{"id":26189,"date":"2026-03-02T14:45:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T14:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=26189"},"modified":"2026-03-02T14:45:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T14:45:13","slug":"rio-tinto-approves-473m-south-africa-mine-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=26189","title":{"rendered":"Rio Tinto approves $473m South Africa mine expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"textFreeArticle\">\n<p>Rio Tinto Group approved a $473 million mine expansion at its Richards Bay Minerals unit, ending a prolonged suspension of the South African project.<\/p>\n<p>The Zulti South project will extend the life of the mine to 2050 and \u201censure RBM\u2019s operational continuity for years to come,\u201d Rio said in an emailed statement Monday. Work was halted at the end of 2019 amid violent community protests.<\/p>\n<p>RBM \u2013 74% owned by Rio \u2013 mines mineral sands in KwaZulu-Natal province and exports titanium dioxide slag, which is used to create ingredients for products including paint, plastics, sunscreen and toothpaste. \u201cThe decision to proceed also reflects improved security conditions and strengthened community partnerships,\u201d Werner Duvenhage, RBM\u2019s managing director, said in the statement.<\/p>\n<div class=\"visible-sm-block visible-xs-block m1010\">\n<div class=\"ad-container-wrapper\">\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Read: Glencore\u2019s years-long pursuit of Rio ended in just 24 hours<br \/>Rio Tinto taps Evercore\u2019s Robey, JPMorgan on Glencore pursuit<br \/>Rio Tinto, Glencore in talks to form world\u2019s biggest miner<\/p>\n<p>China Harbour Engineering Co is the contractor appointed to construct Zulti South, according to the statement. The selection is due to the state-owned Chinese firm\u2019s \u201cproven performance and strong track record, including a strategic partnership with Rio Tinto\u201d on the vast Simandou iron ore project in Guinea, it said.<\/p>\n<p>RBM\u2019s expansion is expected to take 30 months and start commercial production in late 2028.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 2026 Bloomberg<\/p>\n<p><em>Follow Moneyweb\u2019s in-depth finance and business news on WhatsApp here.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\">\n            !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n            {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n                n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n                if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n                n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n                t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n                s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n                'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n            fbq('init', '779812924991616');\n            fbq('track', 'PageView');\n        <\/script>#Rio #Tinto #approves #473m #South #Africa #expansion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rio Tinto Group approved a $47&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[14869,279,5740,709,3430,278,8003],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26189"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}