South Africa

Anglo American CEO Duncan Wanblad stated on Monday that the company is working hard to maximize its value in case a new M&A bidder comes along. He also expects significant progress on a much-anticipated spin-off of De Beers' diamond business this year. Anglo American, a London-listed company, rejected a hostile bid of $49 billion from BHP in May. BHP was focusing on Anglo’s copper assets. Anglo has since streamlined its operations by selling coal assets and agreeing on the separation of its platinum business. It still needs to find partners for the UK fertiliser project, which requires massive amounts of...

De Beers, the diamond division of Anglo American, said it had completed negotiations with Botswana for a new rough-diamond sales agreement as well as extended mining licenses for its joint enterprise beyond 2029. Debswana is a joint venture 50:50 between the top diamond producer Botswana (and De Beers) that currently sells 75% its output to De Beers. In 2023, Botswana signed a new 10-year diamond deal with De Beers, which will see the government share of diamonds sold by the Debswana joint venture increase from 30% to gradually 50% over the next decade. This agreement was not signed by the...

South Africa's Energy Regulator granted Eskom a 12.7% average increase in tariff for 2025/26. This is a third less than the company requested. Eskom's request for increases of 36% in April, 12% by 2026, and 9% by 2027 prompted opposition during public consultations. Political parties and consumers blamed the poor economy and cost-of-living crises. Eskom must be sustainable in the short-term and long-term. Thembani Bukula is the chairman of Nersa. He said that we must ensure that Eskom's electricity services are affordable. Eskom's request for tens or even hundreds of millions of rands to cover coal contracts, an increased carbon...

South Africa's mining market reported 42 deaths last year, the lowest number to date and a 24% improvement on the previous year, official stats showed on Thursday. The stats did not include deaths from prohibited mining. Mines Minister Gwede Mantashe repeated the government's. position that unlawful mining is a criminal activity and not part. of his department's remit. Recently the bodies of 78 miners were pulled from an. unlawful gold mine after a heavily-criticised authorities operation. lasting numerous months that attempted to require them to the surface. Of the deaths caught in last year's official stats,. 11 were in the...

There is a 59% possibility of La Nina emerging in the NovemberJanuary period, a U.S. federal government forecaster stated on Thursday, including that the ultimate start of La Nina conditions would be weak and shortlived. WHY IT is essential La Nina, a climatic phenomenon defined by cooler-than-average ocean temperature levels in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific, is connected with both floods and droughts impacting international agriculture, and higher Caribbean hurricane activity. CONTEXT Weak La Nina conditions would be less most likely to lead to conventional winter effects, though foreseeable signals might still influence the projection assistance, the National Weather...

Anglo American said on Tuesday it will offer more shares in its South African platinum system, as it accelerates strategies to spin it off. Anglo offered 16 million shares for sale in Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), worth about $535 million, according to a bookrunner. An earlier sale of its 5.3% stake in the platinum system netted about $400 million. The placing will raise money for Anglo American, the moms and dad business of Amplats, as it presses forward with a larger reorganizing strategy that is aimed at focusing its operations on copper and iron ore mining and increasing value. Anglo...

South Africa's Eskom said on Monday that the 90 billion rand ($ 4.96 billion) and counting in debts it is owed by towns and cities threats erasing its government bailout, as it argued for tariff walkings. The government has actually insisted a three-year debt-relief bundle worth more than 250 billion rand assured by South Africa's. National Treasury in 2015 is the power energy's last. Eskom's primary financial officer made the remarks at the. first day of public hearings into the company's application for. electrical power tariff walkings over the next 3 years. Eskom has actually asked the energy regulator to...

SubSaharan African nations that depend upon product exports need to reform their economies to tackle irregular regional financial development, International Monetary Fund Africa Director Abebe Aemro Selassie stated. The region is expected to grow by 3.6% this year, unchanged from in 2015 and down from an April projection of 3.8%, the IMF said in its latest World Economic Outlook released today, with product economies lagging their varied equivalents. The product intensive countries are growing at about half the rate of the rest of the area, the IMF stated in the report, with oil exporters struggling one of the most in...

