South Africa is planning to invest R15 billion in a new rare metals processing facility, according to a report in the newspaper Business Report.
The project, which is expected to take four years to complete, would create 43,000 direct and 86,000 indirect jobs. Staff needed to work at the facility would number around 7,000, the report said.
The idea behind the project is for South African companies to maximize the value from the minerals they mine and export through the process of beneficiation, which crushes and separates ore into valuable substances and waste products.
The plant, which would be located in Saldhanha in the Western Cape, would have the capacity to produce high-value industrial metals such as titanium, zirconium and silicon.
Rare metals are used in the manufacture of devices such as cell phones, flat-screen TVs and microwaves.
The project was unveiled by Trade and Industry minister Rob Davies at a media briefing on South Africa’s revised Industrial Policy Action Plan. He told the paper that South Africa exports titanium sands for $400 a ton—whereas $1,000 a ton could be achieved through beneficiation.
Davies said that the National Empowerment Fund would explore the feasibility of co-financing the facility in partnership with local and overseas investors.
