The Sishen mine is a large

iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...

mine located in central

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

Kathu Kathu is a town in South Africa, and the iron ore capital of the Northern Cape province. Its name means "town under the trees", after the Camel Thorn forest it is situated in. The phrase "the town under the trees" was coined by an engineer wo ...

, Northern Cape. Sishen represents one of the largest iron ore reserves in

and in the world having estimated reserves of 2.43 billion tonnes of ore grading 58.6% iron metal. The Sishen mine has a geological structure producing a high-grade hematite ore, similar to those at Beeshoek mine. There has been investigation into a region known as the Sishen South exploration project which is 65 km south of Sishen mine. Hematite mineralization occurs along a strike length of 14 km, with a width of 3.2 km and a maximum vertical extent of 400 m below the original topographic surface. The Sishen mine was opened in 1947, and produced 30.9 million tonnes of iron ore in 2013. In 2015, the mine produced far less and quarter on quarter results in 2016 show a decline in output. In 2016,

Kumba Iron Ore Kumba Iron Ore is an iron-ore mining company in South Africa. It is the fourth largest iron-ore producer in the world and the largest in Africa. History Kumba Iron Ore is a successor of Kumba Resources, which was listed on the Johannesburg Sec ...

began the process of cutting nearly 4000 jobs in an attempt to restructure the Sishen mine and ensure profitability. The

Sishen–Saldanha railway line The Sishen–Saldanha railway line, also known as the Ore Export Line (OREX), is an heavy-haul railway line in South Africa. It connects iron ore mines near Sishen in the Northern Cape with the port at Saldanha Bay in the Western Cape. It is u ...

that moves ore from the mines to international markets at the port of

Saldanha Saldanha may refer to: Places South Africa * Saldanha Bay, a bay in Western Cape * Saldanha, Western Cape, a town on the bay * Saldanha Bay Local Municipality, the unit of government that administers the Saldanha Bay region Other countries * Sal ...

is notable for the length of the 3,780 meter long trains that carry the ore.

Local Geology

The tectonostratigraphy at Sishen reflects a fault-controlled basin or sub-basin, dominated by the Ghaap and Postmasburg Groups of the Transvaal Supergroup, the Gamagara/Mapedi Formation of the Olifantshoek Supergroup and the Karoo Supergroup.

Mine Ownership

The Sishen mine is owned by

, which has a 73% interest in the Sishen Iron Ore Company Proprietary Limited (SIOC). Anglo American plc has a 64.3% stake in Kumba Iron Ore. Other stakeholders in the Sishen Iron Ore Company include Exxaro Resources Limited and

ArcelorMittal ArcelorMittal S.A. is a Luxembourgian multinational steel manufacturing corporation headquartered in Luxembourg City. It was formed in 2006 from the takeover and merger of Arcelor by Indian-owned Mittal Steel. ArcelorMittal is the second la ...

SA (Amsa). In 2009, Sishen Iron Ore, applied to take over the remaining 21% of Sishen Mine from ArcelorMittal SA (Amsa) who failed to convert their mining rights before 30 April 2009. The South African Department of Mineral Resources instead granted the rights to ICT, a hitherto unknown mining company with alleged political ties to the government. In 2011, this award was overturned by the courts but in 2013, the overturned judgement was taken to the constitutional court. The final ruling was in favour of Kumba Iron Ore. In 2015, despite being awarded the 21.4% stake by South African Department of Mineral Resources, Kumba again sought legal recourse due to conditions attached to the ruling. Kumba released a statement in October 2016 announcing their 100% ownership of Sishen mine. Kumba is expected to resume payments to shareholders in 2017 following a rise in iron ore price and employee cutbacks - Nearly 4,000 jobs were cut at Kumba's flagship Sishen Iron Ore mine in 2016. As a result, Sishen generated R4.5bn, enough to cover existing debt.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sishen Mine Iron mines in South Africa Economy of the Northern Cape