- Richards Bay
Richards Bay is a city encompassing one of
South Africa 's largestharbours . It is situated on a 30 square kilometre lagoon of the Mhlatuze River, on the northern coast ofKwaZulu-Natal .History
The town began as a makeshift harbour that was set up by Commodore of the Cape, Sir Frederick Richards during the Boer War of
1879 . In1935 the Richards Bay Game Sanctuary was created to protect the ecology around the lagoon and later by1943 it expanded into the Richards Bay Park. The town was laid-out on the shores of the lagoon in1954 and proclaimed a town in1969 . In1976 Richards Bay harbour was converted into a deep water harbour withrailway and anoil /gas pipeline linking the port toJohannesburg .Economy
The
Richards Bay Coal Terminal is the largest coal export facility in the world with a planned capacity of 91 million tons per year by the first half of 2009. In 2007 annual throughput was 66.12 million tons.Two
aluminium smelters and afertiliser plant have been erected at the harbour.Iron ore , rutile (titanium oxide) andzircon are mined from the sand dunes close to the lagoon by Richards Bay Minerals [http://www.rbm.co.za/ Richards Bay Minerals] . Local exports include coal, aluminium, titanium and other heavy minerals, granite, ferrochrome, paper pulp, woodchips and phosphoric acid.Climate
Richards Bay is a popular
kitesurfing destination thanks to consistent winds blowing from the North East.ee also
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Richards Bay Airport References
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