Name of the Project
Steenkampskraal rare earths mine project.

Location
The mine is located in the Western Cape, South Africa.

Project Owner/s
Steenkampskraal Holdings (SHL).

Project Description
The Steenkampskraal mine is an existing mine that produced and exported a monazite concentrate during the 1950s and 1960s.

The mine is one of the highest-grade rare earths and thorium mines in the world, with average grades of 14.4% rare earths and 2.14% thorium.

The mine’s design has been developed to make optimum use of the existing underground infrastructure and is based on conventional stoping techniques, tramming the ore to the bottom of the incline shaft and hoisting the ore up the incline shaft. The planned production volume of 2 700 t/y of rare earths will include 480 t of neodymium, 138 t of praseodymium, 26 t of dysprosium and 5 t of terbium.

About 30 000 t/y of ore will be mined and processed, after allowing for ore dilution during the mining process. At this rate of production, the project will have a mine life of about 25 years.

Potential Job Creation
About 200 jobs are expected to be created.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The net present value of the project is estimated at R1.201-million and the internal rate of return at 53.3%.

Capital Expenditure
The capital expenditure for the project is currently estimated at about R500-million.

Steenkampskraal Holdings will save about 80% in mine construction costs, as it will use most of the existing infrastructure at the mine.

Planned Start/End Date
Construction is expected to take about 12 months.

Latest Developments
The Steenkampskraal project has received all the necessary regulatory approvals to complete construction and start production in 12 to 18 months.

The mine’s infrastructure is currently 80% complete.

Steenkampskraal Holdings chairperson Trevor Blench has said that the mine’s water-use licence, which was recently granted, was the last outstanding permit before mining could start.

Steenkampskraal had prepared a detailed analysis of the groundwater reserves, flows and replenishment rates around the mine. It drilled several boreholes and equipped these boreholes with generators, pumps and pipes to supply water for the mine.

The company then built a reverse-osmosis plant to treat 20 000 ℓ/h of water, which was sufficient to meet the mine’s requirements.

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has also granted Steenkampskraal a mining right, subsequently enabling the company to mine all the minerals in the 474 ha mining right area, except diamonds and oil, until 2030.

The right is renewable for 10 or 20 years beyond 2030.

The mine’s mineral resource estimate confirms the presence of 605 000 t of ore at an average grade of 14.4% total rare-earth oxides (TREOs).

The neodymium grade, on its own, is 2.58%, the praseodymium grade 0.74%, the dysprosium grade 0.14% and the terbium grade 0.03%.

Blench explains that the combined grade of these four rare earths, which are used to make the magnets for electric motors, is 3.49%, which is higher than the total rare earths grades of most other rare earths deposits.

The mineral resource estimate confirms the presence of 86 930 t of rare earths at the mine, including 15 600 t of neodymium, 4 450 t of praseodymium, 867 t of dysprosium and 182 t of terbium.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Steenkampskraal Holdings, tel +27 21 852 4998, fax +27 086 619 7330 or email info@steenkampskraal.com