Cr
Cr:Fe Ratio
2.8:1
Metallurgical Grade
🔷
Cr₂O₃ Grade38–50% Cr₂O₃
🌍
OriginZimbabwe · Great Dyke
⚡
Primary UseFerrochrome · Stainless Steel
Home› Concentrates› Chrome Concentrates
Chromite Ore · Great Dyke · Stainless Steel Feedstock

Chrome
Concentrates

The mineral that makes steel stainless. Mined from the world's richest chromite belt.

United Metals produces and trades chromite concentrates from Zimbabwe's Great Dyke — one of the world's most significant layered intrusion complexes and the source of some of the highest Cr:Fe ratio chromite ore available globally. Our concentrates feed ferrochrome smelters and stainless steel producers across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

24
Cr
Chromium
51.996
MineralChromite (FeCr₂O₄)
DepositGreat Dyke · Zimbabwe
Cr:Fe Ratio2.5–3.2 : 1
DownstreamFeCr · Refractories · Chemicals
Cr₂O₃ Grade
38–50%
Chromium trioxide content in saleable concentrate
Cr:Fe Ratio
2.8:1
Typical metallurgical grade — premium above 2.5:1
Stainless Steel Share
0%
Of global chromite demand — primary end-use market
Zimbabwe Rank
2nd
Largest chromite reserve globally after South Africa
Great Dyke Length
550 km
World's most extensive layered mafic intrusion complex
Product Overview

What Is Chrome
Concentrate?

Chrome concentrate — more precisely, chromite concentrate — is a beneficiated, high-Cr₂O₃-content material produced by separating the mineral chromite (FeCr₂O₄) from the surrounding gangue rock through gravity concentration, spiral separation, and dense-media techniques. Chromite is the only commercially exploited ore mineral of chromium, and the concentrate it produces is the universal feedstock for the global ferrochrome and stainless steel industries.

The critical quality parameter for chromite is not simply Cr₂O₃ grade but the Cr:Fe mass ratio — which determines the ferrochrome alloy composition that can be produced without excess iron contamination. Metallurgical-grade chromite demands a Cr:Fe ratio above 1.5:1, with premium-grade material commanding ratios of 2.5:1 and above. United Metals' Zimbabwe Great Dyke operations consistently produce concentrates with Cr:Fe ratios of 2.5–3.2:1, placing our material among the highest-quality chromite available globally.

Chromium is indispensable to modern industrial civilisation — it is the element that gives stainless steel its corrosion resistance, refractory bricks their heat resistance, and chrome chemicals their tanning and pigmentation functionality. Without chromite, the global stainless steel industry — producing over 55 million tonnes annually — simply could not function.

Ore Classification

Three Chromite Grades,
Three Downstream Routes

Chromite is commercially classified by Cr:Fe ratio and Cr₂O₃ content into three grades, each with distinct smelting routes and price premiums. United Metals supplies across the metallurgical and chemical grade spectrum.

I
Grade 01 · Premium
Metallurgical
46–50% Cr₂O₃
The highest-value grade — Cr:Fe ratio ≥ 2.5:1, Cr₂O₃ ≥ 46% — used directly in submerged arc furnace (SAF) smelting to produce high-carbon ferrochrome (HCFeCr). Premium Cr:Fe ratio material commands price premiums of 10–20% over standard metallurgical grade. United Metals' Great Dyke seam ore consistently delivers this specification from selected mining panels.
Cr:Fe ≥ 2.5:1
SAF Smelting
HCFeCr
Stainless AOD
II
Grade 02 · Standard
Chemical
40–46% Cr₂O₃
Chemical-grade chromite — lower Cr:Fe ratio (1.5–2.0:1) acceptable, but high Cr₂O₃ purity essential. Used in sodium dichromate production (chrome chemicals), chromite-based refractory bricks for steelmaking furnace linings, and as a source of chromic acid for surface treatment, leather tanning, and pigments. Lower-iron tolerances allow this grade to serve chemical plant feedstock requirements.
Cr₂O₃ 40–46%
Sodium Dichromate
Chrome Chemicals
Tanneries
III
Grade 03 · Refractory
Refractory
38–42% Cr₂O₃
Refractory-grade chromite requires high MgO content and low silica (SiO₂ < 5%) — key for the manufacture of chrome-magnesia bricks used in steel converter linings, non-ferrous smelter linings, and glass furnace regenerators. The high refractoriness of chromite (softening point > 1,900°C) makes it essential in the most thermally demanding furnace environments. Chrome-based refractories are consumed in every major steel plant globally.
High MgO
Low SiO₂
Furnace Linings
>1,900°C
Origin Advantage

Zimbabwe's
Supply Advantage

Zimbabwe's Great Dyke is a 550 km long, 3–12 km wide layered mafic-ultramafic intrusion cutting across the Zimbabwe Craton — one of the most ancient geological formations on Earth. The Great Dyke hosts stratiform chromitite seams of exceptional lateral consistency and unusually high Cr:Fe ratios, reflecting the primary magmatic chemistry of the chromite crystallisation event approximately 2.5 billion years ago.