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is not anticipated to participate in the Russianhosted BRICS top later this month, according to the Kremlin, which said the world's biggest oil exporter would be represented by the Kingdom's foreign minister. BRICS, originally Brazil, Russia, India and China, has broadened over the last few years to consist of South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy assistant, Yuri Ushakov, said that nine of the 10 BRICS member states would send their leaders, though Saudi Arabia would send its foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al...

European political leaders and diplomats held talks with officials and employees' unions in South Africa's coal belt on Wednesday to attempt to encourage them that switching to renewable energy from fossil fuels require not leave them destitute. The discussions in Mpumalanga province involving abundant countries moneying the energy transition aim to conquer resistance from communities fearing economic disaster. At Emalahleni, the location of coal in Zulu, union leaders were honestly sceptical at speeches recommending task losses could be balanced out by a boom in climate-friendly energy. I don't believe one conference will persuade them, Elsebeth Krone, the ambassador of Denmark,...

Anglo American anticipates to receive binding offers for its steelmaking coal properties by midNovember as it advances a strategy to reorganize the company after fighting a takeover deal from competing BHP Group , CEO Duncan Wanblad said. The London-listed miner could settle the sale of the Australian mines before completion of the year, Wanblad said at the Feet mining summit in London. The process to offer the coking coal possessions has actually passed the first round of auction, he included. So in the middle of November, we ought to be getting final binding deals, Wanblad said. Then we will begin...

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday that he did not think Chinese investments in Africa were pushing the continent into a financial obligation. trap but were rather part of a mutually advantageous. relationship. Ramaphosa made the remarks on the sidelines of a. China-Africa summit in Beijing, where delegates from more than. 50 African countries gathered today. I don't always buy the concept that when China. ( invests), it is with an intention of, in the end, guaranteeing that. those countries end up in a financial obligation trap or in a debt crisis,. Ramaphosa said, when asked by reporters...

Anglo American, a global miner, announced on Wednesday a 6% drop in its copper production for the year of 773,000 metric tonnes and lowered its rough diamonds output forecasts for 2025-2026 due to lower demand. The London-listed company expects copper production to reach 690,000-750,000 tonnes in 2025 and 760,000-820,000 tonnes in 2026. Metal is used in electric vehicles and renewable energy infrastructure. The rough diamond production for 2024 fell 22%, to 24.7 millions carats. This is the lower end in its guidance. Anglo has reduced its production forecast to 20 million to 23 millions carats from 30 million-33 million carats...

ArcelorMittal South Africa announced on Thursday that it would delay the closing of its long steel plant operations by one month. The steelmaker is in discussions with the government about salvaging the business. The company had planned to start winding down the loss-making long-steel business by the end of last month, but has delayed it due "continuing discussions with the South African government" as well as higher-than-anticipated orders. The steelmaker announced in a press release that the outcome of the negotiations will be revealed before the end this month. The company said that a loan of 380 million rands ($20.44m)...

Amplats CEO Craig Miller stated on Wednesday that Anglo American Platinum has a lot of interest from investors as it prepares for its spin-off as a separate entity. The spin-off is part the group's restructuring plan, which aims to fight off a $49 Billion takeover bid by bigger rival BHP and focus on more lucrative copper and iron ore properties. Miller, without providing details, said that Amplats will be separated mid-year and the company's name will change. Amplats, the only PGMs producer in London will have a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange, which could attract new investors. Miller...

Gold companies will have to loosen up the new Mali mining law that raises taxes, and aims to give large stakes of assets to local investors and the state. The new rules require companies in Africa's 2nd largest gold producer to give a 35% stake of their new projects to Malian Investors - an increase from the previous 20% - and to raise royalty tax to 10% from around 6%. Three gold mining CEOs from West Africa spoke on the sidelines at the African Mining Indaba, which was held in Cape Town. They said that the new rules made it...

