PRETORIA (Reuters) – South Africa’s mines minister Mosebenzi Zwane said on Thursday that 77 workers were killed in mining accidents in 2015, the lowest number on record and down from 84 in 2014.
South Africa’s mines are the deepest and among the most dangerous in the world but industry fatalities have been falling, a trend rooted in improved safety practices and a shrinking labour force as production declines.
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Writing by Ed Stoddard; Editing by James Macharia)
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Lonmin said on Thursday it would continue to review its services and reduce costs, mainly through job cuts, as the sliding price of platinum bites further.
The company said labour costs fell 194 million rand ($11.8 million) in the last three months of 2015 after it shed 5,077 jobs, or 84.6 percent of its planned reduction in headcount.
“Progress continues with the restructuring programme due to the new benchmarked operating model and removal of high-cost production to ensure the business remains viable,” Lonmin said in a statement.
It is targeting savings of 700 million rand in 2016.
Hurt by a 2014 strike, rising costs and a plunging platinum price, Lonmin raised $400 million through a cash call in December which failed to find favour with shareholders and priced shares at about a penny each.
Some of the proceeds of the rights issue were used to pay down debt, leaving the company with $69 million in cash at end of December.
The miner said production of refined platinum reached 171,441 ounces in the three months to the end of December, up 22.6 percent from a year earlier.
The price of platinum has been on the decline for about five years. It fell 26 percent last year and is trading at less than half its 2011 peak.
Shares in Lonmin have lost nearly all of their value over the last year. It was the worst-hit of three top platinum miners by the 2014 five-month labour stoppage.
Lonmin maintained its full-year production guidance of 700,000 platinum ounces and its capital expenditure plan of $132 million despite projecting sustained weaker metal prices.
($1 = 16.3897 rand)
(Reporting by Zandi Shabalala; editing by David Clarke and Jason Neely)
ACCRA (Reuters) – Ghana’s producer price inflation rose sharply to 10.5 percent in December from 3 percent the month before, the statistics office said on Wednesday.
The West African country is under a three-year International Monetary Fund aid programme to address financial problems that include high budget deficits and consumer inflation persistently above government targets.
(Reporting by Kwasi Kpodo; Editing by Emma Farge)
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand was a tad firmer against the dollar on Wednesday, in a market anticipating an interest rate hike as the central bank fights inflation pressures.
But analysts said the rand was not likely to gain on a sustainable basis, being at the mercy of general risk aversion as investors worry about the impact of slowing growth in China.
At 0651 GMT the rand was trading at 16.4050 versus the dollar, up 0.09 percent compared with where it ended Tuesday trade.
Just one month into 2016, the local currency has already weakened nearly 6 percent against the greenback, dragged down by concerns over sluggish domestic growth and a slowdown in the world’s second biggest economy.
“Aside from domestic factors, the rand will continue to be vulnerable until markets in China calm down,” NKC African Economics said in a note outlining short-term risks to the domestic currency.
“Higher local interest rates will not remedy this situation even if the central bank hikes significantly in the first quarter of 2016 as the rand remains at the mercy of broader emerging market sentiment.”
South African stocks looked likely to start slightly firmer, with the Top-40 futures index ALSIH6 up 0.36 percent prior to the start of trade at 0700 GMT.
On the debt market, the yield for the 2026 benchmark government bond eased 2 basis points to 9.635 percent.
(Reporting by Stella Mapenzauswa; Editing by Ed Stoddard)
MAPUTO (Reuters) – Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi has fired the central bank’s deputy governor António Pinto de Abreu, the president’s office said on Tuesday, without giving a reason.
The sacking of de Abreu, who has been deputy governor of the Bank of Mozambique since Dec. 2010, comes ahead of its annual meeting later this week.
(Reporting by Manuel Mucari; Writing by Stella Mapenzauswa; Editing by James Macharia)
By Julia Payne
ABUJA (Reuters) – South African cellphone operator MTN should drop its legal action over a $3.9 billion fine imposed in Nigeria to help facilitate talks on a possible settlement, the Nigerian telecommunications minister said on Tuesday.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) slapped a $5.2 billion fine on MTN in October for failing to disconnect users with unregistered SIM cards but after weeks of negotiations reduced it by 25 percent.
MTN, which makes about 37 percent of its revenue from Nigeria, then filed a suit in the West African country questioning NCC’s legal grounds for imposing the penalty.
“I’m not aware of any out-of-the-court settlement,” telecoms minister Adebayo Shittu told reporters.
Shittu said President Muhammadu Buhari will have the final decision on the matter, adding that MTN might be advised to withdraw the court case filed against the fine.
“If they withdraw it creates a better environment, an environment where there is no stress or pressure on either side,” he said.
A judge in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, last week gave the company until March 18 to try to reach a settlement with the Nigerian authorities over the fine. The prospect of a lower fine boosted MTN shares.
The fine equates to more than twice MTN’s annual average capital spending over the past five years.
Nigeria has been trying to halt the widespread use of unregistered SIM cards amid worries these are being used for criminal activity, including by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram.
(Writing by Ulf Laessing and Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Keith Weir)
ACCRA (Reuters) – Ghana’s central bank kept its benchmark policy rate at 26 percent on Monday citing moderation in the pace of consumer inflation, its governor Henry Kofi Wampah said.