United Metals' Zimbabwe operations exploit these thick, consistent chromitite seams using a combination of open-cast and underground methods, with gravity-based beneficiation circuits producing a clean, low-silica concentrate with Cr:Fe ratios consistently above 2.5:1. Zimbabwe ranks as the world's second-largest chromite reserve holder after South Africa, with the Great Dyke alone estimated to contain over 900 million tonnes of in-situ chromite ore.

Advantage 01
Premium Cr:Fe Chemistry
Great Dyke seam ore delivers Cr:Fe ratios of 2.5–3.2:1 — among the highest available globally, commanding consistent price premiums over South African and Indian ores in Asian ferrochrome markets.
Advantage 02
Consistent Seam Geometry
Stratiform chromitite layers in the Great Dyke maintain exceptional lateral continuity over tens of kilometres — enabling predictable mining, consistent concentrate chemistry, and reliable supply programme delivery.
Advantage 03
Non-South-African Diversification
South Africa supplies ~50% of global chromite — buyers seeking supply chain diversification and reduced single-jurisdiction risk are actively building Zimbabwean ore into their procurement programmes.
Advantage 04
Integrated Operations
United Metals controls the full chain from mine to port — processing, quality assurance, logistics, and provenance documentation all managed in-house, reducing counterparty and documentation risk for buyers.
Typical Concentrate Composition
Cr₂O₃46%
FeO / Fe₂O₃22%
Al₂O₃14%
MgO12%
2.8 : 1
Cr:Fe Mass Ratio — Premium Metallurgical Grade
Cr:Fe ratio above 2.5:1 qualifies as metallurgical premium — commanding market price premiums of 10–20% over standard-grade material
Full Specifications
Cr₂O₃
38–50%
Cr:Fe Ratio
2.5–3.2 : 1
FeO+Fe₂O₃
18–26%
Al₂O₃
10–16%
MgO
8–14%
SiO₂
≤4%
P
≤0.01%
S
≤0.02%
Moisture
≤6%
Size
-75 µm to lumpy
Delivery
Bulk · CIF / FOB
Origin
Zimbabwe · Great Dyke
Pricing
Fastmarkets / spot
Key End-Use Markets
Ferrochrome (FeCr) — SAF smelting for stainless steel production
Stainless Steel — Type 304 / 316 / duplex AOD argon refining
Chrome Chemicals — Sodium dichromate, chromic acid, pigments
Refractories — Chrome-magnesia bricks for steel converters
Foundry Sand — Chromite sand for steel casting moulds
Chrome Concentrate Enquiry
Source Geology

The Great Dyke
of Zimbabwe

The Great Dyke is a 550 km long, northerly trending elongate layered intrusion cutting across the Zimbabwe Craton — one of the most ancient geological terranes on Earth, with basement ages exceeding 3.5 billion years. The intrusion was emplaced approximately 2,575 million years ago during a period of mafic magmatism, crystallising a sequence of ultramafic cumulate rocks including dunite, harzburgite, bronzitite, and websterite, with stratiform chromitite horizons formed by gravitational settling of early-crystallising chromite.

The chromitite layers of the Great Dyke are remarkable for their lateral continuity, thickness (up to 1.5 m per seam), and consistent chemistry — a product of the large, well-mixed magma chamber that produced them. Multiple seams occur through the stratigraphy, with the most economically significant — the Main Sulphide Zone (MSZ) and Lower Chromitite — containing both chromite and platinum-group elements.

