Vedanta opens zinc mine in Gamsberg, South Africa

Vedanta Zinc International’s (VZI) Gamsberg mine situated outside Aggeneys in South Africa’s Northern Cape Province was inaugurated by the President Cyril Ramaphosa on February 28, 2019.

The Gamsberg zinc resource, though discovered more than 40 years ago, had been held undeveloped in the portfolios of various South African mining companies until Vedanta acquired it in 2011, as part of the Black Mountain Mining complex. Vedanta gave the project the go-ahead in 2014, and the first blast occurred in mid-2015 just eight months later.

Gamsberg has a reserve and resource of more than 214Mt with a grade of between 6 per cent and 6.5 per cent zinc and an estimated life of mine (LoM) of 30+ years.

Vedanta has invested US$ 400 million in Phase 1 of Gamsberg in South Africa. This phase has LoM of 13 years and can produce 4MTPA of ore from the open pit and 250,000 tpa of concentrate from its concentrator plant.

The company plans to invest further US$350 to 400 million for phases 2 and 3. The production of ore mine would increase to 8mtpa and the zinc-in-concentrate production would increase in a modular way to 450,000 tpa and ultimately to 600,000 tpa.

Gamsberg is one of the most digitally advanced greenfields mining projects in South Africa. It is located in the ecologically sensitive Succulent Karoo Biome - one of the world’s 35 biodiversity hotspots.

The stock of Vedanta Limited opened at Rs. 172 per share on Friday. During the morning session, it was up by 3.1 per cent to Rs. 174.70 from its previous close of Rs. 169.40.