Gamsberg Phase 2 opens: R10bn more from Vedanta, 1,000 permanent jobs for the Northern Cape
President Ramaphosa used the Gamsberg inauguration to defend the investment drive, saying the measure of its success is mines opened and jobs created rather than pledges announced.
The second phase of Vedanta Zinc International’s Gamsberg mine in the Northern Cape was officially opened on 16 October 2026, with the company putting roughly R10 billion into the expansion on top of about R89 billion it says it has invested in South Africa over 15 years.
Speaking at the inauguration, Vedanta non-executive director Priya Agarwal Hebbar said the expansion lifts the operation’s total zinc-in-concentrate capacity to approximately 500,000 tonnes a year. More than 1,500 jobs were created at peak construction, she said, and the mine now supports about 1,000 permanent operational jobs.
The Presidency of South Africa published a broadcast of the event on its YouTube channel, which carried the plaque unveiling, the ribbon cutting and the speeches. The plaque, read out at the ceremony, records that President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa and Agarwal Hebbar officially opened Gamsberg Phase 2 under the theme “Partnership for Progress”.
Ramaphosa used the platform to answer critics of the government’s investment drive, saying pledges made at the 2018 investment conference had been dismissed at the time and that Vedanta had now shown what happens when commitments become productive assets. He said the country had secured commitments of approximately R890 billion at this year’s South Africa Investment Conference, including development finance, and has set a target of R3 trillion over five years.
“The true measure of success will not be the value of the commitments that are announced,” he said. “It will be the investments that materialize, the businesses that grow and the opportunities that are created for our people.”
He also credited Vedanta with a commitment of approximately R21 billion made at the first investment conference in 2018, and described the Gamsberg expansion as one of the most significant zinc mining operations on the African continent and in the world. With the work under way, he said, the company is poised to become the largest producer of zinc in the world once it reaches that milestone.
Northern Cape premier Zamani Saul introduced the president with a set of provincial figures. He said the province’s gross domestic product stood at R119 billion when Ramaphosa opened Gamsberg’s first phase in 2019 and had reached R166 billion in 2025, a nominal increase of R47 billion over six years. Employment in the province rose from 319,000 to 337,000 in the final quarter of 2025, he said, while the official unemployment rate declined from 36.6% to 28%. He put the province’s human development index at 0.71, above the 0.7 threshold, and said the share of households living in extreme poverty had fallen from 62% in 2019 to 44%.
Saul set a target of R200 billion in provincial GDP by 2030 and 60,000 new sustainable jobs on top of the 337,000, which would put 400,000 Northern Cape residents in employment.
The premier also gave timelines for the Boegoebaai port, which he described as central to the province’s industrial plans. The strategic environmental assessment has been concluded and a transactional advisor appointed, he said, with the financial and development model under review. He said the port proclamation is expected in 2028, construction in 2029 and full operation in 2032. Ramaphosa linked the port directly to the mine, saying the aim is for Gamsberg’s output to leave as finished product through a nearer port rather than being carted to the Western Cape.
Minister of Electricity and Energy Kgosientsho Ramokgopa told the gathering that government intends to work with Vedanta on building a smelter so that beneficiation happens at source. He said the relationship with India is showing up in economic terms, citing Indian companies shortlisted among seven bidders in the transmission expansion programme, which he said aims to grow the grid by about 14,500 kilometres, and an Indian-built commercial reactor using thorium as fuel.
The mine’s local footprint was a recurring theme. Agarwal Hebbar said more than half the workforce comes from the Namakwa region and pointed to a 12,500 hectare biodiversity offset, education, healthcare and skills programmes and an early childhood development centre. Ramaphosa noted that the operation is led by women, naming Agarwal Hebbar, Ellie, Mati and Muloko, and said the company has set a goal of 35% women in its workforce or leadership.
Ramaphosa also used the event to set out the wider reform agenda he says investment depends on: stable public finances, rebuilt institutions, a R1 trillion infrastructure commitment over the medium term, reforms to allow private participation in freight logistics, and affordable, competitively priced electricity. He said much more remains to be done, including making it easier for investors to obtain approvals and regulatory certainty without unnecessary delays, and called for reliable municipal water, electricity and roads and easier air travel to the region.
Saul said the Namakwa special economic zone was designated in May 2024 by the then minister of trade, industry and competition, Ebrahim Patel, and that a further agreement with Vedanta and industrial development partners to advance the zone was signed in February this year.
The full broadcast is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7TmjtZ_XGE.
