South Africa's Kumba Iron Ore. will invest an extra 7.6 billion rand ($ 428. million) in processing technology that will treble premium. quality production at its Sishen mine, it said on Thursday.

The Anglo American system said the extra financial investment. follows a technical review and brings the overall financial investment in. its ultra-high-dense-media-separation (UHDMS) processing. technology project to 11.2 billion rand after a preliminary 3.6. billion rand was approved in 2021.

The UHDMS innovation is anticipated to increase the volume of. premium iron ore to about 55% of its flagship Sishen mine's. production, up from the current levels around 18%, improving. margins, Kumba stated in a statement.

With 1.8 billion rand having actually been spent on the engineering. style, earthworks and a technical evaluation, the staying 9.4. billion rand will be invested in between the 2nd half of 2024. and completion of 2028, when the task is anticipated to reach complete. capability.

CEO Mpumi Zikalala said the investment showed Kumba was. concentrating on value over volume.

Premium iron ore is progressively highly valued by our. customers because it minimizes carbon emissions from the. steelmaking procedure therefore plays a crucial role in green steel. production, she said in the statement.

Kumba, Africa's top iron ore producer, has needed to cut. its production as it seeks to match output to South Africa's. freight rail company Transnet's constrained capability to. transportation minerals to port.

Transnet is struggling to provide sufficient freight rail and. port services due to equipment shortages and maintenance. backlogs after years of under-investment. It is also battling. cable television theft and vandalism of its infrastructure.

Kumba anticipates to export 36-38 million lots of iron ore this. year, after shipping 18.1 million lots during the first 6. months of 2024.

(source: Reuters)