By: OrePulse

Jupiter Mines said its Tshipi é Ntle Manganese Mining operation shipped a record 828,000 tonnes of manganese through Namibia's Port of Lüderitz in its 2026 financial year, as the company diversified its export routes away from South Africa's Kalahari manganese field.

Jupiter holds 49.9% of Tshipi, with Exxaro Resources owning the remaining 50.1%. The company said total sales for the year reached 3.5 million tonnes, ahead of its historical average of 3.4 million tonnes.

Jupiter said Tshipi used a combination of export channels and transport modes, including rail and road, to maintain resilience against variability on South Africa's rail network. Rail volumes alone reached 2.6 million tonnes during the year. The company also said Tshipi takes part in a Manganese Export Capacity Allocation framework, known as MECA3, with state-owned rail and port operator Transnet, which it said gives the operation longer-term certainty over its export logistics.

Jupiter said operational performance benefited from fewer derailments and less cable theft on the rail network, along with larger wagons and other infrastructure upgrades. Total mining volume for the year reached 11.89 million bank cubic metres.

Looking ahead, Jupiter said it is exploring a move into downstream production of high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate, a material used in electric vehicle batteries. The company is also planning a transshipment project at the Port of Lüderitz intended to allow larger vessels to load at anchorage, building on a logistics strategy that has increasingly used the Namibian port to diversify away from the South African rail network.

Jupiter reported a net profit of $37.6 million for the 2026 financial year and said it has paid out $451 million in dividends over the past eight years.