Mining Intelligence and News
South Africa

Wessels Mine

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Australia

Wessels Mine

Location: 217 km NE from Upington, South Africa

Address:

1 Peperboom Avenue, Northern Cape
Hotazel
South Africa
8490

Contacts:

Additional Resources for Suppliers & Investors

Categories

Summary

Mine TypeUnderground
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Manganese
Mining Method
  • Bord-and-pillar
  • Room-and-pillar
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Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotThe Wessels Mine is part of Hotazel Manganese Complex. It has vertical and incline shaft.

Hotazel Manganese Mines is implementing several growth projects at the Wessels underground mine. Projects include the introduction of next-generation drilling rigs aimed at increasing drilling depth to achieve better blast advancement, as well as automating park travel.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnershipInvestor's Info
Black Economic Empowerment(B-BBEE Commission) 26 % Indirect
Anglo American plc. 29.6 % Indirect
South32 Ltd. 44.4 % Indirect
Hotazel Manganese Mines (pty) Ltd. (operator) 100 % Direct
Wessels mine is held by Hotazel Manganese Mines Pty Ltd (HMM).

South32 Ltd. holds a 60 per cent interest in Samancor Holdings (Pty) Ltd (Samancor Holdings) and Anglo American Plc holds the remaining 40 per cent.

Samancor indirectly owns 74 per cent of HMM, which gives the South32 Ltd. its indirect ownership interest of 44.4 per cent. Anglo American Plc effective ownership interest in HMM is 29.6%.

The remaining 26 per cent of HMM is owned by Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) entities.

Contractors

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SourceSource

Deposit type

  • Banded iron formation

Summary:

South African manganese deposits are confined to the Early Proterozoic Transvaal Supergroup, Northern Cape Province. They can be grouped into two major categories:
1. Syngenetic carbonate-rich manganese deposits interbedded with the banded iron formations (BIF) of the Hotazel Formation, colloquially called the Kalahari Manganese Field.
2. Karst-fill type manganiferous material from residual Fe-rich manganese developed in dolomites of the Campbell Rand Subgroup in the Postmasburg Fe-Mn Fields.

The Kalahari Manganese Field is situated within a structural basin, known as the Dimoten Synclinorium, plunging at an angle of 3° to 8° to the north and northwest. It extends from Mamatwan Mine in the south for approximately 40 km to Wessels Mine in the north, with an east-west extent varying between 5 and 15 km.

Local Geology
Wessels Mine extracts high grade (above 47% Mn) manganese ore. The ore is typically coarse grained, shiny, massive or vuggy, with the principal minerals being hausmannite and braunite II (Wessels-type ore), as opposed to primary, lower grade braunite further to the south in the Kalahari Basin (Mamatwan-type ore). The interpretation is that the Wessels-type ore was formed by hydrothermal alteration of primary Mamatwan-type ore and that the alteration took place along a system of post-Olifantshoek, north-south and east-west striking normal faults.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Commodity Production

CommodityUnits2022
Manganese Mt  ....  Subscribe
All production numbers are expressed as lump.

Operational metrics

Metrics20212015
Annual ore mining capacity  ....  Subscribe1.2 Mt

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Aug 31, 2025
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Workforce

Aerial view:

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