New limestone mine gets under way 2014 for cement producer
Sephaku Holdings CEO Dr Lelau Mohuba and Sephaku Cement CEO Pieter Fourie give Mining Weekly Online’s Martin Creamer the details of a new limestone mine for the JSE-listed company’s cement plant. Photographs: Duane Daws. Video: Nicholas Boyd. Editing: Shane Williams
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – A new limestone operation that will supply JSE-listed cement producer Sephaku is scheduled to get under way early in the New Year near Lichtenburg, in the North West.
Sephaku Holdings on Wednesday reported an operating profit of R33.8-million for the six months to September 30 compared with a R10.1-million loss for 2012.
The company told the results presentation that mining would be outsourced to a contractor still to be named.
Sephaku Cement’s Aganang operation will produce at a rate of 6 000 t of clinker a day and 1.2-million tons of cement a year.
Sephaku Holdings CEO Dr Lelau Mohuba and Sephaku Cement CEO Pieter Fourie spoke to Mining Weekly Online in a video interview (see attached).
Fourie said the first limestone would be produced in March 2014.
“We’ve outsourced the mining and we’ve also included in their scope, empowerment and enterprise development,” Fourie said.
Work has begun on the main haul road and mining will take place on three faces to assure the correct quality limestone mix for the cement manufacturing operation.
Mining will take place at a rate of 2-million tons to 2.5-million tons of limestone a year for the next 30 years.
“We’ll have our first bag of cement in January, a little over a month from today,” Mohuba said, adding that cement production was expected to be at steady state in 2015.
Every ton of cement requires 1.6 t of limestone and some of the clinker produced at Aganang will be used at Delmas, where Sephaku has a grinding plant.
The company, which will use fly ash as an extender, expects to be South Africa’s lowest-cost producer, as the country’s first new entrant since 1934.
The group achieved revenue of R301.6-million from no revenue for the same period in 2012, following its acquisition of mixed-concrete company Metier.
Projected sales volumes point to capacity being take up by 2017.
“We think there is room for activities like this again post that period,” Mohuba added.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation