Nkomati Nickel-Copper-Platinum Mine

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This mine is owned by ARM (African Rainbow Minerals) and Norilsk Nickel. Norilsk Nickel acquired 50% interest in the Nkomati joint venture as a result of the LionOre Mining International Limited acquisition on 28 June 2007. The remaining 50% is held by African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) a leading mining company in South Africa. It is currently the only primary nickel producer in South Africa. It also mines other by-product metals, such as copper, PGMs and chromium.

The Nkomati deposit includes several ore bodies, the key ones being the rich sulfide ore body (ore with high nickel content, with reserves currently depleted) and the Main Mineralized Zone which contains significant volumes of disseminated ores with lower metal grades. The Main Mineralized Zone opens new production opportunities following the depletion of the rich sulfide ore body reserves in mid 2007. The deposit also contains a Peridotite-Chromite Mineralization zone with lower metal grade as compared to the Main Mineralized Zone. The extracted ore is processed at own concentrator using the traditional sulfide flotation technology with a capacity of 320 thousand tonnes of ore per annum. The plant produces up to 5,500 tonnes of saleable nickel concentrate per year.