Glencore-Merafe to restart Boshoek and Wonderkop ferrochrome smelters

The Glencore-Merafe Chrome Venture said on 26 June 2026 it had concluded the detailed terms and conditions of negotiated pricing agreements with Eskom, giving full effect to the 62c/kWh electricity tariff approved by the National Energy Regulator a month earlier. The agreement clears the way for the venture to restart its Boshoek and Wonderkop smelters in North West province.

Three years of pricing certainty

The revised negotiated pricing agreements provide a stable three-year electricity pricing framework, the venture said, giving it the operational flexibility to plan smelter restarts rather than continuing to run on the interim relief rates that had applied since the start of 2026. The restart marks a significant reversal after Glencore-Merafe had flagged possible smelter closures and job losses earlier in the year as it awaited a regulatory decision on power costs.

Cautiously optimistic, not out of the woods

Merafe has forecast ferrochrome production of 25% to 29% of installed capacity for 2026 and chrome ore output of about five million tonnes, describing the outlook for the rest of the year as "cautiously optimistic." A senior Glencore ferroalloys executive cautioned that the 62c/kWh tariff was "not a silver bullet," noting that at that price the venture was largely covering the cost of keeping its infrastructure running rather than generating strong margins, with Chinese ferrochrome supply continuing to weigh on global prices.

Why it matters

The Glencore-Merafe venture is one of South Africa's two dominant ferrochrome producers, alongside Samancor Chrome, and its ability to restart smelters rather than retrench workers is a direct test of whether Nersa's emergency tariff can genuinely revive the sector. Boshoek and Wonderkop's return to production also supports downstream jobs and the broader Rustenburg-area economy that depends on the ferroalloys industry.

What happens next

Investors and unions will watch subsequent quarters for confirmation that restarted capacity holds, and whether Merafe's chrome ore and ferrochrome output climbs back toward the higher utilisation rates the industry enjoyed before the wave of closures that shrank South Africa's smelter fleet from 66 furnaces to just 11.

Sources

• Engineering News: Boshoek and Wonderkop smelters to be restarted after Glencore Merafe and Eskom finalise 62c/kWh terms, 26 Jun 2026
• Miningmx: Merafe's new power tariff 'not a silver bullet', warns Glencore, 27 Jun 2026

Photo: A ferrochrome smelter plant in South Africa's North West and Mpumalanga chrome belt. JMK, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.