The R10-billion Gamsberg Phase II expansion of Vedanta Zinc International (VZI), the Southern African zinc business of Vedanta Limited, was officially opened by President Cyril Ramaphosa on October 16.

Located in the Namakwa Special Economic Zone (SEZ), in the Northern Cape, the expansion doubles the zinc mine's output and is one of the largest mining investments in South Africa in the past decade.

In total, Vedanta has invested R89-billion in its South African operations and projects since 2011.

Completed in July, Phase II adds a second concentrator and increases Gamsberg’s zinc production capacity to about 500 000 t/y, positioning it to become one of the world’s largest zinc-producing operations.

The expansion is expected to double the mine’s yearly ore capacity from about four-million to eight-million tonnes.

During the launch, Ramaphosa said this positions Gamsberg among the major zinc-producing operations in the world and reinforces South Africa’s standing as an important producer of this industrial mineral.

“It is an achievement of which Vedanta, its employees, its contractors and its partners can be justifiably proud,” the President said.

Additionally, VZI, in a media statement, explained that more than 1 500 people worked on the project at the peak of construction, with Phase II set to create about 800 to 1 000 jobs during operations.

The expansion forms part of the R21-billion investment commitment Vedanta made at the 2018 South Africa Investment Conference.

“We have come to celebrate an investment that has moved from commitment to construction and from construction to production,” said Ramaphosa.

Vedanta nonexecutive director and chairperson of Hindustan Zinc Priya Agarwal-Hebbar said that, for Vedanta, Gamsberg Phase II was more than an expansion of its zinc business.

“Our ambition is to build a globally significant zinc and industrial hub in the region, creating lasting value for the country and its people. Because the true measure of our success is not just what we produce, but the prosperity we help create for generations to come,” she said.

“We invested through a demanding period for the industry because we believe in this region's potential. We want the benefits to stay in Namakwa, through local jobs, local suppliers and skills development,” added VZI CEO Vijay Kumar.

The company said Phase II also underpinned VZI's plans to refine zinc in South Africa.

VZI noted that it was the anchor investor of the Namakwa SEZ, designated in May 2024, where it was planning to build a zinc smelter that would refine concentrate into zinc metal close to the mine and support secondary industries such as fertiliser and chemicals.

The company said the expansion took VZI closer to its ambition of producing one-million tonnes of zinc a year from its Southern African operations.

Ramaphosa said the significance of the investment extended beyond the increased volume of zinc to be produced, noting that it pointed to the opportunity to transform South Africa’s mineral wealth into a foundation for industrialisation.

Hence, as countries across the world invested in infrastructure, industrial development and the energy transition, the President said the demand for the products and applications that relied on zinc would continue to create opportunities.

“South Africa must position itself to benefit from these opportunities,” he said.

Trade, Industry and Competition acting deputy director-general of investment and spatial industrial development Maoto Molefane, in a separate release, said the expansion not only demonstrated continued investor confidence in South Africa, but also in the country’s SEZ programme.

Molefane added that the investment was a major boost to the SEZs programme as it had enabled it to increase its contribution to the South African economy through the number and value of investments, as well as job creation.

“The R10-billion investment has led to an increase in the total value of SEZ-based operational investments, which is now estimated at just above R50-billion. More importantly, the investment has created more than 400 direct jobs, thus increasing the total permanent jobs created through the SEZs programme to more than 30 000,” he said.

Molefane hailed the investment, saying it would not only support South Africa’s economic growth and exports, but would also provide a platform for future beneficiation of the country’s critical minerals, value addition and industrialisation.

“We welcome Vedanta’s ambition to establish zinc smelting capacity in the Northern Cape. We recognise that an investment of this magnitude requires commercially viable electricity, reliable infrastructure and other enabling conditions.

“Government must work with Vedanta and other partners to address these requirements. We want the zinc that is mined here to become the foundation of industries that manufacture here, employ here and create prosperity here,” Ramaphosa added.