Kumba Iron Ore, Centurion

Kumba Iron Ore Limited, a member of the Anglo American plc group, is a leading value-adding supplier of the highest quality iron ore to the global steel industry. The South African based company is the fourth largest supplier of seaborne iron ore in the world, exporting more than 34 million tonnes per annum to steelmakers in Europe, the Middle-East, and Asia. Kumba has reserves of more than a billion tons of high quality haematite.

The company operates two opencast mines in South Africa – Sishen Mine and Thabazimbi Mine. Together they produce more than 40Mt of iron ore per annum (Mtpa), which accounts for 81% of South Africa’s total production and around 4% of the global seaborne trade. The combined reserves of these mines exceed one billion tons of high quality iron ore.

An expansion project named Kolomela, which uses jig technology, is ramping up to reach a capacity of 13Mtpa in 2010. A new greenfields project will supply an additional 9Mtpa by 2013.

Thabazimbi Mine’s product is sold exclusively to ArcelorMittal South Africa.

In 2008 Kumba received a new order mining right to proceed with the Kolomela project and converted old order mining rights for the existing Sishen and Thabazimbi mines. Receiving these rights enabled the company to focus on the extraction of the resources and significantly strengthened business security.