The start of the exploitation of heavy mineral sands in the Chibuto district, in Mozambique’s south-western province of Gaza, was now a certainty, Mineral Resources and Energy provincial director Castro Elias told Mozambique news agency AIM at the end of last month. It would, he added, radically change the quality of life of the local population.

The concession to exploit the Chibuto heavy mineral sands is held by Chinese group Dingsheng Minerals and, in its current first phase, covers an area of 10 000 ha. This could, however, be increased to 15 000 ha in a second phase.

Dingsheng is currently installing a processing platform that will have a daily production capacity of 10 000 t of sand. Elias reported that the miner was also currently making preparations to install another nine processing platforms. These would all be operational by the middle of next year, taking daily production capacity up to 100 000 t.

According to AIM, studies are under way to determine the best method of transporting the minerals extracted from the sands. The initial plan was to build a railway line from Chibuto to Lionde (in the Chókwè district of Gaza), where it would connect with the main line from the capital, Maputo, to Zimbabwe. The minerals would be carried to the port town of Matola (effectively a suburb of Maputo) for export.

“Following more in-depth studies, it was concluded that it would be more viable to build a port at Chongoene; the formal process to obtain the space for the installation of this development is at a pretty advanced stage,” he said. Chongoene lies some 15 km from the Gaza provincial capital of Xai-Xai.

Heavy mineral sands supply ilmenite and rutile, as well as zirconium. Ilmenite and rutile are titanium minerals, from which titanium dioxide pigment, titanium metal and welding electrodes are produced. Zirconium is important for the ceramics industry, and is used in the production of wall and floor tiles and sanitary ware, as well as being used in the foundry and refractory industries.

Dingsheng’s Chibuto operation will reportedly focus mainly on the titanium minerals. It has also been reported that the Chibuto deposit has a reserve of 500-million tons and the planned life of the operation is 15 years. Up to 2017, $471-million had been invested in the project.

Chibuto will be the fourth heavy mineral sands project to start operating in Mozambique. The first was Irish company Kenmare Resources’ Moma operation, in Nampula province, which commenced production in 2007. The second was Chinese group Africa Great Wall Mining Development Group’s Angoche project, also in the Nampula province, which is focused on extracting zirconium. (This is operated by Africa Great Wall subcontractor Haiyo.) The third is also an Africa Great Wall initiative, the Quelimane project, in Zambézia province, which started production in 2013. UK miner Savannah Resources and Anglo-Australian group Rio Tinto are currently jointly developing the Mutamba project, which straddles the Gaza and Inhambane provinces.