Dimapur, August 31: Rio Tinto has begun the process of resuming operations at South Africa’s Richards Bay Minerals (RBM). This comes after the national and provincial governments helped stabilize the security situation around the mine and substantive engagement with host communities and their traditional authorities.
Sinead Kaufman, Rio Tinto’s Chief Executive, Minerals, stated: “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.”
As soon as possible, operations will be ramped up to capacity. The impact of the halting of operations, including the planned shutdown of furnace number 4 on July 21, 2021, is yet to be determined. At this time, the declared force majeure on customer contracts remains in effect.