Richards Bay Minerals

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Richards Bay Minerals - Wikipedia

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Richards Bay Minerals
Location
Province	KwaZulu-Natal
Country	South Africa
Production
Products	Titanium Dioxide Pig iron Zircon
History
Opened	1976
Owner
Company	Rio Tinto (74%) Blue Horizon Investments (24%) RBM permanent employees (2%)
Website	rbm.co.za

Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) is a South African mining company. RBM's principal product is titanium dioxide in the form of an 85% pure titanium dioxide slag; the company also produces the higher-purity 95% titanium dioxide product rutile as well as pig iron and zircon.^[1]

History

Richards Bay Minerals was created in 1976 for the extraction of heavy mineral sands from the dunes of northern KwaZulu-Natal.^[2]

From 2015 to 2018, Richards Bay Minerals stopped paying the Blue Horizons Investments trustees, arguing that the money was not benefiting the local communities. Armed violence and murders followed.^[2] In May 2021, RBM’s general manager Richards Bay was shot down on his way to work.^[3] In 2021, when RBM finally paid the due deeds to Blue Horizons Investments. RBM then sued Blue Horizon Investments in 2022 for governance misconduct, asking that the Amakhosi family be removed from the trust fund.^[2]

In April 2019, Rio Tinto announced an investment into the Zulti South project, which is located south of Richards Bay.^[4] The investment value is $463 million (6.5 billion South African rand) and is aimed at sustaining the mine's capacity and extending the life of the mine. Production from Zulti South will be processed through RBM's existing infrastructure (pipelines, a mineral separation plant and smelting facility). Construction is scheduled to start in mid-2019 and the first commercial production expected in late 2021.

Activities

The company's principal operations are just north of Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, in a 2-kilometer wide by 17-kilometer long strip of mineral-rich sand dunes. The area is known as Zulti North mine lease area and will continue to be mined until 2030.^[5] RBM mines the using a dredge mining technique, extracting the titanium-iron ore ilmenite as well as rutile and zircon from the sand. This feedstock is then processed into RBM's product lines at a facility which sorts the various materials and processes them to varying degrees into marketable materials.^[1]

RBM is controlled by Rio Tinto which owns 74% of it. Blue Horizon Investments (24%) and RBM permanent employees (2%) also have an interest in the mine. Prior to 2012, BHP Billiton owned 37% but that interest was later purchased by Rio Tinto in February 2012.^[6] Blue Horizon Investments is a Black Economic Empowerment trust that was allocated 24% of the company's capital in 2008. The Dube, Sokhulu, Mbonambi and Mkhwanazi tribes are the trust's main beneficiaries. In 15 years, the tribes earned R530-million in deeds from RBM.^[2]

RBM is the largest taxpayer of the province of KwaZulu-Natal. 5,000 people work at the site (2024).^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b "Richards Bay Minerals website". Rio Tinto. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Ardé, Greg; Sole, Sam (4 August 2024). "Mafia State: Richards Bay Minerals pushes back, but the war is not yet over". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 26 May 2025.
^ "Rio Tinto's Richards Bay manager murdered on way to work". MINING.COM. 25 May 2021. Retrieved 27 May 2025.
^ "Rio Tinto approves $463 million investment in Zulti South". www.riotinto.com. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
^ "Life of a mine". www.riotinto.com. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
^ "Rio Tinto Doubles Stake in Richards Bay Minerals". 1 February 2012.

BHP

Assets

Current

Mines	Area C Cerrejón (33%) Escondida (58%) Goonyella Riverside¹ Jimblebar Leinster Mount Keith Mount Arthur Mount Whaleback (85%) Olympic Dam Orebodies 18, 23 & 25 (85%) Peak Downs¹ Resolution (50%) Saraji¹ Yandi (85%) Yarrie (85%)
Other	Goldsworthy railway line Kalgoorlie Nickel Smelter Kambalda Nickel Concentrator Kwinana Nickel Refinery Moranbah Airport¹ Mount Newman railway line VF2388

Former

Australian Iron & Steel
BHP Shipping
BlueScope
Cockatoo Docks & Engineering Company (38%)
Comsteel
Ekati Diamond Mine (80%)
Ekati Airport
Lysaght
Newcastle Steelworks
Ok Tedi Mine
OneSteel/Arrium
Ravensthorpe Nickel Mine
Richards Bay Minerals (37%)
South32
Whyalla Steelworks
Woodside Energy (40%)
Yeelirrie uranium project
Douglas Complex

Acquisitions

People

Other

¹Assets of BHP Mitsubishi Alliance, a 50/50 joint venture between BHP & Mitsubishi

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