550 km
Length of the Great Dyke across the Zimbabwe Craton
900Mt+
In-situ chromite ore resource estimate
2.58Ga
Age of intrusion — Archean eon crystallisation event
1.5 m
Maximum individual chromitite seam thickness
Great Dyke — Schematic Stratigraphic Column
ZIMBABWE CRATON BASEMENT GRANITE-GREENSTONE COMPLEX · 2.7+ Ga DYKE WALL DYKE WALL BRONZITITE UPPER ORTHOPYROXENITE · PEGMATOIDAL UPPER CHROMITITE SEAM · 46–50% Cr₂O₃ HARZBURGITE OLIVINE + ORTHOPYROXENE CUMULATE MAIN CHROMITITE · Cr:Fe 2.5–3.2 : 1 DUNITE OLIVINE CUMULATE LOWER CHROMITITE · 38–44% Cr₂O₃ WEBSTERITE CLINOPYROXENE + ORTHOPYROXENE ZIMBABWE CRATON BASEMENT ~150 m DEPTH
Stratiform chromitite seams crystallised from a settling magma chamber 2,575 million years ago — producing layers of exceptional lateral continuity and consistent Cr:Fe chemistry across the full 550 km strike length of the Great Dyke.
Beneficiation Process

Chromite
Beneficiation Route

From ROM chromitite ore to a clean, dense, low-silica concentrate — chromite beneficiation exploits the mineral's exceptional density (4.5–4.8 g/cm³) relative to gangue (2.65–2.8 g/cm³) through a staged gravity-concentration circuit, with magnetic cleaning and ore-sorting final stages.

01
Stage 01
Crushing & Scrubbing
ROM ore from open-cast or underground stopes is jaw-crushed and scrubbed to remove clay coatings that blind concentration surfaces. Screening at 6 mm, 2 mm, and 0.5 mm produces size fractions optimised for their respective concentration circuits — coarse lumpy, medium, and fine (spirals) fractions processed in parallel streams. Oversize is secondary-crushed and returned to screen.
Top size: 6 mm · 3 fractions
02
Stage 02
Spiral & Jig Concentration
Chromite's high density (4.5–4.8 g/cm³) versus silicate gangue (2.65 g/cm³) provides a specific gravity ratio of ~1.7 — ideal for gravity separation. Rougher and cleaner spiral concentrators separate the chromite-rich heavy fraction from silica-feldspar gangue in a slurry stream across 3–5 cleaning passes. Coarser fractions are processed in Baum or Kelsey jigs. Scavenging spirals reclaim chromite from the gangue tail to maximise recovery.
SG ratio: 4.6 vs 2.65
03
Stage 03
Magnetic Separation & DMS
Spiral pre-concentrate undergoes high-intensity wet magnetic separation (WHIMS) to remove magnetic iron minerals (magnetite, pyrrhotite) that dilute the Cr:Fe ratio. For coarser material, dense-media separation (DMS) using ferrosilicon suspension at calibrated specific gravity removes low-density silicate dilutants with high precision. Combined, these stages lift the concentrate to final Cr₂O₃ grade and target Cr:Fe ratio specification.
Target: Cr:Fe ≥ 2.5:1
04
Stage 04
Thickening, Drying & Export
Finished concentrate pulp is thickened and dewatered by filter press or vacuum disc filter to ≤6% moisture for bulk shipment. Sampled concentrate is subjected to multi-element XRF analysis for Cr₂O₃, FeO, Al₂O₃, MgO, SiO₂, P, S, and Cr:Fe ratio determination before an assay certificate is issued. Material is trucked in bulk to Beira or Durban port for container or bulk vessel loading — with United Metals managing all freight, documentary, and customs requirements.
Moisture ≤6% · FOB Beira / Durban
End-Use Markets

Three Industries.
One Critical Mineral.

Chromite feeds three completely distinct downstream industries — ferrochrome/stainless steel, chrome chemicals, and high-temperature refractories — each with different grade specifications and entirely different supply chains from the same ore body.

70%
Sector 01 · Dominant
Ferrochrome & Stainless Steel
Approximately 70% of all chromite mined globally is converted to ferrochrome (FeCr) — a chromium-iron alloy produced by carbothermic reduction in submerged arc furnaces — and used as the primary chromium addition in stainless steel production. Chromium content of 10.5–30% in stainless steel creates an adherent Cr₂O₃ passive layer on the steel surface, providing the corrosion resistance that defines stainless as a material class. Global stainless steel production exceeds 55 million tonnes annually, of which 18% requires chromium addition.

