By: OrePulse

South Africa's Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Gwede Mantashe, opened Phase 1 of a new concentrate plant at the Steenkampskraal Monazite Mine in the Western Cape on October 7, marking the start of commercial rare-earth mineral processing at the site.

Minister of Electricity and Energy Kgosientsho Ramokgopa and Deputy Minister Phumzile Mgcina also attended the opening. The plant crushes and mills monazite ore, then upgrades it into a rare-earth concentrate through gravity separation and flotation. The mine's operator, Steenkampskraal Monazite Mine, said it has secured offtake agreements for the concentrate and is planning its first export shipments before the end of 2026.

Steenkampskraal executive chairperson Enock Mathebula said the company's strategy is to process and beneficiate its ore inside South Africa rather than export it in raw form. He credited South Africa's Industrial Development Corporation for funding the plant's development. Mathebula also referred to high-purity mixed rare-earth products that the company said it developed in June in partnership with Mintek, the state-owned minerals research organization.

Steenkampskraal executive director Robbie Louw said the deposit contains an average grade of about 14.5% total rare-earth oxides, along with about 2.1% thorium as a by-product mineral. He set out a proposed long-term pathway for using the mine's thorium as a nuclear fuel, referencing South Africa's existing Koeberg nuclear power station and the government's planned Thyspunt nuclear site, and said the company has a partnership with Thor Energy toward that end. Louw said the company is also exploring possible collaboration with Necsa, South Africa's state-owned nuclear energy corporation, on thorium beneficiation and the production of medical isotopes.

Louw asked the two ministers to commit to a set of five follow-up steps to support the thorium pathway, which he said should include establishing structured engagement between the company and government and agreeing on a shared roadmap. He did not detail the other steps at the event.

Mantashe, addressing the opening, stressed the importance of adding value to minerals at the point of production inside South Africa rather than exporting unprocessed material. Ramokgopa described the Steenkampskraal plant as "a national strategic asset."

The Phase 1 plant represents South Africa's entry into commercial production of a rare-earth concentrate from monazite ore. Monazite is a phosphate mineral that typically contains a mix of rare-earth elements used in applications including magnets and electronics, and, in deposits like Steenkampskraal's, a meaningful thorium content. The company and officials present did not disclose the plant's processing capacity or throughput figures at the opening.

The company describes the new facility as the first stage of a longer development plan, though it did not specify the scope or timing of any subsequent phases at the event. Steenkampskraal's first planned export shipments, due before the end of 2026, would follow directly from the offtake agreements the company says it has already secured for its rare-earth concentrate.

Mantashe's and Ramokgopa's remarks at the opening framed the Steenkampskraal plant within South Africa's broader effort to develop domestic processing of minerals considered critical to global supply chains, rather than exporting them unprocessed. The presence of both the mineral resources minister and the electricity and energy minister at the same event reflected the plant's dual relevance to South Africa's mining and energy policy areas, given the company's stated interest in thorium as well as rare earths.

Koeberg, the nuclear power station referenced in Louw's remarks, is operated by South Africa's state utility, Eskom, and is the country's only operating nuclear power plant. Thyspunt, also referenced by Louw, is a coastal site in the Eastern Cape that has been identified in government planning as a potential location for future nuclear power development, though no construction decision for a plant there was announced at Tuesday's event. The thorium-fuel proposal remains a long-term idea raised by the company alongside its core rare-earth concentrate business, which is the part of the Steenkampskraal operation now entering commercial production.