PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Australia-listed Jupiter Mines and OM Holdings (OMH), along with South Africa’s Ntsimbintle Mining, have formed a joint venture (JV) to market the manganese ore produced from the Tshipi Borwa project, in the Kalahari manganese field, in South Africa.
The JV vehicle, in which each partner would hold a 33.3% stake, would trade under the name OM Tshipi, and would be based out of Singapore.
Jupiter Mines said this week that OM Tshipi would become a major marketer of South African manganese ore, with the potential to sell over two-million tonnes a year of production, and would generate significant export earnings for the Tshipi Borwa project and the South African economy.
Furthermore, the JV vehicle would also enter into a take-or-pay offtake contract with Tshipi for all the available production for the next two years, extendable at the option of the parties.
During January to June, the Tshipi operation dispatched 191 410 t of medium-grade lump ore, with another 172 460 t to be shipped during July and September.
During the same period, Tshipi also sold 33 865 t of fine ore, with 56 916 t of fine ore to be shipped by September.
OMH holds a 13% stake in the Tshipi project through its 26% shareholding in Tshipi’s 50.1% shareholder, Ntsimbintle. Jupiter Mines, in turn, holds a 49.9% stake in the project through its subsidiary Jupiter Kalahari.
The Tshipi Borwa mine, which is located 20 km south-west of the mining town Hotazel, in the Northern Cape, had been designed to produce 2.5-million tonnes a year of manganese ore grading 37%, from an openpit resource of 163-million tons.