Rutile production ramps up in Sierra Leone

CAPE TOWN (miningweekly.com) – Sierra Rutile has risen above civil war and, more recently, the Ebola virus, to deepen its mining operations, with ambitions to become the largest global rutile producer.

The Sierra Leone-based company currently supplies 17% of global demand. It sells to bitumen producers throughout the world, although it still needs to get China on its books.

“China doesn’t have the technology at present, but it will have it in the medium term and then we’ll see the market expanding further,” Sierre Rutile CEO John Sisay told delegates at the Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town.

Sierre Rutile produced 106 000 t of rutile last year and has been increasing volumes. It is working towards producing 200 000 t/y of rutile. Sisay said the company recorded 17% a year production growth since 2011 and operated throughout the Ebola crisis without a single infection.

Sierra Leone was declared Ebola-free in November last year.

“To operate we have to be self-sustaining in every way,” he told mining professionals at the Indaba.  

The company, which has been operating in the country for 50 years, has its own power supply and owns its own port. It also relies heavily on a local workforce, with expats making up only 3% of its workforce.

Sisay said the company was stable and investor-friendly and had never had a strike. Mining leases stretched over a land area of 560 km.

Sisay noted that the resource had the potential to support a mine life of over 65 years at current production rates. He said one of the advantages of rutile is that it is environment friendly.  

The transition to dry mining had boosted production flexibility. Construction at the Gangama dry mine remained on schedule and within budget, with $21-million spent on project construction thus far.

The Sembehun dry mine – an openpit operation – is a large-scale resource, with the potential to contribute an average of 74 000 t/y of rutile.

Sisay said Sierra Rutile made up a significant proportion of Sierra Leonean gross domestic product and exports and was one of the largest private sector employers in the country.