After years of heavily concentrated global supply, South Africa is now following Spain to quietly emerge as a major producer of wollastonite in an industry dominated until now by only a handful of players: China, India, the USA, Mexico, and Finland.
South Africa’s Namaqua Wollastonite (Pty) Ltd has revealed to IM that it expects to start producing wollastonite in April 2010 at its Magata wollastonite project located about 14km north east of Garies, Namaqualand, in the Northern Cape province of South Africa.
“Continuous production will commence once a picking plant is commissioned, which is estimated to be April 2010,” said Mari-Alet Van Der Merwe, Namaqua’s chief executive officer.
The plan is to ramp up to 9,000 tonnes by April 2011.
The South African company will then increase production “as the market allows” by commissioning...