The Kolomela mine orebodies comprise hard, high-grade, conglomeratic and laminated haematite orebodies. The ores have been preserved as three separate orebodies within basinal and graben structures up to 2km long, 400m wide and 300m deep.

The Welgevonden deposit, also known as the Sishen South deposit, is located on the southern extremity of the Maremane Dome, 9 km southwest of the town of Postmasburg and 65 km south of Sishen Mine. The deposit is made up of several smaller ore bodies and is currently mined at Kolomela Mine under the ownership of Kumba Iron Ore.

The only BIF present at Welgevonden appears to be that of the Kuruman Iron Formation, with the Griquatown Iron Formation having been removed by erosion. The main structural characteristic in the west of the Welgevonden area is the Wolhaarkop Dome, an overturned anticline replicating the larger Maremane Dome, which occurs in the east of the deposit.The ore bodies are intensely folded and faulted, and are preserved within erosional remnants that are not as continuous, but are of similar structural types to those encountered at Sishen.

Two tectono-stratigraphic settings for the ore bodies have been defined by Alchin and Botha: a palaeosinkhole-hosted setting applicable to the Ploegfontein, Leeuwfontein and Klipbankfontein ore bodies; and a synclinal basin setting applicable to the Welgevonden and Kapstevel ore bodies. Marginal deformational effects, thought to be related to the ~2.2 Ga Kheis event, occur towards the west of the deposit and decrease rapidly to the east. The scattered nature of the ore bodies at Welgevonden could be due to the removal of upper lithologies by erosion and/or due to smaller, less connected underlying palaeosinkhole, pseudo-graben and synclinal structures. The Sishen South deposit is also much smaller than the main ore body at Sishen and early exploration estimates put its mineable ore reserves at approximately 25% of those at Sishen.

The Kolomela Mine is conventional drill and blast and truck and shovel open-pit operations with ex pit ore at Kolomela hauled to designated finger stockpiles from which a run-of-mine blend is delivered. The Kolomela finger stockpiling is necessary to produce the correct run-of-mine blend for the predominantly DSO operation.

Currently, the Leeuwfontein, Klipbankfontein and Kapstevel North ore bodies are mined. The 2021 LoM plan also includes mining of the Kapstevel South ore body with waste
stripping that commenced in 2020.

The iron ore is loaded according to blend (grade) requirements and transported to designated run-of-mine finger stockpiles dependent on the Fe grade and contaminant grade of the load.

Kolomela is increasingly investigating strategies for the backfilling of waste rock into the opencast pits and have already commenced with the backfilling of the Leeuwfontein Pit. The footprint of the approved Leeuwfontein Waste Rock Dump (WRD) will result in the complete backfilling of the Tierbult Pit and Ploegfontein South Pit areas and the northern section of the Leeuwfontein Pit. The establishment of the approved Kapstevel WRD will result in the backfilling of the Kapstevel North Pit. It is proposed to extend the backfilling footprint to incorporate the remaining section of the Leeuwfontein Pit and the Klipbankfontein Pit.

Kolomela operates a Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) facility which includes primary, secondary and tertiary crushers. A screening plant has also been developed to screen material from the secondary crusher to diver material larger than 25 mm to the tertiary crusher. Screened material reports to the blending beds where the ore is stacked and reclaimed before being conveyed to the load out station for deposition onto the wagon trains. The DSO, including the stockpile areas cover approximately 60 hectares on existing disturbed areas. Ore is stockpiled in an area of approximately 44 ha south of the DSO Processing Plant.

Kolomela is proposing to expand the storage capacity on already approved footprints, which forms part of this application process. The expanded stockpile areas will cover approximately 145 hectares and will be situated on existing disturbed and approved footprints

The iron ore product (on average 60% Lump to 40% Fine) is railed to the Saldanha export harbour ........