/file/attachments/orphans/Transalloys-Smelter-Picture-Angie-LazaroTransalloys_555107.jpg "Manganese King Axes 600 Jobs While Raking in Billions.")
SOUTH AFRICA JUST SOLD ITS FUTURE FOR SCRAPS. As the world races towards an electric, battery-powered future, this nation is committing economic SUICIDE—and a silent killer is to blame.
The heart of the crisis beats in the Kalahari. South Africa holds the PLANET’S largest manganese deposit, a mineral CRITICAL for the electric vehicle revolution. Yet, the country’s LAST manganese smelter, Transalloys, is bleeding out. 600 jobs are on the chopping block right now. CEO Konstantin Sadovnik’s statement is a scream into the void: competing has become “simply become impossible.”
THE REASON? A TRAITOROUS ENERGY PRICE. While smelters in China and Malaysia pay as little as R0.73/kWh, South African producers are being SLAUGHTERED with a rate of R2.06/kWh. “We pay more than twice as much,” Sadovnik said. This isn’t competition. This is a controlled demolition of our own industry. Look at the production maps: Africa’s wealth is being shipped out raw, while the real money is made elsewhere.
AND HERE’S THE BETRAYAL. While the manganese industry suffocates, the government and Eskom have thrown a LIFELINE to the ferrochrome sector next door. A special deal was cut, saving those jobs. Manganese? It has been “excluded from the broader energy discussion.” The message is clear: our leaders are PICKING WINNERS AND LOSERS, and they have chosen to let an entire strategic industry DIE.
This is a disaster for every South African. We are becoming a helpless QUARRY for China, which now controls up to 96% of global refining. We export dirt-cheap ore and import expensive EV batteries, gutting our economy and killing your job prospects. The green energy future demands clean, low-carbon processing—but our coal-dependent grid, outlined in the latest government plan, makes us TOXIC to the world market.
One factory’s lights are about to go out. But the darkness waiting is for all of us.
They are shutting down the future while you watch.
Edited for Kayitsi.com
Author: Kayitsi.com
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