Richards Bay

Richards Bay

Richards Bay, (Afrikaans: Richardsbaai), is a town in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is situated on a 30 square kilometre lagoon of the Mhlatuze River, which gives it one of the country's largest harbours.

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 (Alusaf) 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 byRichards Bay Minerals. Local exports include coal, aluminium, titanium and other heavy minerals, granite, ferrochrome, paper pulp, woodchips and phosphoric acid. Richards Bay is alongside with Rustenberg, South Africa's fastest developing city. It is a fast growing industrial centre that has additionally been able to maintain its ecological diversity.

Richards Bay is characterised by a subtropical climate with warm wet summers and mild moist to dry winters, which are frost-free. The average annual temperature is 21.5°C (71°F), with daytime maxima peaking from January to March at 29°C (84°F), and the minimum is 21°C (70°F), dropping to daytime highs from June to August of 23°C (73°F) and a minimum of 12°C (53°F). Richards Bay is a popular kitesurfing destination thanks to consistent winds blowing from the North East.

The Richards Bay area is generally very flat and is situated on a coastal plain. The terrain rises slightly towards the west. The suburbs are all no more than a few metres (feet) above sea level. The area is abundant in subtropical coastal forest, most notably along the coastal dune belt and in the suburb of Meerensee.