Modern Mining July 2018

IRON ORE

Technology drives down costs at Kumba

Every iron ore producer in the world has been under pressure over the past several years, with the benchmark price having dropped as low as US$37/ton in late 2015 after reaching an all-time high of just over US$190/ton in February 2011. South Africa’s leading producer, Kumba, has responded by introducing a series of state-of-the- art – but proven – technologies which have boosted productivity and driven down operating costs, as Modern Mining’s Arthur Tassell was able to see on a recent visit (as part of a media group) to Kumba’s flagship operation, Sishen, in the Northern Cape.

T he impact of the new technologies (as well as a relatively modest re- vival in the iron ore price) resulted in Kumba being able to post excep- tional results for its 2017 financial year, as its CEO, Themba Mkhwanazi, pointed out to journalists during the media visit. He said Kumba had been in survival mode two years ago but had rebounded to the extent that its shares ranked as the best performing stock on the JSE in 2017. Mkhwanazi attributed the turnaround at Kumba to a new operating model and a restruc- turing which involved “doing the right work at the right time in the right way” and said the company – which also maintained a highly

Mapikwa Mobwano, General Manager of Sishen.

impressive safety record during 2017 – was now able to operate profitably “even when the commodity cycle turns against us.” He added that “the Kumba you will see in three to five years’ time will be a very different Kumba than the one you see today.” Sishen, of course, is one of the largest open-pit operations in the world, moving well over 200 Mt of material a year. The mine was commissioned in 1953 and the single pit from which the ore is extracted is now – after decades of mining – 14 km long from north to

A view of the plant complex at Kumba’s Sishen mine (photo: Arthur Tassell).

30  MODERN MINING  July 2018