Sephaku is a Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) controlled minerals exploration, development and investment company, with a diverse range of mining and exploration projects including, platinum group metals, chrome, limestone, gold, nickel and fluorspar.

According to a statement issued by Sephaku, a strategic partnership agreement with Dangote Cement, which forms part of the Dangote Group of Nigeria, makes it a substantial minority stakeholder of 45 per cent in Sephaku Cement.

Sephaku Cement Chairman, Dr Lelau Mohuba, said the partnership would provide the company with the necessary funding and technical expertise to expedite the construction of their new cement plant without affecting their status as a black-owned and controlled cement company.

Also reacting, Pieter Fourie, Chief Executive Officer of Sephaku Cement, revealed that its plans are on track to be in production by mid 2010. The plant represents an investment of R3bn and will have a production capacity of 2.2 million tons per year.

The plant is expected to be the most modern cement plant in South Africa and will set the benchmark for emissions as well as power and energy efficiencies. A number of existing South African cement plants have inefficient and uneconomical capacity- some of which are in excess of 40 year old.

The Dangote Group is Nigeria's leading industrial conglomerate and leads the country's cement market. It recently commissioned two cement plants with a combined capacity of eight million tons per year. Dangote Cement also has two import terminals located in Lagos and Port Harcourt, which have production lines to supply cement in 50kg and 1500kg bags as well as bulk tankers carrying 35 MT loads. Other Dangote industrial products include salt, sugar, flour, and pasta.

The Dangote Group's transformation from being an importer of cement to a manufacturer has largely been strengthened by substantial investments in manufacturing plants around the country.

Recentlt, Dangote Cement placed an order for three new plants totaling 16 million tonne capacity for Nigeria and 2.6 million tonnes of capacity for Senegal for EPC projects with the Sinoma Group of China.

Alhaji Aliko Dangote, President of Dangote Industries lauded the partnership with Sephaku, stating that "it provides an early entry for his group into the exciting South African cement market and with a group of likeminded entrepreneurs working together, will provide a win-win solution to delivering cost effective product at world class levels of energy efficiency and emissions".