Vedanta Zinc International celebrates Ground-breaking of Gamsberg Phase II – A ZAR 7 Billion Investment expansion project
05 August 2022- Aggeneys, Northern Cape
Vedanta Zinc International (VZI) officially broke ground for the construction of Gamsberg Phase II on Friday, 05 August 2022. It is a R7 Billion investment expansion project of their open cast Zinc mine which promises to create 2000 – 2500 jobs during the construction phase and a further 800 to 1000 permanent jobs during the peak operations phase.
On 25 October 2018, Vedanta Resources pledged a total investment of R21 billion in the Gamsberg mine and associated projects at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Annual Investment Conference. Of the R21 Billion, over R6 billion was allocated towards completing Gamsberg Phase I, which tripled VZI’s production capacity from 75 000 tonnes to 300 000 tonnes per annum and increased its staff complement to 2700.
“The Gamsberg Phase II investment will positively contribute to the realisation of VZI’s vision of being a digitally advanced integrated operation that will safely produce 1Mtpa while focusing on cost reduction. It will also create great opportunities for small business owners in the communities of Khâi-Ma and surrounding host communities from a business partnership point of view.” Said Arun Misra, CEO of Vedanta Zinc Business.
The sod-turning ceremony, led by Northern Cape Premier, Dr Zamani Saul, Vedanta Zinc Business CEO, Arun Misra, Vedanta Zinc Executive Director Pushpender Singla, MEC Economic Development Mr A Vosloo and Mayors, took place where the construction of the 4 MTPA Plant will be commencing over the next 18 to 22 months. Once complete, the expansion will double Gamsberg’s annual ore capacity to 8 million tonnes and produce an additional 200 000 tonnes a year of MiC.
Pushpender Singla, VZI’s Executive Director and CFO, says, “We have made good progress since the investment announcement three months ago. We have appointed a Plant construction partner and placed an order for major equipment. In addition, we recently issued a R 2.5 Billion tender for a mining contract which we expect to close over the next month. We are ready to start the real groundwork; the plot plan, process flow chart and the basic design are complete.”
“We are grateful to the President that we are seeing the tangible and practical implementation of a commitment that VZI made in 2018. This investment is located in the Namakwa Region where we want to put up the multi-nodal Special Economic Zone with VZI as the anchor investor enabling this development.” Said Hon. Premier Dr Zamani Saul.
“We expect that in the next five years when we look back, we will see a completely different Northern Cape and completely different Namakwa District as a result of investments of this nature, and we therefore, express our appreciation to Vedanta Zinc International.” Concluded the Premier.
Vedanta Zinc International (VZI) officially broke ground for the construction of Gamsberg Phase II on Friday, 05 August 2022. It is a R7 Billion investment expansion project of their open cast Zinc mine which promises to create 2000 – 2500 jobs during the construction phase and a further 800 to 1000 permanent jobs during the peak operations phase.
On 25 October 2018, Vedanta Resources pledged a total investment of R21 billion in the Gamsberg mine and associated projects at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Annual Investment Conference. Of the R21 Billion, over R6 billion was allocated towards completing Gamsberg Phase I, which tripled VZI’s production capacity from 75 000 tonnes to 300 000 tonnes per annum and increased its staff complement to 2700.
“The Gamsberg Phase II investment will positively contribute to the realisation of VZI’s vision of being a digitally advanced integrated operation that will safely produce 1Mtpa while focusing on cost reduction. It will also create great opportunities for small business owners in the communities of Khâi-Ma and surrounding host communities from a business partnership point of view.” Said Arun Misra, CEO of Vedanta Zinc Business.
The sod-turning ceremony, led by Northern Cape Premier, Dr Zamani Saul, Vedanta Zinc Business CEO, Arun Misra, Vedanta Zinc Executive Director Pushpender Singla, MEC Economic Development Mr A Vosloo and Mayors, took place where the construction of the 4 MTPA Plant will be commencing over the next 18 to 22 months. Once complete, the expansion will double Gamsberg’s annual ore capacity to 8 million tonnes and produce an additional 200 000 tonnes a year of MiC.
Pushpender Singla, VZI’s Executive Director and CFO, says, “We have made good progress since the investment announcement three months ago. We have appointed a Plant construction partner and placed an order for major equipment. In addition, we recently issued a R 2.5 Billion tender for a mining contract which we expect to close over the next month. We are ready to start the real groundwork; the plot plan, process flow chart and the basic design are complete.”
“We are grateful to the President that we are seeing the tangible and practical implementation of a commitment that VZI made in 2018. This investment is located in the Namakwa Region where we want to put up the multi-nodal Special Economic Zone with VZI as the anchor investor enabling this development.” Said Hon. Premier Dr Zamani Saul.
“We expect that in the next five years when we look back, we will see a completely different Northern Cape and completely different Namakwa District as a result of investments of this nature, and we therefore, express our appreciation to Vedanta Zinc International.” Concluded the Premier.