Vedanta Resources's proposed zinc smelter will be a first for SA since 2011.
Miner Vedanta Resources, the largest integrated zinc producer after Glencore, is considering the feasibility of building a 250,000-ton zinc smelter (which comes with an $800 million price tag) to process metal from its Gamsberg Mine.
Vedanta said in a statement:
“The establishment of the proposed beneficiation plant will make Gamsberg a fully integrated zinc production site, with the mine, concentrator and smelter-refinery complex at a single location, making it the first integrated zinc manufacturing facility in South Africa.”
The smelter would be South Africa’s first since Exxaro Resources shut down its plant in 2011 after failing to find a buyer and deeming it unprofitable.
The miner further noted that initial production at Gamsberg Mine, where it has thus far invested $400 million, will start in the middle of this year. Production should reach 250,000 tons of zinc concentrate within 12 months of this.
