NGWENYA IRON ORE MINE TO REOPEN

MBABANE – There is a light at the end of the tunnel with regard to the reopening of the Ngwenya Iron Ore Mine.

Operations at the mine ceased in 2014 after the operator Salgaocar Swaziland Limited (PTY) Ltd experienced some challenges.
Commissioner of Mines Sam Ntshalintshali said the Mineral Management Board was preparing to appraise applications lodged with an objective to resuscitate the Ngwenya iron ore mining project.

According to our insiders, the reopening was scheduled towards the end of next month, February.
In this regard, the commissioner said: “The reopening of the Ngwenya Iron Ore mining project will be determined in time when all the internal processes have been completed. Therefore, February cannot be confirmed as the time of reopening of the mining project.”
He dismissed suggestions that Salgaocar was one of the applicants who were bidding for the iron ore project.

Perhaps, Ntshalintshali opined, the successful bidder may offer first preference to the former management, employees and service providers of the liquidated Salgaocar Swaziland (Pty) limited Company, because of their experience with the operations.

Asked if the new operator would be mining iron ore dumps like Salgaocar, Ntshalintshali said his office could not pre-empt the work and final determination of the Minerals Management Board.

“However, guidelines are in the National Mining Policy and the Mines and Minerals Act No.4 of 2011, which advocate for long-term investments in the minerals sector. The project at hand consists of slime dams, iron ore dumps and iron ore in the ground.”

He further explained that the dictates of the law point to a project that would encompass all the three types of mineral value chain including local beneficiation or value addition for long-term sustainability.

Even though he did not give figures or statistics of the total number of job opportunities, the commissioner said these would only be determined by the successful bidder.

Before the closure of the company, Sihle Forward Dlamini, who was the Director of Salgaocar Board of Directors, stated that on or about December 2013, the price of iron ore started a downward trend and this impacted negatively on the company’s ability to continue its operations.

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