High-carbon ferrochrome (HCFeCr, 60–70% Cr) is the primary product, refined to low-carbon grades (LCFeCr, <0.1% C) for austenitic stainless steel grades 304 and 316. Each tonne of stainless steel requires approximately 0.3 tonnes of chromite concentrate at 46% Cr₂O₃.
~70% of chromite demand · Type 304 / 316 / duplex
14%
Sector 02 · Growing
Chrome Chemicals
Chemical-grade chromite is oxidatively roasted with sodium carbonate to produce sodium chromate (Na₂CrO₄), which is then converted to sodium dichromate (Na₂Cr₂O₇) — the base chemical for the entire chrome chemical industry. Downstream products include chromic acid (CrO₃) used in electroplating and surface treatment, chrome tanning agents used in leather processing (accounting for 80% of global leather tanning), chrome oxide pigments (Cr₂O₃) for paints and coatings, and speciality refractory compounds.

Environmental regulations on hexavalent chromium (Cr⁶⁺) in several jurisdictions are driving a shift toward trivalent chromium (Cr³⁺) processes — but chrome chemicals remain an irreplaceable intermediate for multiple industries.
Sodium dichromate · Leather tanning · Pigments
16%
Sector 03 · Speciality
Refractories & Foundry Sand
Chrome-magnesia (chrome-magnesite) refractory bricks are manufactured from chromite and periclase (MgO) — the combination producing a material with a softening point above 1,900°C, high thermal shock resistance, and chemical stability against basic slag attack. These bricks line the most thermally demanding steel converter vessels (AOD, ladle furnaces), non-ferrous smelter linings, and glass furnace regenerators. No alternative refractory material combines this heat resistance with basic slag resistance.

Chromite foundry sand — used as moulding material in steel casting — has excellent thermal stability, low thermal expansion, and high refractoriness, producing clean casting surfaces with minimal burn-on defects in large steel castings for automotive, rail, and heavy engineering applications.
AOD linings · Ladle bricks · Foundry moulding
Without chromite there is
no stainless steel — and without
stainless steel, the modern world stops
— United Metals Chrome Concentrates · Zimbabwe · Great Dyke
Market Intelligence

Chromite Market
Dynamics & Outlook

The chromite market is tightly linked to global stainless steel production — with China's dominance as both producer and consumer creating structural dynamics that make African supply increasingly strategic for non-Chinese buyers.

Demand Outlook · 2024–2030
4%
CAGR
Stainless-Led Demand Growth
Global chromite demand is projected to grow at 3.5–4.5% CAGR through 2030, driven by expanding stainless steel consumption in Asia (particularly India and Southeast Asia), growing industrial and architectural applications, and rising demand for chrome chemicals from the automotive surface treatment and leather industries.
Indian Stainless Growth: India's stainless steel capacity additions driving 8–10% annual demand growth for chromite in the world's fastest-growing major economy
EV Infrastructure: Stainless steel requirements for charging infrastructure, hydrogen electrolyser components, and battery enclosures
Food & Pharma: Global food safety standards mandating stainless steel in processing, storage, and packaging equipment
Chrome Chemical Demand: Leather, surface treatment, and pigment industries in developing markets maintaining steady growth
Supply Structure · Concentration Risk
50%
S. Africa
South African Dominance & Zimbabwe's Role
South Africa controls approximately 50% of global chromite mine production and holds over 70% of world reserves — creating significant concentration risk for international buyers. Zimbabwe, with its Great Dyke resource base, represents the most significant non-South African chromite supply globally — and United Metals' operations provide buyers with a direct route to this diversification.
South Africa Power Risk: Load-shedding and infrastructure issues at South African mines and smelters have repeatedly disrupted supply — driving buyers toward Zimbabwean alternatives
China FeCr Dominance: China processes ~55% of global ferrochrome — Western stainless producers actively seeking non-Chinese FeCr supply chains
Premium Cr:Fe from Zimbabwe: Great Dyke ore consistently delivers Cr:Fe ratios above 2.5:1 — commanding systematic price premiums in Asian spot markets
Infrastructure Improvement: Beira Corridor railway improvements reducing transit costs from Zimbabwe to Indian Ocean ports
Source Chrome Concentrates

Premium Cr:Fe.
Great Dyke Origin.

United Metals supplies metallurgical, chemical, and refractory-grade chromite concentrates from Zimbabwe's Great Dyke — with Cr:Fe ratios of 2.5–3.2:1 consistently delivering price premiums to buyers. Full provenance documentation, independent assay certification, and bonded logistics management from mine to port. Whether you are a ferrochrome smelter, chrome chemical producer, or refractory brick manufacturer, contact us to discuss specifications and supply terms.

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