Thabazimbi mine is located in the Limpopo province close to the town of Thabazimbi.

Ore genesis is of a chemical nature, where secondary Haematite replaced chert within the BIF. Later stages of ferruginisation followed to produce high-grade laminated to brecciated iron ore. The occurrence of iron ore is structurally controlled, with faults serving firstly as conduits for iron-rich fluids and later as mechanisms for displacing (and/or duplicating) ore zones.

Local collapse structures within the underlying dolomites produced brecciated zones within the BIF, which were then filled by iron-rich fluids. A regional network of diabase sills and dykes served as trapping mechanisms for mineralising fluids in the lower section of the BIF, which resulted in an enriched lower section and a less-enriched upper section of the Penge Formation.

Generally speaking, the deposits dip southwards at an angle of approximately 45°. At depth the Haematite-rich rocks grade into Calcite Haematite and Talc-Haematite rocks. The mineralisation extends for 12km along strike; however, sterile gaps of BIF occur in between the deposits.

The occurrence of sterile zones between deposits is associated with faulting, where the ore zones wedge out laterally and vary in thickness from 10m to 25m. The intensity of ferruginisation is usually associated with the intensity of brecciation of the BIF due to the underlying karst topography of the dolomites.

Thabazimbi mine in its later years extracted iron ore via conventional opencast mining methods of drilling and blasting followed by loading and hauling via a truck and shovel fleet. Mining in 2015 was conducted in three pits that are geographically separated from one another.

Open-pit mining was stopped on 30 September 2015 and only existing stockpiled RoM material will be fed to the beneficiation plant.

The Thabazimbi Iron Ore Mine was taken over by ArcelorMittal South Africa in 2018, and commenced dry screening of a calcite hematite stockpile in September 2019 in order to recover fine iron ore (-8mm) for use at its Vanderbijlpark Works. The screened material is quality controlled in order to ensure suitability of use in conjunction with its other fine iron ore sources.