Notes about kaolin, quicklime and battery minerals
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Notes about kaolin, quicklime and battery minerals
While sitting out load shedding this weekend, I dotted down some ideas in my notebook.
By Leon Louw founder of WhyAfrica and editor of the WhyAfrica magazine
After the annual 45-day WhyAfrica Road Trip last year I did a bit of digging and undertook another three shorter road trips towards the end of the year to gather on the ground information about ideas for WhyAfrica’s research reports.
In the process I discovered fascinating stories about Kaolin quarries and small- scale mining close to Grahamstown (now Makhanda) in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, the quicklime sector in South Africa and Zambia and battery minerals in West Africa.
The kaolin of Makhanda
Makhanda is renowned for its kaolin deposits. Kaolin is a fine white clay which is used in ceramics, paints, rubber, and various other industrial applications. Currently, there are five large kaolin mines in the area, and several small- scale operations that are of interest.
The kaolin deposits of Makhanda are primarily derived from the weathering of feldspar-rich rocks. These deposits are often covered by a silcrete layer, which can be as thick as 8m.
There is significant potential for further development in local processing and value addition to fully capitalise on this mineral wealth in the Eastern Cape.
Quicklime in South Africa and Zambia
A company called Firering Strategic Minerals is scaling up production in 2025 at its quicklime project in Zambia to produce 600-800 tonnes of quicklime daily along with a range of ancillary products.
This piqued my interest as I wondered where the Copper Belt in Zambia currently gets its quicklime from, and I was not aware of any other quicklime operations in Zambia.
With over US$100 million in historical investment, Firering’s project is strategically positioned to support the expanding copper producers in the Zambian Copper Belt, which are currently reliant on imported quicklime from South Africa.
Critical minerals in West Africa
The critical mineral projects in Southern and East Africa have enjoyed a lot of interest, and I was wondering about West African exploration project. I came across these two which I though was worth having a closer look:
Saraya Energy is exploring for lithium, tin, tungsten, tantalum and REEs in Senegal and Xantus Exploration is exploring for lithium at Dingoaba in Niger which covers an area of 200 square kilometres in the south-western part of Niger.
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Notes about kaolin, quicklime and battery minerals