Mining Intelligence and News
South Africa

Kalagadi Mine

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Categories

Summary

Mine TypeUnderground
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Manganese
Mining Method
  • Bord-and-pillar
Production Start... Lock
SnapshotKalagadi mine consists of the shaft, the ore processing plant and the sinter plant, the rails and water dams.

Kalagadi Manganese successfully established an underground mine which has modern infrastructure and the largest sinter plant in the world. Production commenced in 2017, and there has been gradual ramp-up over the years towards reaching the facility's nameplate capacity. Kalagadi Manganese is currently finalising preparations to establish an open pit mine which is intended to commence ore production towards the end of 2025.

Plans are also underway to extract full value across the entire manganese ore value chain by developing a smelter for the production of High Carbon Ferro-Manganese and Silico-Manganese.

The most recent production data were publicly available for 2021 (as of July 2025).

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Industrial Development Corporation 20 % Indirect
Kalahari Resources (Pty) Ltd. 36 % Indirect
Kgalagadi Alloys (Pty) Ltd. 44 % Indirect
Kalagadi Manganese (Pty) Ltd is 44% owned by Kgalagadi Alloys, 36% by Kalahari Resources and 20% by the Industrial Development Corporation.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Sedimentary

Summary:

The project area is underlain by the Kalahari Manganese Field (KMF), the largest known land-based manganese deposit in the world. The KMF is comprised of five erosional relicts of the manganese bearing Hotazel Formation of the Paleoproterozoic Transvaal Supergroup. The manganese ore is of sedimentary origin.

The Hotazel Formation, which is the host rock to the manganese ores of the KMF, is composed of three (3) symmetrical iron formation hematite-lutite-braunite-lutite sedimentary cycles that can be traced across the entire KMF and that display a remarkably uniform fine-scale litho-stratigraphy. Geological surveys for the project have indicated other minerals found in the Kalahari Manganese Field formation which include sand, clay, limestone, tillite, quartzite, red and grey shales, dolomite, iron ore.

Mining Methods

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Heavy Mobile Equipment

Fleet data has not been reported.

Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

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Commodity Production

The production has been commenced in 2018.
CommodityUnits2021202020192018
Manganese Mt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe1.50.5
All production numbers are expressed as sinter.

Operational metrics

Metrics20222021
Annual ore mining capacity  ....  Subscribe
Annual processing capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Mine Financials

Units2023202220212020
Revenue M ZAR  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
After-tax Income M ZAR  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jul 31, 2025
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jul 31, 2025
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jul 31, 2025

Workforce

EmployeesContractorsTotal WorkforceYear
...... Subscription required 2022
...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required 2020
...... Subscription required 2018

Aerial view:

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