Richards Bay Minerals restarts operations

Operations restarted at Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) this week after engagement with the host communities and traditional leaders stabilised the security situation around the mine.

Sinaed Kaufman, chief executive: minerals, Rio Tinto. Source: Rio Tinto/Twitter

RBM owner, Rio Tinto, shut down operations and declared a force majeure in July after escalating violence culminated in the assassination of the mine's general manager.

Rio Tinto declares a force majeure on violence-plagued Richards Bay operation

1 Jul 2021

“The safety and security of our people has been our priority throughout and we recognise the collaboration and constructive dialogue we have had with all stakeholders to get us into a position where we can restart operations and resume contributing to the host communities, KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa. I also acknowledge the resilience and dedication shown by all our people at RBM over the past weeks," says Rio Tinto chief executive: minerals, Sinead Kaufman.

Operations will be ramping up to capacity as soon as possible. The overall impact of the suspension of operations, including the shutdown of furnace number 4 as announced on 21 July 2021, is still to be assessed. At this time, the force majeure declared on customer contracts remains in place.