Moving beyond pit-to-port – how we can engineer South Africa’s mining beneficiation future

By Chris Campbell, CEO of Consulting Engineers South Africa (CESA)

South Africa’s mining sector has long relied on a pit-to-port model – extracting raw minerals and exporting them with minimal local processing. While the argument against this method is nothing new, and while it has sustained the industry for decades, it severely limits economic multipliers, job creation and fiscal resilience.

This year, we need to see a decisive shift toward beneficiation, which will include building local infrastructure, processing facilities and value chains where South African engineers lead the design, risk management and implementation to unlock sustainable growth, higher revenues and broader employment.

Pit-to-Port Limitations
The status quo is increasingly unsustainable. Exporting raw chrome ore or other commodities at low value – often around R48 per tonne for certain ores – only to import high-value finished products squanders our natural endowment and economic potential.

In a recent critical development, energy regulator Nersa approved Eskom’s application to lower the tariff for Glencore-Merafe and Samancor ferrochrome smelters from 136c/kWh to 87c/kWh, effective from 1 January to 31 December 2026. This move is aimed at saving thousands of direct and indirect jobs in up- and downstream value chains. While this discount is a welcome boost to our economy, one can only wonder how the costs will be recovered.

Click here to download the full press release in a Word document format.