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Location: 31 km NE from Richards Bay, South Africa
The Farm RBMPO Box 401Richards BaySouth Africa3900
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Operator - Rio Tinto.
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The Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) heavy mineral-rich sands coastal dune deposits (Tisand, Zulti North) extend parallel to the beach. Mining was started within the Tisand lease just north of Richards Bay. RBM is situated approximately 200 km north of Durban and 20 km northeast of Richards Bay on the east coast of South Africa. The two main ore bodies are known as the Zulti North and Zulti South leases as well as the depleted Tisand lease, which is the repository for the Minerals Separation Plant’s stockpiled tailings resource.Zulti SouthThe Zulti South heavy mineral sands (HMS) deposit lies just to the southwest of the current Zulti North operation.The Zulti South heavy mineral sands deposit represents an unconsolidated beach placer deposit found within a belt of undulating aeolian dunes aligned roughly parallel to the coast, of Pliocene – Pleistocene and Holocene age. At present only the Holocene dunes are mined by RBM. Material mined by RBM is from the Sibayi (<10 ka) and KwaMbonambi (57 to 6 ka) Formations, which are the youngest units of the Maputaland Group, a thin veneer set on the Zululand Coastal Plain, formed in response to sea-level changes and uplift during the Neogene (25-2 Ma) and Quaternary (2 Ma to present) periods.The Zulti South deposit is approx. 20 km in extent along the strike and varies in width from 0.5 to 3 km. Vertical extent varies from 1 to 80 m plus.Zulti NorthThe deposit covers a coast-parallel dune belt some 20 km long and about 2 km wide. The height of the dune is about 60 – 110 m, with increasing altitude northwards.Type of mineralisation: Coastal mineralised sands.Quaternary heavy mineral-bearing aeolian dunes of the upper portions of the Maputaland Group (Sibayi and Kwambonambi Formations) resting on a Pleistocene beach are mined. Clay-enriched, weathered Kosi Bay Formation dune sands and the Port Durnford Formation estuarine deposits form the underlying beds. KZN Sands, located south of the Mhlatuze River, mined the clay-enriched, rubified weathering profile which formed within the older Umkwelane Formation dune ridge. According to Wipplinger (1998) the dune sand contains about 10 % heavy minerals, on average consisting of 6.08 % ilmenite, 0.28 % rutile and 0.83 % zircon. The heavy mineral assemblage also comprises monazite and magnetite. The grade of the ilmenite is too low (49.7 % TiO2 on average) to be marketable in its existing form and thus has to be upgraded by a smelting process to produce an 85 % TiO2 slag.Zulti South ProjectOn March 2, 2026, Rio Tinto has approved Richards Bay Minerals’ Zulti South project, lifting the suspension which has been in place since January 2020. The $473 million investment aims to extend the mine’s life to 2050 and ensure RBM’s operational continuity for years to come.Construction will take 30 months to be completed with initial commercial production expected in Q4-2028. This first phase will support RBM’s supply of zircon and ilmenite, while the second phase will follow as part of the long-term development strategy.
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