About Us

Kumba Iron Ore Limited, a member of the Anglo American plc group, is a leading value-adding supplier of the highest quality iron ore to the global steel industry. The South African based company is the fourth largest supplier of seaborne iron ore in the world, exporting more than 34 million tonnes per annum to steelmakers in Europe, the Middle-East, and Asia. Kumba has reserves of more than a billion tons of high quality haematite.

The company operates two opencast mines in South Africa – Sishen Mine and Thabazimbi Mine. Together they produce more than 40Mt of iron ore per annum (Mtpa), which accounts for 81% of South Africa’s total production and around 4% of the global seaborne trade. The combined reserves of these mines exceed one billion tons of high quality iron ore.

An expansion project named Kolomela, which uses jig technology, is ramping up to reach a capacity of 13Mtpa in 2010. A new greenfields project will supply an additional 9Mtpa by 2013.

Thabazimbi Mine’s product is sold exclusively to ArcelorMittal South Africa.

In 2008 Kumba received a new order mining right to proceed with the Kolomela project and converted old order mining rights for the existing Sishen and Thabazimbi mines. Receiving these rights enabled the company to focus on the extraction of the resources and significantly strengthened business security.

Kumba has been exporting iron ore to Europe and Japan since 1976 and has established enduring relations with the most significant steel mills in these countries. These customers regard Kumba as a strategic supplier of superior iron ore that enhances their furnaces’ efficiencies. The company was also a “first mover” into China by investing in the port of Qingdao in the early 1990s. This enabled Kumba to secure its customer base in Northern China and to take full advantage of the remarkable growth in the Chinese steel industry when production quadrupled during the commodities boom of 2000 – 2008.