Australia’s Mineral Commodities has put potential revenue that could be generated from a proposed titanium mining project in South Africa’s Eastern Cape at about USD 77 million a year. The company expects a pre-feasibility study under way at the resource to be completed by mid-year and appears confident that the project will get the green light. “First production from the operation is anticipated late in 2006,” it stated. The titanium resource is 200km south of Durban on the Wild Coast and has enough resources to justify a 17-year mining period at a rate of 12-million tons a year. The value of the resource was in excess of USD 1 billion, the company said. On the basis of current information, the company said the “evaluation was encouraging” and believed the pre-feasibility study would demonstrate the commercial viability of the project. Minerals technology parastatal Mintek has been commissioned by the Eastern Cape Development Corporation to assess viability of the province’s titanium beneficiation projects. Titanium minerals such as ilmenite could be used in the automotive component manufacturing, a sector already well established in the province. Zircon could be used in the production of industrial chemicals.
