Tronox Namakwa Sands
Restarts Furnace As Global Zircon Demand Grows
US-listed miner restarts production just nine months after idling furnace, as market reports forecast years of sustained growth for the critical mineral
Larry Claasen
THE restarting of Tronox Holdings’s furnace and the plans to bring production back online at its Namakwa Sands mine in Saldanha comes as long-term demand for zircon strengthens.
The move follows the group’s November 2025 announcement that it would temporarily idle one furnace in Saldanha and initiate a temporary shutdown of its West Mine to reduce inventory and enhance cash flow, thereby supporting its new East OFS (Orange Feldspathic Sand) project.
In an August 2026 quarterly results conference call, the New York Stock Exchange-listed mining group said growing demand for zircon had led it to restart the furnace and resume production.
Tronox CEO John Romano said: “We are making targeted operating decisions to support future demand and product availability, including the restart of a furnace and advancing plans to bring production back online at our West Mine, both at Namakwa, to support inventory levels, including zircon, to meet demand.”
The Namakwa West Mine, an open-cast heavy mineral strip mine, produces titanium dioxide feedstock suitable for both chloride and sulphate TiO? processes. It is based at Brand-se-Baai, about 270km from the Saldanha Bay smelter.
Alongside these products, it also produces zircon, rutile and pig iron, which are used as feedstock across a wide range of applications, including pigments, metals, ceramics and foundries.
From ceramics to computer chips: why zircon is becoming a high-tech heavyweight
Zircon is also used in refractory applications to protect the interior of high-temperature furnaces, as well as in foundries and precision investment casting processes for the casting of metals and alloys into various products.
Another application is the production of a broad range of zirconia chemicals, which in turn, have a diverse range of end uses including ceramics, refractory, catalysts, coating electronics and biomedical related products.
Cognitive Market Research and Mordor Intelligence have both said demand for zircon is expected to grow over the next few years.
They say the main drives for this growth are stable demand from traditional industries like ceramics, refractories, and foundries, but added that high value-added applications in cutting-edge sectors are also set to play a part.
The new growth areas are sectors like solid-state batteries, aerospace and electronics and biomedical applications.
Tronox is set up to take advantage of this growing demand. The restarting of the furnace and production at its West Mine follows Tronox commissioning the East OFS mine in November.
East OFS and Fairbreeze Expansions secure Tronox’s long-term feedstock supply
The East OFS, also based at Brand-se-Baai, along with the Fairbreeze Expansion, Tronox’s mineral sands mine based on the east coast of KwaZulu-Natal (near Mtunzini and Richards Bay) are replacing existing mines that are nearing the end of their lives.
“These new sites [East OFS and Fairbreeze Expansion] are expected to provide abundant reserves of natural rutile and zircon, along with high-grade ilmenite suitable for direct use or slag processing, ensuring a secure and cost-effective feedstock supply for years to come,” Tronox said in its 2025 annual report.
Monazite offers bonus rare earths potential – but recovery remains uncertain, says Tronox
Aside from zircon, Tronox also notes the potential of monazite, which is contained at both ore bodies and in stockpiled sources at Namakwa Sand.
“Monazite has increasing commercial value due to a high concentration of rare earth metals which can be separated by well-established methods. Rare earths are expected to remain in high demand as demand grows for electric vehicles, wind turbines, and consumer goods that
require rare earth-containing permanent magnets.”
It points out, however, that it does not know the metallurgical recovery potential for the monazite as our processes have historically focused on traditional value minerals.
Even so, given the increasing importance of monazite, it is evaluating new processes to better understand the grade and recoverability of it in its mining tenements.
