Richards Bay is one of
South Africa's largest
harbours . It is situated on a 30 square kilometre lagoon of the Mhlatuze River, (forceful), on the northern coast of
KwaZulu-Natal. It began as a makeshift harbour that was set up by Commodore of the Cape,
Sir Frederick Richards during the
Boer War of
1879. In
1935 the Richards Bay Game Sanctuary was created to protect the ecology around the lagoon and later by
1943 it expanded into the Richards Bay Park. The town was laid-out on the shores of the lagoon in
1954 and proclaimed a town in
1969. In
1976 Richards Bay harbour was converted into a
deep water harbour with
railway and an
oil/
gas pipeline linking the port to
Johannesburg. Two
aluminium smelters and a
fertiliser plant have been erected at the harbour.
Iron ore,
rutile (titanium oxide) and
zircon are mined from the sand dunes close to the lagoon by Richards Bay Minerals
Richards Bay Minerals. Local exports include coal, aluminium, titanium and other heavy minerals, granite, ferrochrome, paper pulp, woodchips and phosphoric acid.
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