The world is likely to be splitting in two over the long-term, despite the volatility and uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump's tariffs. After removing Trump's bluster, and his often contradictory behavior, the message appears to be pretty clear. Trump's worldview is that the United States are the only ones who can be trusted. This presents a problem for the mineral-rich countries of Africa, who want to maximize their benefits from their resources but also remain neutral. It's becoming more likely that African countries will be forced to choose whether they want to work with China-led BRICS or the Trump...

Harmony Gold, a South African company, said Monday that it expected to surpass its 1.5 million-ounce production target in the entire year up to June 2025 even though the output was lower during the first half. Harmony, South Africa's top gold producer by volume, announced in a trading report that gold production was expected to range between 790,000.0 ounces to 805,000.0 ounces for the six-month period ending December 2024. The decline in production from 832,349 ounces Harmony during the same reporting period a year ago was mainly due a planned lower output at its South African underground mining operations and...

Duduzile Zuma Sambudla, the daughter of former South African President Jacob Zuma, was charged on Thursday with inciting violence in riots that took place in 2021, during which over 300 people died. Zuma-Sambudla's lawyer said that she will plead not guilt. The prosecution alleges that Zuma-Sambudla prompted others to commit violent acts in social media posts in July 2021 when unrest broke after her father's arrest for refusing to comply with a court order. The anger that began over Zuma’s imprisonment turned into rage against poverty and inequality. This led to looting thousands of stores, extensive damage to infrastructure, and...

Lead and zinc might be geological sibling metals however their market fortunes have actually been very various in recent months. London Metal Exchange (LME) three-month zinc rallied to a 20-month high of $3,284 per metric heap in October on the back of an acutely tight raw materials market. LME lead, by contrast, headed in the opposite direction, weighed down by a mountain of exchange stocks. Zinc's premium to lead extended to over $1,000 per heap during the 4th quarter of 2024, the widest gap considering that February 2023. Although the 2 metals primarily come from the same mines, divergent narratives...

South African authorities are hunting a gang leader from Lesotho believed to have regulated operations at an unlawful cash cow where 78 bodies were recovered last week after months of authorities siege. Tiger is believed to have actually emerged from the deep mine in Stilfontein while it was under authorities monitoring and escaped with the aid of authorities, the South African Police Service said on Monday. Comprehensive investigations and tracing operations are under method to discover those authorities who aided his escape in between shaft 11 and the Stilfontein authorities holding cells, their statement said. Cops were extensively condemned for...

At least 400 illegal miners stayed trapped underground in South Africa two months after an authorities raid, a group working on behalf of the miners said on Monday, which offered footage of dozens of dead bodies and emaciated males in the mine. A representative for the South Africa Authorities Service (SAPS). did not respond to a request for remark. Makhosonke Buthelezi,. representative for the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy,. said bodies had actually been obtained from the mine but said no even more. information might be disclosed ahead of a main report. The 2 videos, which Reuters validated, were...

Steel producer ArcelorMittal South Africa's shares fell more than 15%. on Monday after the business stated it would continue with the. closure of its lossmaking long steel business. The closure of the operations has actually been on the cards given that. November 2023 in the middle of extended weak financial conditions, logistics. and energy obstacles and competitors from low-priced imports. The company said shutting the plant, which produces fencing. product, rail, rods and bars utilized in the construction, mining. and manufacturing sectors, could impact about 3,500 direct and. indirect tasks. The business is at a point where any further hold-up...

More than 2,000 Mozambican households have actually sought refuge in Malawi today, Malawian authorities stated, as lots of individuals were reported eliminated in spreading unrest over a disputed election in October. Some services including banks were closed in Mozambique's. capital Maputo on Friday and patrols were established in some locations. following a fatal prison riot and breakout on Wednesday. Mozambique has actually been gripped by violent protests for about. two months because the electoral commission stated the judgment. Frelimo celebration had actually maintained power and its prospect won the. presidency in the election. Frelimo denies opposition. accusations of electoral fraud....