South African media shines spotlight on large-scale illegal chromite mining in North West
South African media shines spotlight on large-scale illegal chromite mining in North West
Investigative journalism TV series, Carte Blanche, published a video showing the expanse of an illegal chromium mining operation in the North West Province of South Africa. The video, which shows a collaborated intelligence operation between private and public law enforcement agencies, highlights that the illegal operations have become "more brazen, using heavy-duty equipment to move the stolen minerals by truck along national highways" and operate with impunity while law enforcement is seemingly "powerless to step in".
Blue View
South Africa is the largest source of chromite, supplying over 60% of annual global mine output and over 80% of exports to China, the largest consuming nation. The leading status is underpinned by the geological heritage of the country in the form of the Bushveld Igneous Complex, which hosts nearly all of the domestic resources and reserves in a series of chromitite layers. The geology of the Bushveld allows for predictable mining and economies of scale allow for South Africa to be amongst the lowest cost chromite mine supply. The relatively simple geology makes for easier illegal mining, as surface exposures are easy to identify and extract in crude open-pit operations. Illegal mining was previously rife in the eastern Bushveld in Limpopo Province, specifically around the town of Sefateng where illegal mining in between residential buildings can be identified from satellite imagery. However, easy-to-access surface exposures of chromitite layers outside of designated mining areas have largely been pillaged in the eastern Bushveld, which has coincided with the move of illegal operations to the western Bushveld of the North West Province.
The growth in chromite demand from the Chinese ferrochrome and stainless steel industry has brought mine output far beyond domestic consumption in South Africa, and growing volumes of run-of-mine material have been exported. There is a myriad of independent chromite concentrator plants spread across the chromium mining areas that purchase third-party run-of-mine for upgrading into marketable concentrates. As a result, tracking the origin of ores becomes convoluted. Exports of chromite from South Africa have ramped nearly three-fold over the last decade to nearly 15Mt. More than 1Mtpy is thought to come from illegal operations.