The Namakwa ore reserves are contained within and non-reserves material, covers an ellipsoidal area of mineralization 15 kilometers in a northeasterly direction with a maximum width of about 4 km, with no overburden. The NE-SW dimension is interpreted to reflect prevailing winds at the time of the deposit’s formation. A narrow sub-economic corridor divides the reserves into two proximal ore bodies, Graauwduinen West and Graauwduinen East, which are more commonly called the “West” and “East” deposits. Nearly two-thirds of historic ore production has been extracted from the West mine pit, to a maximum depth of about 45 meters. In the medium term, 60-65% of extracted ore will be mined from the West pit, but the long-term LOM Plan calls for a nearly even split between West and East mines.

The very large Namakwa HM deposit is broadly the result of prolonged, repetitive weathering-erosion-deposition cycles that were initiated with the breakup of the Gondwana Supercontinent approximately 100 million years ago. The separation of the African and South American proto-continents triggered weathering and erosion of massive volumes of sediment from high-grade metamorphic crystalline “basement” rocks of the one billion-year-old Namaqua-Natal orogenic belt. The sandy sedimentary sequence that hosts our Namakwa HM deposit is interpreted as being derived mostly from the Namaqua-Natal metamorphic belt which was welded onto the western and southern margins of the 2.6+ billion-year-old Kaapvaal Craton. High grade metamorphism facilitates the partitioning of titanium into ilmenite and rutile crystals making them available for erosion, transport and deposition to form economic deposits. Heavy mineral concentrations in beach placers, marine terraces and in coastal dunes were reworked by water and wind into what is now our Namakwa heavy mineral deposit, the end-product of 100 million years of geologic evolution.

The Namakwa Sands heavy mineral deposit at Brand-se-Baai was discovered in 1986 by Anglo American, who commissioned the integrated mine-MSP-smelter project in 1995. Ore is excavated from two open-pit dry mines and delivered by trucks and conveyors to two primary wet concentration plants. [2019 AR Form 10-K, p. 33]

Namakwa Sands does not use blasting in its operations. The mined material is transported by trucks to the mineral sizers where primary reduction takes place.

Tronox Namakwa Sands undertakes the mining and beneficiation of heavy minerals. Facilities are based at three geographically separated sites situated at:
• Brand-se-Baai: East Mine, West Mine, Primary Concentration Plants (PCP) East and West and the Secondary Concentration Plant (SCP);
• Koekenaap: Mineral Separation Plant (MSP); and
• Saldanha Bay: Smelter facility and Receiving and Dispatch area.
Heavy mineral sands are extracted and concentrated into magnetic and non-magnetic concentrate at the Mine. These magnetic and non-magnetic concentrate streams are transported to the MSP where the magnetic material is treated in the magnetic (ilmenite separation) Dry Mill Circuit to produce ilmenite and the non-magnetic material is treated in the Non-Magnetic Circuit to produce zircon and rutile related products. The ilmenite, zircon and rutile related products are transported to the Smelter, where the ilmenite is further processed, while the zircon and rutile related prod ........