Plans to replace SA’s wollastonite imports
INCUBEX Minerals aims to replace South African imports of wollastonite and could possibly grow into an exporter of the mineral, CEO John Bristow said on Tuesday.
Incubex, a privately held company designed to be an incubator for mining projects, has a host of industrial mineral prospects that it wants to develop to generate cash to allow it to invest in other projects and spin them out as separate companies, Mr Bristow said.
“We’ve embarked on a strategy of developing industrial mineral deposits. It’s not particularly sexy but it will make reasonable money,” he said.
The wollastonite mine is already in production, having been run by a number of other owners who have struggled to make a success of the business. The last owners ran out of cash and were unable to capitalise on their dry processing plant, which replaced an earlier unsuccessful wet processing technology, he said.
Wollastonite is a fibrous mineral and is used in paint, ceramic, and brake pad applications and as a substitute for asbestos, says the US Geological Survey website. It listed China, India, Finland and Mexico as leading sources of the mineral.
SA was estimated to import about 1,000 tonnes a month of wollastonite and it was this import-replacement
We’ve embarked on a strategy of developing industrial mineral deposits. It’s not particularly sexy but it will make reasonable money
market Incubex was targeting, said Mr Bristow, the former CEO and president of alluvial diamond miner Rockwell Diamonds. Incubex is talking to paint, ceramic and other users of wollastonite, to see what the local market could absorb, he said.
“We could over time replace the import tonnages and then, further into the future, look at exports,” said Mr Bristow, a geologist by training, and a veteran of the diamond sector.
The first phase of the project would see 500 tonnes a month of wollastonite produced, including a lower grade used in the construction industry to strengthen concrete slabs, he said.
Depending on demand, a second module could be added to increase output. “In industrial minerals marketing is key. It needs a lot of investigation before you start mining.”
Incubex has a silica sand project near Rustenburg to sell product to roofing tile makers and the ceramic industry. The silica is used as a flux in furnaces and in slimes dams in the platinum mining sector.
Incubex is embroiled in a dispute over a tin, copper and fluorspar prospect and is awaiting the outcome of studies by Mpumalanga and Department of Mineral Resources officials.
It has an attapulgite deposit it wants to develop. Attapulgite is a clay used in the oil drilling industry, in cosmetic face masks and in paints.