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South Africa

Palabora Mine

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Palabora Mine

Location: 5 km S from Phalaborwa, South Africa

Address:

1 Copper Road, Limpopo
PO Box 65
Phalaborwa
South Africa
1389

Contacts:

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Categories

Summary

Mine TypeOpen Pit & Underground
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Copper
  • Vermiculite
  • Nickel
  • Gold
  • Iron Ore
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
  • Block caving
Production Start... Lock
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotThe Palabora Mining Company (PMC) owes its origin to the unique formation known as the Palabora Igneous Complex. Nowhere else in the world is copper known to occur in carbonatites.

The Palabora operations include an underground copper mine, a copper ore processing plant, a copper smelter and refinery, an open-cut vermiculite mine and processing plant and a magnetite tailings recovery process.

This block-cave mine is a benchmark for integrated design, as no other block-cave mine has been put into a competent ore body. The block height of the cave is a record 450 meters in the center, increasing up to 700 meters on the periphery.

On the 10th of May 2024 Palabora Copper leadership gathered at the mine to mark significant milestone of officially opening the Crusher 5 shaft. This innovative technology marks the end of the Lift II Project.

Today PMC officially has two block-cave mines. Its brand-new Lift II mine sits 400m underneath its initial 1200m Lift I mine.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Palabora Mining Company (PMC) Ltd. 74 % Indirect
Palabora Copper (Pty) Limited (operator) 100 % Direct
Palabora Copper (Pty) Limited, a subsidiary of Palabora Mining Company Ltd, owns and operated Palabora mine, smelter and refinery complex.

Palabora Copper is owned by Palabora Mining Company (74%) and Empowerment Partners (26%).

Contractors

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SourceSource

Deposit type

  • Magmatic

Summary:

Palabora Mine owes its origin to the unique formation known as the Palabora Igneous Complex. Nowhere else is copper known to occur in carbonatites as is the case at Palabora.

The Palabora Cu-Fe-phosphate-vermiculite deposit forms part of the Phalaborwa Igneous Complex. Early work by Verwoed (1967) identified a differentiated mass of mafic and alkaline intrusives, along with numerous syenite and carbonate-bearing injection breccias, plugs and dykes. It is generally accepted that the first stage of magmatic activity involved the intrusion of an apatite-bearing pyroxenite, followed by an alkaline phase consisting predominantly of syenite. The center of the three pyroxenite “cores” of the Phalaborwa Igneous Complex, originally named Loolekop, is particularly well-mineralized in copper.

Vermiculite
Vermiculite is a member of the phyllosilicate group of minerals, resembling mica in appearance. Palabora vermiculite is essentially a hydrated phlogopite mica, which has the remarkable ability to expand to many times its original volume when heated, a property known as exfoliation.

Crude vermiculite from the Palabora mine consists of golden brown flakes, which are carefully classified into five grades, each having a specified range of particle sizes. The coarsest grade comprises particles ranging between 8mm and 2.8mm, while the finest grade consists of particles between 0.710mm and 0.250mm in size.

Mining Methods

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Heavy Mobile Equipment

Fleet data has not been reported.

Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Commodity Production

CommodityProductUnits2024202320212020201920182017
Copper Metal t  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe45,815 *45,579 *
Vermiculite Mineral t  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe166,084 *
Nickel Metal in sulphate t  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe50
Gold Metal oz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe10,800
Iron (magnetite) Ore t  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe8,404,553 *8,404,553 *
* Production numbers were reported as 'Average annual'

Operational metrics

Metrics20232021
Daily mining capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Daily processing capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
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Workforce

EmployeesContractorsTotal WorkforceYear
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Aerial view:

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