Richards Bay Minerals
Encyclopedia
Richards Bay Minerals is a South Africa
n mining
company. RBM's principal product is titanium dioxide
in the form of an 85% pure titanium dioxide slag
; the company also produces the higher-purity 95% titanium dioxide product rutile
as well as pig iron
and zircon
.
The company's principal operations are just north of Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal
, South Africa, in a 2-kilometer wide by 17-kilometer long strip of mineral-rich sand dunes. RBM mines the using a dredge mining technique, extracting the titanium-iron ore ilmenite
as well as rutile and zircon from the sand. This feedstock is then processed into RBM's product lines at a facility which sorts the various materials and processes them to varying degrees into marketable materials.
RBM is jointly owned by Rio Tinto (37%), BHP Billiton (37%), Blue Horizon Investments (24%) and RBM permanent employees (2%).
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
company. RBM's principal product is titanium dioxide
Titanium dioxide
Titanium dioxide, also known as titanium oxide or titania, is the naturally occurring oxide of titanium, chemical formula . When used as a pigment, it is called titanium white, Pigment White 6, or CI 77891. Generally it comes in two different forms, rutile and anatase. It has a wide range of...
in the form of an 85% pure titanium dioxide slag
Slag
Slag is a partially vitreous by-product of smelting ore to separate the metal fraction from the unwanted fraction. It can usually be considered to be a mixture of metal oxides and silicon dioxide. However, slags can contain metal sulfides and metal atoms in the elemental form...
; the company also produces the higher-purity 95% titanium dioxide product rutile
Rutile
Rutile is a mineral composed primarily of titanium dioxide, TiO2.Rutile is the most common natural form of TiO2. Two rarer polymorphs of TiO2 are known:...
as well as pig iron
Pig iron
Pig iron is the intermediate product of smelting iron ore with a high-carbon fuel such as coke, usually with limestone as a flux. Charcoal and anthracite have also been used as fuel...
and zircon
Zircon
Zircon is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates. Its chemical name is zirconium silicate and its corresponding chemical formula is ZrSiO4. A common empirical formula showing some of the range of substitution in zircon is 1–x4x–y...
.
The company's principal operations are just north of Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa. Prior to 1994, the territory now known as KwaZulu-Natal was made up of the province of Natal and the homeland of KwaZulu....
, South Africa, in a 2-kilometer wide by 17-kilometer long strip of mineral-rich sand dunes. RBM mines the using a dredge mining technique, extracting the titanium-iron ore ilmenite
Ilmenite
Ilmenite is a weakly magnetic titanium-iron oxide mineral which is iron-black or steel-gray. It is a crystalline iron titanium oxide . It crystallizes in the trigonal system, and it has the same crystal structure as corundum and hematite....
as well as rutile and zircon from the sand. This feedstock is then processed into RBM's product lines at a facility which sorts the various materials and processes them to varying degrees into marketable materials.
RBM is jointly owned by Rio Tinto (37%), BHP Billiton (37%), Blue Horizon Investments (24%) and RBM permanent employees (2%).