MOUNTAINS of waste will turn to fountains of wealth after Nyanza Light Metals and New Zealand company Avertana on Tuesday officially sealed their technology partnership in ink.
The deal will culminate in construction of a R4.5-billion titanium dioxide pigment production factory next year in the Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone‘s (RBIDZ) Phase 1F site in Alton North.
It will extract titanium from 45 million tons of waste slag, stockpiled by Evraz Highveld Steel and Vanadium at its Witbank operations since 1965, to produce titanium dioxide pigment used in various products such as paint, toothpaste and food colourants.
The massive piles of steel slag, that have been dumped for more than 45 years in a bushveld complex as feedstock, equates to 200 years of project life.
South Africa consumes around 35 000 tons per annum (tpa) of the pigment, mainly in paint manufacturing.
The country also has the second largest titanium reserves in the world and produces approximately 19.5% of global titanium slag, according to the Department of Trade and Industry.
For this reason, the investors eagerly signed up to tap into the market that is not only lucrative, but also environmentally friendly.
‘Nyanza aims to build a complex that would produce 100 000tpa of titanium dioxide pigment, which will be equally split into what we call a sulphate pigment and chloride pigment,’ Nyanza Light Metals CEO Donovan Chimhandamba said at the signing ceremony.
‘We plan to implement the project in three phases.
‘The first will commence with the construction of a 50 000tpa plant in 2018, which should be in production by the end of 2019 or beginning 2020.
‘This will be followed by the second phase, which will see the Avertana front-end plant come into production by 2021 – all for a combined R4-billion.
‘The third phase will then focus on beneficiation capacity produced by Richards Bay Minerals.’
About 550 permanent jobs and 1 200 indirect jobs are anticipated when the plant is fully operational, with 800 being created during construction.
World first
The overall manufacturing process will reportedly be a world first, largely because conventional processes use feed stocks such as rutile and ilmenite, which have titanium content ranging from 50% to 96%, while Nyanza’s feed stock has a titanium dioxide pigment content of 32% or less.
Since 2012, Avertana has developed a proprietary process to extract titanium from steel slag and refine titanium and other industrial minerals and chemicals with a lower carbon footprint than existing processes.
Through their method, Nyanza Light Metals would also be able to produce aluminium sulphate, magnesium sulphate and gypsum as co-products.
New Zealand High Commissioner Mike Burrell commended the partners on joining hands for a project that will not only benefit both countries, but ‘utilise technology in an environmentally and socially responsible way’.
‘New Zealand places a huge degree of emphasis on environmental sustainability. If it’s not green, it doesn’t get built.
‘Avertana emerged out of this context with incredibly high standards and we recognise that South Africa is a resource-based economy making significant progress in this direction as well.
‘Many of our countries’ competitive advantages are complimentary and working together in these areas of mutual benefit rewards both sides.
‘We will continue supporting this project, because it is innovative and represents international cooperation with what we consider to be a leading New Zealand technology.
‘We hope to see this project set a global benchmark for the wider titanium industry for both sustainability and profitability, paving the way for a new generation of industrial technologies that deliver economic growth, and create jobs without sacrificing the environment to do so.’
What sealed the deal
Chimhandamba said a number of plus points came into play for the investors to pick ‘the Bay’, particularly being the closest port city from its Witbank operations, 120km east of Johannesburg.
‘Acid is the biggest cost driver in our business and locating it far from the necessary sources is expensive and can make the business not viable.
‘We use a lot of sulphuric acid so with Foskor in Richards Bay, it was an easy decision.
‘Another important reason is the Port of Richards Bay and the real infrastructure that allows easy access for the exporting of final product and the rail network that will bring in waste slag from Witbank.
‘With Richards Bay being a special economic zone, we have also received a lot of government support for the project, including incentives such as an investment allowance of R900-million and a tax allowance.
‘In this project we will have a flat income tax rate of 15% for being in the Industrial Development Zone, compared to 20% for outsiders.
‘We were also allowed to accelerate depreciation for major capex (capital expenditure), plant and equipment – instead of having 10 to 15 years, we can have four years.
‘These incentives were all critical in our decision to come here.’
He concluded the partnership with Avertana is a milestone for the advancement of industrial technology in SA.
‘We will unlock the value of the titanium mineral beneficiation space and see this country becoming a serious competitor in the global market!’
Power in partnership
KZN MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Sihle Zikalala described the project as ‘historic’ and ‘a major boost for the province’.
‘I must say, on behalf of the Premier (who was not able to attend the ceremony), we are moved by this investment and I would like to express our appreciation for the cooperation between the private sector and government.
‘The collective efforts to bring Nyanza Light Metals as an industrial tenant in the RBIDZ will boost socio economic advancement in surrounding communities.
‘I have no doubt that Nyanza will add more impetus by significantly changing the face of this province and consolidate KZN’s status as an imminent chemical hub where industrial skills will be shared and transferred to our people.
‘We will continue to advocate and call on all entities to not only focus on industrialisation, but also research and training of people.
‘Despite our country being rich in natural resources, we need collective investment in development to adequately seize the vast opportunities in this sector.’
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