ivan Walker.

We climbed out at the key depth of 281 m and walked along a cavernous underground tunnel to the crusher chamber, where support drilling was under way.

Walker pointed out a tunnel wall that he said was chock-a-block with manganese.
The Kalagadi ore has 37% to 38% manganese content, which the sinter plant on surface will enhance to between 47% and 48%.

We witnessed underground silo support being put in place before making our way through a newly developed tunnel to the point where the hole-through is located.

On surface, manganese ore bins and coking coal bins were being put in place at the sinter plant during the Mining Weekly visit and the sinter cooler was under construction (see Two-Minute Interview on page 9).

Shareholders Footing the Bill

To date, not a cent of debt has been expended on this project, only R4.2-billion of shareholders’ funds.

“We’re on target to finish in August next year. We’ve managed so far with very minor injuries to our workers, which we regard as a great achievement,” Walker tells Mining Weekly.

Only now is R6.5-billion of debt being raised from both developmental and commercial funders, which have agreed a common term sheet.

The three-million tons of ore a year that will be mined will be fed into the now 53%-complete sinter plant for the production of 2.4-million tons a year of sinter, 700 000 t of which will be sent to the smelter and 1.7-million tons a year of which will be marketed.

The smelter has a planned capacity of 320 000 t/y of high-carbon ferromanganese.

At the time of going to press, manganese ore was selling at $5/dry manganese ton unit (dmtu), sinter at between $7/dmtu and $8/dmtu and ferromanganese at $1 300/t.

The mine, sinter plant and smelter are expected to employ 2 200 people, and, if Mashile-Nkosi can manage it, half of them will be women.

Black women are the controlling shareholders of Kalahari Resources, the company that holds 40% of the shares in Kalagadi.
Several women have already been employed at operational level, including the mine engineer, the geologist and process engineers and Mashile-Nkosi regularly pointed out the many women on site and in the contractors’ camp at the mine.

At corporate level, the com- pany’s CFO and human resources head are also women.
Vuyokazi Nontso tells Mining Weekly that that the opportunity to serve as the Kalagadi mine engineer has given her a new lease of life.

“I’ve always been an operational and production person, but now I’ve also got the respons-ibility of having to do mine design and deal with safety factors on shaft pillars and in stopes,” says Nontso, who has twice repre- sented South Africa at inter- national karate tournaments.

She has “huge” respect for shaft sinkers after witnessing the blind sinking of the main shaft and she is currently involved in machinery selection, output planning and health and safety enhancement.

“Naysayers have been question-ing our ability as a new comer to produce three-million tons of ore a year. But we are designing with an end in mind and every- thing that we do talks to the need to achieve that three-million tons output a year,” Nontso says.

She sees ample scope for expansion, both in terms of the current resource of 130-million tons and the size of the equipment selected.

The State-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) holds 10% and steelmaker and miner ArcelorMittal the remaining 50%.

The plan is the three-million tons of ore a year to serve as the feedstock for the production of 2.4-million tons a year of sinter, of which 1.7-million tons a year will be marketed and 700 000 t/y smelted into 320 000 t/y of high-carbon ferromanganese.

The IDC is keen to promote optimum beneficiation and Mittal has secured an offtake agreement of 850 000 t/y.

Mittal paid $432.5-million for its interest in Kalagadi Manganese in early 2008, 10% of which was distributed to Kalahari Resources shareholders, turning some penury Northern Cape women into millionaires overnight, and the rest ploughed into the project to retain the 40% shareholding.

Kalagadi has secured both rail and port capacity from Transnet Freight Rail and power supply from Eskom.
Power is to be supplied by a 132 kV line from the Ferrum substation near the Sishen iron-ore mine. The Kalagadi mine will require 35 MW.

A rapid load-out rail station will be the focal point of a link to the rail network.

A pipeline, which will follow the rail route, will bring water from the Vaal Gamagara pipeline and be managed by Sedibeng Water.

Kalagadi is currently generating its own power for the project from diesel-fuelled generator sets and a temporary water pipeline is currently supplying project needs.

“Our primary focus is bene-ficiation, and there is a strong business case for beneficiation,” says Mashile-Nkosi.

Class of ’76

Mashile-Nkosi, who intends bringing her 82-year-old mother, Lina, who she credits with being her role model, to see the project, says she was respected at school as one of the few girls in a class of mainly boys who were doing maths and science.

Being in that Class of ’76, she was unable to do matric in 1976 and only completed it the following year.

She was active in the formation of the student movement ‘Cosas’ in 1979 and a founder member of the Detainees Aid Movement in 1981 and gave paralegal advice to the parents of detained Soweto students.

In 1999, she became part of the empowered Eyesizwe energy coal mining company and decided to enter manganese mining in 2001.

She raised R12,5-million for the prefeasibility study, but began to come up against brick walls.

“I always look at the vulture. It’s a very patient bird. It waits up there and gets what it wants at the end of the day,” says Mashile-Nkosi, who admits to having an autocratic management style.

She was able to advance the study to bankable feasibility level with the help of the IDC and has now reached near-production stage.

On mine nationalisation, she says: “I don’t think it’s going to happen.”

“I’ve started from scratch, from where there was nothing, and I’ve paid for the prefeasibility study and the bankable feasibility study. My project will be ready and running. At this point in time, I would not allow my mine to be taken over by the State,” she adds.

An entrepreneur to her fingertips, Mashile-Nkosi represents the antithesis of mine national- isation and an example of what determined individuals can achieve.

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