Steenkampskraal: South Africa’s hidden billion-rand opportunity

AN ABANDONED mine. A global superpower desperate for supply. And South Africa quietly holding the solution. This isn’t fiction — it’s happening right now in Steenkampskraal, a forgotten town in the Western Cape.

- DR NIK EBERL

For six decades the site gathered dust. Anglo American walked away in 1963, convinced it was exhausted. They were wrong — by about R50 billion. Today, Steenkampskraal’s rare-earth deposits could reshape global supply chains, challenge China's dominance, and position South Africa as a critical player in the electric-vehicle, renewable-energy and defence industries.

The Rare-Earth Revolution

The world has entered a new resource war — not for oil or gold, but for elements most people can’t pronounce: neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium.

These minerals are the invisible engine of modern life. Every EV motor, wind turbine and military drone depends on them.

Yet one country — China — controls 92 percent of global processing. That concentration of power has turned supply chains into strategic vulnerabilities. Any disruption in Beijing reverberates through Detroit, Berlin and Silicon Valley. For years, the world accepted this imbalance as inevitable. Until now.

Steenkampskraal is among the highest-grade rare-earth deposits on the planet — roughly 20 percent ore grade, compared with an industry average of 2 percent. In mining terms, that is the equivalent of finding a gold mine made of gold. South Africa, long seen as a supplier of traditional commodities, suddenly finds itself holding the keys to the technologies of the future.

Seeing value where others don’t

Having advised leaders across five continents, I’ve learned that the greatest opportunities — whether in resources or in people — are often overlooked. Steenkampskraal is a case study in perception. What one company deemed worthless in 1963 is now a potential cornerstone of global decarbonisation.

The same blindness occurs inside organisations every day.