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). Steenkampskraal Monazite Mine holds the mining right for the Steenkampskraal rare earth mine.

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 it 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 project has received its water licence from the Department of Water and Sanitation, marking the last of the remaining permits that the mine required. As a result, Steenkampskraal is now fully permitted to start construction and production, Steenkampskraal chairperson Trevor Blench has said.

The mining right enables the company to mine all the minerals in the 474 ha mining right area, except diamonds and oil, until 2030. This mining right is renewable, which means that it can be extended for another 10 to 20 years beyond 2030.

“The mine’s NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) confirms the presence of 605 000 t of ore at an average grade of 14.4%, which is the highest rare earth grade in the world, with an MRE that complies with the NI 43-101 requirements,” Blench explains.

The neodymium grade, on its own, is 2.58%, the praseodymium grade is 0.74%, the dysprosium grade is 0.14% and the terbium grade is 0.03%. The combined grade of these four rare earths that are used to make the magnets for electric motors is 3.49%, which “is higher than the total rare earth grades of most other rare earth deposits”.

This MRE confirms the presence of 86 930 t of rare earths at the Steenkampskraal mine, including 15 600 tons of neodymium, 4 450 t of praseodymium, 867 t of dysprosium and 182 t of terbium.

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.

Steenkampskraal recently received a renewal from the Department of Mineral Resources for its existing prospecting right around the Steenkampskraal mine.

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