NEF Invests R2 billion to harvest waste

NEF invests R2bn to harvest waste from SA’s disused mine dumps

The National Empowerment Fund (NEF), an agency of the Department of Trade and Industry, is to invest in a R2,5bn project that will harvest material from disused mine dumps

Published: 2010/10/08 06:59:49 AM

BETH SHIRLEY

The National Empowerment Fund (NEF), an agency of the Department of Trade and Industry, is to invest in a R2,5bn project that will harvest material from disused mine dumps.

The project should bring in about 300m in foreign direct investment, NEF strategy head Donovan Chimhandamba said yesterday.
The project, known as SA Metals Equity, will take advantage of SA’s estimated 1,5-billion tons of iron-ore reserves embedded in disused mine dumps and other waste sites. It will also benefit poor communities and increase pure metal production in SA, Mr Chimhandamba said.
SA suffers from high unemployment, estimated at about 25%. About 400 jobs will be created in the North West and Mpumalanga.
“We are very excited about this project not only because of its strong commercial merit, but also its high developmental effect and environmental cleaning aspect,” he said.
The NEF investment of R10m will allow for a bankable feasibility study to be concluded so that construction and roll-out of the project could begin by June 2012. Already, R25m has been spent on the project’s pre feasibility and feasibility studies.



SA Metals Equity will be developed in conjunction with Metmar , Global R3 (GR3), V-Projects and Outotec Ausmelt. These companies deal with metals recovery in waste stockpiles (such as mine dumps) and mining technology.
Mr Chimhandama said the plant will produce about 500000 tons of pure metal or pig iron a year, which could be used in the construction industry, housing, cars and industrial projects.



The plant will be commissioned in 2013 and will process about 1,1-million tons of material from mine dumps .



“A project of this magnitude is groundbreaking and offers the project an opportunity to be at the forefront of cutting-edge mining innovation with strong broad-based black economic empowerment,” Mr Chimhandamba said.
Andre Jooste, GR3 director, said that the venture capital to finance feasibility studies is very important to create new industrial capacity and NEF’s involvement secures black equity participation.



The fund will warehouse about 26% for black economic empowerment and will identify beneficiaries, such as employees of SA Metals Equity and the communities around the plants.
“This project will be a leader in terms of environmental cleaning as it uses material from waste dumps that are of huge environmental concern created by the historical mining activities,” said Mr Jooste.



The NEF ’s mandate is to provide venture capital for projects that are at an early stage within sectors identified by the South African government. The fund also provides project finance and private equity in these projects once they are regarded as bankable.

shirleyb@bdfm.co.za