On August 24, Rio Tinto commenced the process of restarting operations at Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) in South Africa. This follows a stabilization of the security situation around the mine, supported by the national and provincial government, as well as substantive engagement with host communities and their traditional authorities.
“The safety and security of our people has been our priority throughout and we recognize 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,” Rio Tinto Chief Executive Minerals Sinead Kaufman said. “I also acknowledge the resilience and dedication shown by all our people at RBM over the past weeks.”
Operations will be ramping up to capacity as soon as possible. The overall impact of the suspension of operations, including the shutdown of furnace No. 4 on July 21, will still be assessed. At this time, the force majeure declared on customer contracts remains in place.