South Africa - Nyanza Light Metals (AFDB-P-ZA-BB0-006)

Regions
  • Africa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • South Africa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
Richard’s Bay Industrial Development Zone
Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.
Financial Institutions
  • African Development Bank (AFDB)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
A
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Oct 22, 2025
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Nyanza Light Metals Proprietary Limited
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Industry and Trade
  • Mining
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 49.30 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Loan Amount (USD)
$ 49.30 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ AFDB website

Updated in EWS Feb 24, 2026

Contribute Information
Can you contribute information about this project?
Contact the EWS Team

Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to bank provided information, the proposed facility is expected to provide long-term hard currency financing to support the development of Africa’s first and only titanium dioxide (TiO?) manufacturing plant, a capital-intensive and strategically important industrial project.

The Project entails a senior secured loan to Nyanza Light Metals Proprietary Limited for the development of a new 80,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) sulphate-based titanium dioxide (TiO?) pigment plant on a 69-hectare site within the Richard’s Bay Industrial Development Zone (RBIDZ), South Africa. The associated infrastructure includes, a sulphuric acid production unit, a steam production unit, solid and liquid feedstock storage areas, among others. The TiO? will serve domestic and export markets in coatings, paints, plastics, and paper. Construction is expected to begin after the financial close in Q3 2025, with a 36-month build period followed by 12 months for testing, ramp-up, and commissioning. Commercial operations are expected to commence in June 2029. The Project is a key real sector project with significant development outcomes, including creating 850 permanent jobs and contributing significantly to (re)industrialisation of this region, a crucial objective of South Africa’s economy. Further, via establishing the only TiO2 plant on the continent, the Project will allow for substitution of a large part of the current TiO2 imports and increase intra-African trade. Last, it opens possibilities for additional downstream projects and value chain development for the wider region. In essence, the Project will create an intra-African TiO2 market.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

As stated on the company's LinkedIn account, Nyanza Light Metals is s a chemicals company that processes titanium mineral ores and slags to produce titanium dioxide and other industrial chemicals.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Nyanza Light Metals Proprietary Limited Client Mining

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

Name Samuel OTU
Email s.otu@afdb.org 

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit an information request for project information at: https://www.afdb.org/en/disclosure-and-access-to-information/request-for-documents. Under the AfDBÕs Disclosure and Access to Information policy, if you feel the Bank has omitted to publish information or your request for information is unreasonably denied, you can file an appeal at https://www.afdb.org/en/disclosure-and-access-to-information/appeals-process

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF AfDB

The Independent Review Mechanism (IRM), which is administered by the Compliance Review and Mediation Unit (CRMU), is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who have been or are likely to be adversely affected by an African Development Bank (AfDB)-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the IRM, it may assist you by either seeking to address your problems by facilitating a dispute resolution dialogue between you and those implementing the project and/or investigating whether the AfDB complied with its policies to prevent environmental and social harms. You can submit a complaint electronically by emailing crmuinfo@afdb.org, b.kargougou@afdb.org, b.fall@afdb.org, and/or s.toure@afdb.org. You can learn more about the IRM and how to file a complaint at: https://www.afdb.org/en/independent-review-mechanism/ 

How it works

How it works