Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) is a South African

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

company. RBM's principal product is

titanium dioxide Titanium dioxide, also known as titanium(IV) oxide or titania , is the inorganic compound derived from titanium with the chemical formula . When used as a pigment, it is called titanium white, Pigment White 6 (PW6), or Colour Index Internationa ...

in the form of an 85% pure titanium dioxide

slag The general term slag may be a by-product or co-product of smelting (pyrometallurgical) ores and recycled metals depending on the type of material being produced. Slag is mainly a mixture of metal oxides and silicon dioxide. Broadly, it can be c ...

; the company also produces the higher-purity 95% titanium dioxide product

rutile Rutile is an oxide mineral composed of titanium dioxide (TiO2), the most common natural form of TiO2. Rarer polymorphs of TiO2 are known, including anatase, akaogiite, and brookite. Rutile has one of the highest refractive indices at vis ...

as well as

pig iron Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate good used by the iron industry in the production of steel. It is developed by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with si ...

and

zircon Zircon () is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates and is a source of the metal zirconium. Its chemical name is zirconium(IV) silicate, and its corresponding chemical formula is Zr SiO4. An empirical formula showing some of th ...

History

Richards Bay Minerals was created in 1976 for the extraction of heavy mineral sands from the dunes of northern

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

. From 2015 to 2018, Richards Bay Minerals stopped paying the Blue Horizons Investments trustees, arguing that the money was not benefiting the local communities. Armed violence and murders followed. In May 2021, RBM’s general manager Richards Bay was shot down on his way to work. In 2021, when RBM finally paid the due deeds to Blue Horizons Investments. RBM then sued Blue Horizon Investments in 2022 for governance misconduct, asking that the Amakhosi family be removed from the trust fund. In April 2019, Rio Tinto announced an investment into the Zulti South project, which is located south of Richards Bay. The investment value is $463 million (6.5 billion

South African rand The South African rand, or simply the rand, (currency sign, sign: R; ISO 4217, code: ZAR) is the official currency of South Africa. It is subdivided into 100 Cent (currency), cents (sign: "c"), and a comma separates the rand and cents. The Sou ...

) and is aimed at sustaining the mine's capacity and extending the life of the mine. Production from Zulti South will be processed through RBM's existing infrastructure (pipelines, a mineral separation plant and smelting facility). Construction is scheduled to start in mid-2019 and the first commercial production expected in late 2021.

Activities

The company's principal operations are just north of

Richards Bay Richards Bay () is a city in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is situated on a 30 square kilometre lagoon of the Mhlatuze River, which makes it one of the country's largest harbours. Richards Bay also has the deepest natural harbour on the Africa ...

, South Africa, in a 2-kilometer wide by 17-kilometer long strip of mineral-rich sand dunes. The area is known as Zulti North mine lease area and will continue to be mined until 2030. RBM mines the using a

dredge mining Dredging is the Digging, excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing Water feature, water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial ...

technique, extracting the titanium-iron ore

ilmenite Ilmenite is a titanium-iron oxide mineral with the idealized formula . It is a weakly magnetic black or steel-gray solid. Ilmenite is the most important ore of titanium and the main source of titanium dioxide, which is used in paints, printi ...

as well as

and

from the sand. This feedstock is then processed into RBM's product lines at a facility which sorts the various materials and processes them to varying degrees into marketable materials. RBM is controlled by Rio Tinto which owns 74% of it. Blue Horizon Investments (24%) and RBM permanent employees (2%) also have an interest in the mine. Prior to 2012,

BHP Billiton BHP Group Limited, founded as the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, is an Australian multinational mining and metals corporation. BHP was established in August 1885 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. As of 2024, BHP was the world� ...

owned 37% but that interest was later purchased by Rio Tinto in February 2012. Blue Horizon Investments is a

Black Economic Empowerment Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) is a policy of the South African government which aims to facilitate broader participation in the economy by black people. A form of affirmative action, it is intended especially to redress the inequalities cr ...

trust that was allocated 24% of the company's capital in 2008. The Dube, Sokhulu, Mbonambi and Mkhwanazi tribes are the trust's main beneficiaries. In 15 years, the tribes earned R530-million in deeds from RBM. RBM is the largest taxpayer of the province of KwaZulu-Natal. 5,000 people work at the site (2024).

References

BHP Rio Tinto (corporation) subsidiaries Surface mines in South Africa Titanium mining Mining companies of South Africa Companies based in KwaZulu-Natal Richards Bay {{SouthAfrica-company-stub