Ramaphosa back to Gamsberg as Presidency pledges power for zinc beneficiation
In a broadcast address at Vedanta Zinc International's Gamsberg Phase II launch, the Presidency said energy will be directed to a beneficiation process and that ore should be counted as finished product at the port, not as rock and dust.
The Presidency has tied the Gamsberg Phase II expansion to its promise of growth that produces jobs, saying the state will back the next phase of development with the energy a beneficiation process requires.
In a broadcast published by The Presidency of South Africa (YouTube) on 16 October 2026, marking the inaugural Vedanta Zinc International (VZI) Gamsberg Phase II expansion project, the government set out what it says it has already changed and what it says comes next. The address said the administration has committed itself to generating economic growth that results in job creation, and that far-reaching transformation over the past several years has been aimed at the constraints it says held growth back.
On electricity, the Presidency said substantial progress has been made in overcoming the supply crisis, and that this is what allows the government to come to Gamsberg with confidence. It said the mine has been visited seven times and will be visited seven more, tent or no tent, and that the next visits will be for a specific process: supporting the Delta in setting up the next phase of development.
That phase, according to the broadcast, will require enormous energy for a beneficiation process. The address gave one human measure of what that means, saying a young metallurgist working on the extraction side will be upgraded to work on the beneficiation side.
The Presidency framed the shift as a change in what South Africa counts. Addressing the mine directly, it said the country has been counting what it called rock, sand and dust to the port, and that the counting should start at the mine instead, with finished products going to the nearest port, which it named as the Port of Ngqura.
It said the government is improving the performance of the country’s railways and ports while introducing reforms to enable greater private sector participation in freight logistics.
The broadcast also credited the premier of the province, without naming them, for crafting what it described as clear visions and missions for the province’s economic growth path.
The address was published by The Presidency of South Africa (YouTube) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDGnED1TCu8. It sets out the government’s stated intentions for the project. It does not state timelines for the energy supply, the beneficiation plant or the rail and port reforms, and it gives no figures for the investment or for the jobs expected.
