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Exxaro eyes H2 2014 start
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Mark Watts, Siobhan Lismore
South Africa’s Exxaro Resources Ltd is planning to start up its Fairbreeze mineral sands mine in KwaZulu-Natal during H2 2014, a year later than it previously expected.
Exxaro had been planning Fairbreeze as a long-term replacement for the Hillendale mine, which will end operations in 2012 due to depleted reserves.
The project was put on hold during a downturn in minsands demand, but in March 2011 Exxaro said it would revisit its Fairbreeze plans amid rising prices for titanium minerals, setting a start-up target of Q3 2013.
The revised commissioning date means that Exxaro’s KZN Sands subsidiary will have no output for around two years. This will weaken the global supply of minsands, a situation which is already driving record price hikes for ilmenite,...