Steenkampskraal in the Western Cape
Steenkampskraal Holdings (SHL), which owns the Steenkampskraal rare earths project, in the Western Cape, has decided to raise equity funding through a pre-initial public offering and public offering on the Aim market of the LSE and a secondary listing on the JSE.
A subsidiary of SHL, Steenkampskraal Monazite Mine, has all the regulatory approvals in place to start mining and producing monazite concentrate.
SHL is in discussions with potential offtake partners.
Steenkampskraal has a mineral resource estimate of 605 000 t of ore, grading 14.4% total rare earth oxides (TREO), containing about 86 900 t of TREO, including 15 630 t of neodymium, 4 459 t of praseodymium, 867 t of dysprosium and 182 t of terbium.
The mine was previously operated by diversified miner Anglo American from 1952 to 1963, during which time it produced 26 969 t of TREO.
SHL envisages a production rate of 2 700 t/y of TREO over a life of more than 20 years.
The company will first produce and sell monazite concentrate, and progress to producing and selling mixed rare earth concentrates, thereafter producing and selling separated rare earth oxides.
The project also has brownfield exploration potential.
SHL recently appointed Graham Soden as a director and the mine manager of Steenkampskraal, while Timothy Crombie has been appointed as a director and project manager.