South African rare earth mine targets first exports
South Africa’s Steenkampskraal mine is targeting first rare earth concentrate exports before year-end after opening a processing plant, while plans to produce separated oxides locally remain at the development stage. Mintek said the Western Cape deposit grades about 14.5% total rare earth oxides and that the first-stage plant will crush and mill ore, then use gravity separation and flotation to produce monazite concentrate for export. Mintek described the Oct. 6 opening as the start of commercial concentrate production; its release provided no production volumes, named buyers or shipment destinations.
Why it matters: It illustrates a resource-rich state’s attempt to move beyond concentrate exports into domestic processing of critical minerals.