The Steenkampskraal Monazite Mine in the Western Cape is set to restart operations in 2026.

Most people have never heard of thorium. Even fewer realise that this little-known element could play a major role in shaping the future of nuclear energy. It’s not uranium, it doesn’t work alone and it’s not always a part of the nuclear weapons conversation… and that’s what makes it so interesting.

Dr Marina du Toit’s path into nuclear engineering wasn’t linear. Her entry into the field was a mix of curiosity and coincidence: a chemical engineering degree at North-West University (NWU), a bursary from Eskom and a final-year project on hydrogen, steered her towards high-temperature reactors. This introduced her to nuclear science and, a few more research twists later, she was doing her Master’s in nuclear engineering. Her interest, from the start, was less about reactors and more about the fuel that powers them. Today, Du Toit is an associate professor at NWU researching thorium as an alternative nuclear fuel. She’s now working on building simulations of how these nuclear fuels behave inside reactors, looking for ways to make them safer and more efficient.