Vendicom Minerals Beneficiation Group
ABOUT VMBG
Locality of the Project Area
The project area comprises three separate permit areas, situated some 50km south of the city of East London, a major industrial and harbour city in the Eastern Cape Province, and is being developed through Vendicom Minerals Beneficiation Group (VMBG).
The presence of heavy minerals along the coastline of South Africa was discovered in the 1920’s. Heavy
mineral deposits are found along the Eastern Cape coastline and up to the Mozambique border with
South Africa. The mineral deposits found in the sands contain Ilmenite, Rutile, Zircon, Magnetite and Titanium.
The production of ilmenite, rutile and zircon has grown steadily since mining operations began many years ago at Richards Bay in KZN. Regarding the Eastern Cape, in the past heavy mineral deposits were mined at Umgababa and Morgens Bay in the 1950’s to the 1960’s but these operations were short-lived.
In the 1970’s Anglo American mined heavy minerals close to East London but also stopped. A new mining company, Vendicom (Pty) Ltd, has been carrying out feasibility studies with the view to mine heavy minerals since the early 2000’s, initially with Baosteel but later its own.