Miners in the Northern Cape pr oduc e primarily manganese ir on or e diamonds and zinc Manganese is a tr ansition metal with important indus trial allo y uses particularly in s t eel Ir on or e is s t eel s main ingr edient and is also used in medicine and a r ange of other pr oducts Zinc a base metal is primarily used t o galv anise s t eel a pr oc es s t o pr ot ect the metal agains t un w ant ed c orr osion NORTHERN CAPE MINES LEADERSHIP FORUM Ov ervie w and appr oach T he Northern Cape Mines L eadership F orum NCMLF is a principal c ommitt ee of the Miner als C ouncil f or pr oduc ers in the Northern Cape It c onsis ts primarily of manganese ir on or e diamond and zinc pr oduc ers T hese pr oduc ers shar e c ommon challenges and opportunities b y virtue of their oper a tions being loca t ed primarily in the John T aolo G aetse w e Namak w a and ZF Mgca wu dis tricts of the Northern Cape T he pr oduc ers ha v e c ome t ogether t o addr es s is sues of c ommon int er es t such as infr as tructur e planning w a t er and electricity supply en vir onmental management health and saf ety and c ommunity de v elopment among other aspects and challenges The c ommodities in brief Manganese South A frica hos ts appr o xima t ely 80 of the w orld s manganese r esour c es and appr o xima t ely 30 200Mt of the w orld s r eserv es Notwiths tanding this v as t endo wment the c ountry pr oduc es only 33 of the w orld s manganese or e and 6 of f err omanganese allo y s In 20 19 the sect or pr oduc ed 164Mt emplo y ed 10 846 dir ect emplo y ees and earned R4 7 6 billion in t otal sales As manganese is an important allo ying element used in the manuf actur e of s t eel manganese is the f ourth mos ttr aded c ommodity in the w orld F or this r eason the global demand f or manganese is e xpect ed t o r emain r ela tiv ely s tr ong particularly in the light of emer ging ec onomies mo ving up the inc ome scale T his c ombined with South A frica s signifcant r eserv es and r esour c es and the f act tha t manganese does not as y et ha v e an y c ommer cially viable subs titut es means tha t the underlying fundamentals support a buo y ant manganese sect or Such pot ential notwiths tanding the sect or can be c onsider ed t o be underperf orming on tw o fr onts Firs t is tha t its capability t o meet e xport demand has been capped b y inadequa t e r ail and port infr as tructur e Sec ond is tha t local benefcia tion capacity has been er oded b y an unsus tainable incr ease in electricity pric es which f or the mining sect or ha v e incr eased b y 5 23 o v er the las t decade Ir on or e Ir on is the mos t c ommon element on earth c omprising mos t of the planet s inner and out er c or e Ir on has been used b y humans sinc e ancient times t o mak e t ools T oda y the element is mos tly used t o manuf actur e s t eel Although a limit ed r esour c e locally South A frican ir on or e is of a higher gr ade c ommanding w orld pric es in the upper tier In 20 19 the South A frican ir on or e sect or pr oduc ed 7 0 5Mt of which 91 w as e xport ed It emplo y ed 19 09 2 dir ect emplo y ees and earned R7 14 billion in t otal sales Zinc South A frica is richly endo w ed with a v as t arr a y of miner als Zinc a crucial ne w t ech miner al tha t is driving the w orld s F ourth Indus trial R e v olution is the rising s tar in South A frica s mining portf olio T shipi e Ntle Manganese Mining T shipi Borw a mine P age 45 MINERALS C OUNCIL SOUTH AFRICA INTEGRA TED ANNU AL REVIEW 20 19