The disruption was so severe that then-CEO Jakob Stausholm held direct talks with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in an effort to stabilize the region.
Miningmx reports that in addition to community related violence, RBM has also struggled with a fallout among its empowerment partners.
RBM operates four mines in the Zulti North lease area, alongside a mineral separation plant and smelting facility producing zircon and ilmenite which are all key inputs for paint pigment, ceramics and industrial applications across North America, Europe and Asia.
A test case for mining resilience
“This project is not about expansion; it represents our commitment to sustaining jobs and continuing to make a meaningful contribution to the province,” said Werner Duvenhage, managing director of Rio Tinto Iron & Titanium Africa Operations & RBM.
The investment carries broader implications. Beyond community violence, RBM has faced scrutiny over its 2009 black economic empowerment trusts, which underwent High Court review after a 2023 internal assessment identified governance deficiencies, including poorly defined beneficiary structures.
For South Africa, the approval signals that large-scale capital can still flow despite governance and social risks, but only after sustained corporate and political engagement.
For African mining more broadly, it reinforces a central lesson: long-term resource projects increasingly hinge on community alignment, regulatory certainty and transparent empowerment structures as much as commodity prices.
The project also comes as Rio Tinto’s new CEO, Simon Trott, reviews non-core assets, with RBM reportedly considered under scrutiny amid weaker titanium mineral pricing.
Still, the Zulti South approval suggests that when stability improves, Africa’s mineral sands and critical industrial inputs remain strategically indispensable in global supply chains.
