Black Mountain Mining (BMM) is located at Aggeneys, a mining town in the Northern Cape, South Africa.

Vedanta holds 69.6%. Exxaro Resources, a leading South African BEE company owns 24.4% and the BMM Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP) holds 6%.

The Deeps shaft produces copper, lead, and zinc, with silver as a by-product. Annual production is of the order of 102Ktpa of zinc-equivalent metal-in-concentrate. Production at Deeps is currently scheduled to cease in around 2020.

The Swartberg shaft produces primarily copper and lead, with silver as a by-product. Annual production is of the order of 13.5Ktpa of metal-in-concentrate.

Plans are well advanced to deepen Swartberg, which will increase production to 1.6Mtpa of copper and lead ore, and 60Ktpa – 70Ktpa of metal-in-concentrate, depending on a favorable economic assessment. Further ramp-up is planned for the future, taking copper and lead ore production past the 2Mtpa mark.

BMM mines zinc, lead, silver and copper, hoisting 1.7Mtpa of ore, and has a production capacity of 90,000Tpa metal-in-concentrate.

BMM has been in operation since 1980 and was acquired from Anglo American by Vedanta Resources in 2010/2011.

BMM is one of the largest private-sector employers in the Northern Cape. BMM directly employs 962 people and indirectly employs a further 842 people (contractors and business partners). In total, BMM provides employment for 1804 people. 80% are from the Northern Cape, of which 60% are from the Namaqua district (Khai-Ma and Nama Khoi municipal areas).

BMM has invested in community development through the implementation of infrastructure, poverty reduction, and development projects. For the period 2014-2019, BMM spent R20 million on local economic development projects.

VZI views the region as highly prospective and is undertaking extensive brownfields exploration to identify additional reserves and resources.