Palabora

Palabora Mining Company (also known as PMC)

Open pit mine outside Phalaborwa
Location
Location	Phalaborwa
Province	Limpopo
Country	South Africa
Production
Products	Copper vermiculite anode slimes nickel sulfate sulfuric acid magnetite
History
Opened	1956
Owner
Company	Rio Tinto Group (57%) Anglo American (17%) Public float (26%)

Palabora Mining Company Limited (founded August 1956) is a publicly traded mining company headquartered in Phalaborwa, Limpopo province, South Africa. The company operates a single cluster of open-pit and underground mines producing mainly copper as well as byproducts such as precious metals from anode slimes, nickel sulfate, sulfuric acid, magnetite, and vermiculite. Palabora also has processing facilities on site for the production of purified copper from mined copper ore, and a vermiculite recovery plant. Its final copper product has two forms namely, copper cathode and copper rod.

PMC's open cast mine is Africa's widest man-made hole at almost 2,000 m (6,600 ft) wide.

In addition to its mining activities, Palabora maintains subsidiaries located in the United States, United Kingdom and Singapore for the marketing of vermiculite.

Owners

• Hebei Iron & Steel Group (35%)
• General Nice Group (25%)
• ISCOR (20%)
• Tewoo Group (20%)