Manganese out of the Kalahari

Five operations between Hotazel and Postmasburg, graded on site and railed to Ngqura. Nothing we sell leaves this ground on a truck.

See the sites

Exploration

Drilling and resource work on our own prospecting rights across the Kalahari Manganese Field.

Mining

Open-cast at Hotazel and Gloria, underground on the Wessels seam at Black Rock.

Grading

Washed, screened and sized to 36, 38 and 42 percent Mn before a wagon is loaded.

Export

Our own siding near Kuruman, then Transnet rail to the manganese terminal at Ngqura.

The people on the plant

We work the Hotazel Formation — the manganese seams lying under the sand between Hotazel and Black Rock, the largest body of it anywhere on earth. Carbonate ore at Mamatwan and Gloria, high-grade Wessels-type ore underground at Black Rock. Four hundred and ten people on three shifts, seven days. The wash plant, the loadout, the weighbridge and the workshop are ours, and so is the payroll — no labour broker stands between us and the crew. Most of them live in Kathu, Kuruman and Hotazel. Every tonne we sell leaves on rail. We paid for the siding ourselves in 2019 so that graded product goes wagon to tippler to ship without a single truck on the N14. It cost more up front. It is also why the farms on that road still have a road.

1.4 Mt

Railed in the last financial year

42%

Top grade Mn, Black Rock lump

5

Operations in the Northern Cape

410

People on our own payroll

Who we ship with

From the mine gate to the ship is eight companies long. These are ours, and most of them have been since the first load went out.

Where we work

HotazelOpen-cast pit, Northern Cape

Black RockUnderground, Northern Cape

MamatwanWash and screening plant, Northern Cape

GloriaGraded product stockyard, Northern Cape

PostmasburgHaul road, Northern Cape

KurumanRail siding loadout, Northern Cape

Contracted tonnes, not spot cargoes

We sell on twelve- and twenty-four-month offtake tied to a booked rail slot, so the tonnage you plan for is the tonnage that lands. Spot parcels only when a slot opens up.

Talk offtake

Manganese is not a clever business. You find good ground, you keep the plant running, you load the wagons on the day you said you would, and you pay the people who do it. Erts has done that from Kathu since 2011 and intends to still be doing it when the seam at Gloria runs out.

Talk to us

Offtake, rail slots, land, community trusts or a site visit. Erts Manganese 14 Frikkie Meyer Street, Kathu 8446 Northern Cape 053 723 4180 Monday to Friday, 07:00–16:30