Rare earth mine Steenkampskraal has received its water licence from the Department of Water and Sanitation, marking the last of the remaining permits that the mine required. As a result, Steenkampskraal is now fully permitted to start construction and production, says Steenkampskraal chairperson Trevor Blench.

Steenkampskraal Monazite Mine holds the mining right (MR) for the Steenkampskraal rare earth mine, in the Western Cape, South Africa.

In the lead up to the water licence approval, the mine prepared a detailed analysis of the groundwater reserves, flows and replenishment rates around the mine. The mine drilled several boreholes and equipped these boreholes with generators, pumps and pipes to supply water for the mine. The company built a reverse osmosis plant to treat 20 000 ℓ/h, which is enough water for the mine’s requirements.

The MR allows the company to mine all the minerals in the 474-ha MR area, except diamonds and oil, until 2030. This MR is renewable, which means that it can be extended for another 10 to 20 years beyond 2030.

“The mine’s NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) confirms the presence of 605 000 t of ore at an average grade of 14.4%, which is the highest rare earth grade in the world with an MRE that complies with the NI 43-101 requirements,” explains Blench.

The neodymium (Nd) grade, on its own, is 2.58%, the praseodymium (Pr) grade is 0.74%, the dysprosium (Dy) grade is 0.14% and the terbium (Tb) grade is 0.03%. The combined grade of these four rare earths that are used to make the magnets for electric motors is 3.49%, which “is higher than the total rare earth grades of most other rare earth deposits”.

This MRE confirms the presence of 86 930 tof rare earths at the Steenkampskraal mine, including 15 600 tons of Nd, 4,450 t of Pr, 867 t of Dy and 182 t of Tb.

The planned production volume of 2 700 t/y of rare earths will include 480 t of Nd, 138 t of Pr, 26 t of Dy and 5 t of Tb.

Steenkampskraal recently received a renewal from the Department of Mineral Resources for its existing prospecting right around the Steenkampskraal mine.