The West African nation is under a three-year aid program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to support an economy dogged by high fiscal deficits and public debt, with consumer inflation consistently above government target.
The Bank of Ghana had set the current rate in November, its highest level in 12 years.
“The current tight monetary stance, supported by the continuing fiscal consolidation and improvement in the energy situation have led to a low risk in the outlook,” Wampah told journalists.
Ghana’s consumer inflation rose marginally to 17.7 percent, one of the highest in the West African region but Wampah said the central bank’s monetary tightening in recent months could limit any further rise.
“Going forward, the committee expects the slower pace of price changes to continue and steer inflation down towards the medium target band of eight percent, plus or minus two percent,” Wampah said.
Ghana’s economy is expected to pick up speed this year, even as the government abides by IMF-set spending limits, and Wampah said the bank had begun its zero financing of the budget deficit limit placed on it under the aid deal.
The country is preparing to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in November which are expected to produce a tight race between President John Mahama and Nana Akufo Addo of the main opposition New Patriotic Party, partly due to economic concerns.
(Reporting by Kwasi Kpodo; Editing by Edward McAllister and Dominic Evans)
ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Rain that has fallen in many of Ivory Coast’s cocoa growing regions will aid the April-to-September mid-crop but damage caused by the Harmattan wind remained a concern for some, farmers said on Monday.
The Harmattan is a wind that usually blows from the Sahara during December to March. At its peak it can destroy cocoa pods and sap soil moisture, making beans smaller. Ivory Coast is also in its dry season from mid-November to March.
Farmers said their eyes were on the April-to-September mid-crop since most of the main cocoa crop was complete.
In the western region of Soubre, at the heart of the cocoa belt, an analyst reported 37 millimetres of rainfall in the spell, compared with none last week.
Salame Kone, who farms in the outskirts of Soubre, said farmers were pleased with the rainfall this week and hoped it would continue so the mid-crop would start well. But the main crop had ended poorly, he said, adding:
“There are few pods on the trees. The flowers of the main crop weakened a great deal.”
In the eastern region of Abengourou, known for the good quality of its beans, farmers reported one good downpour followed by the return of the Harmattan dry wind.
N’Dri Kouao, who farms near Niable, said little of the main cocoa crop remained and predicted that, if the weather persisted, the mid-crop would disappoint.
“The rain is good but the return of Harmattan worries us because it is drying up the leaves and the flowers,” said Kouao.
Similar growing conditions were reported in the western region of Duekoue.
In the centre-western region Daloa, which produces a quarter of Ivory Coast’s national output, farmers reported no rain, adding that persistent drought had weakened trees.
Farmer Albert N’Zue said the mid-crop may be small in the first three months because of the weather conditions.
“Many trees will not endure for a long time if it doesn’t rain soon,” said N’Zue.
Downpours were reported in southern regions of Divo and Aboisso.
(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Editing by Keith Weir)
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s Anglo American Platinum Ltd (Amplats) on Monday flagged a sharp fall in full-year earnings due to impairments, write-downs and restructuring costs in bid to survive plunging in commodity prices.
Headline earnings per share, the main gauge of profit that strips off certain one-off items, is expected to be down to between 25 cents and 55 cents compared with earnings of 301 cents a year earlier.
Amplats, a division of Anglo American Plc, is undergoing tough cost cutting to deal with plunging prices and low demand for its precious metals and the effects of a crippling five-month strike in 2014 at its biggest operation.
The top platinum producer said the fall in profits was due to efforts to make the business more efficient, cash generative and lean by reorganising operations and structure.
Anglo American, the world’s fifth-biggest miner by market value, is on a drive to sell more assets and whittle its business down to three divisions to cope with sharp fall in commodity prices.
Amplats said headline earnings per share would have risen to 412 cents if it had excluded the impact of the restructuring costs, a loan to its joint-venture partner Atlatsa and the increase in inventory.
(Reporting by Zandi Shabalala; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – A judge has given South African telecoms company MTN Group until March to try to reach a settlement with the Nigerian authorities over a disputed $3.9 billion fine, sending its shares 8 percent higher.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) imposed the penalty on MTN last year for failing to disconnect users with unregistered SIM cards.
Nigeria has been trying to halt the widespread use of such SIM cards amid worries these are being used for criminal activity, including by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram.
MTN has been lobbying against the fine and has already seen it cut from an initial figure of $5.2 billion.
The judge at the Federal High Court in the Nigerian city of Lagos on Friday adjourned the case until March 18 to allow the parties to try to reach an agreement, MTN said in a statement.
The prospect of a lower fine boosted MTN shares.
Dobek Pater, the managing director of research group Africa Analysis, estimated that a fine that could satisfy both parties would between $1 and 2 billion.
MTN, which is led by Executive Chairman Phuthuma Nhleko makes about 37 percent of its revenue from Nigeria, and the current fine equates to more than twice its annual average capital spending over the past five years.
Nhleko was put in charge for up to six months in November to help to steer the company through the crisis.
The group is also fighting allegations for not paying tax in Cameroon..
(Reporting by Thekiso Anthony Lefifi; Editing by Keith Weir)
