Richard Bay Minerals

The Spares Optimisation System (SOS™) was acquired by Richards Bay Minerals in July 2000.

Richards Bay Minerals is the world's foremost producer of titanium minerals, high purity iron and zircon. It is situated at Richards Bay on the Indian Ocean coastline 180 kilometers north of Durban in the Republic of South Africa. 

The company is jointly owned by Rio Tinto plc and Billiton plc based in London.

The presence of the relevant minerals was first scientifically reported on the north coast of Natal, South Africa in the 1920s, but it was not until early 1971 that the Industrial Development Corporation began a detailed investigation of the Richard Bay area. A Canadian producer of slag ,(QIT), was also independently looking for major ilmenite deposits in 1974.

The two organisations with Union Corporation (now Gencor), formed RBM in 1976 to mine and beneficiate the vast mineral-rich sands in the coastal dunes that extend 17 kilometers in a two kilometer wide strip from just north of Richards Bay.

In 1985 the company acquired the mining rights to additional ore reserves both north and south of the original deposit.