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Lonmin faces collapse if shareholders reject $400 mln cash call

4 November 2015 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Lonmin, world’s No.3 platinum miner, urged shareholders to approve a $400 million equity cash call at a meeting next week, saying in a document posted on its website the injection was crucial to its survival.

Lonmin’s shares in London fell 6.8 percent to 23.93 pence by 1223 GMT. The Johannesburg-listed stock was down by 8 percent at 5.00 rand.

Battered by strikes, rising costs and weak platinum prices, Lonmin said last month it planned to raise the money and another $370 million in bank loans to refinance debt due in May 2016.

The firm, founded in 1909 as the London and Rhodesian Mining and Land Company, said that if shareholders do not approve the rights issue at a meeting on Nov. 19, lenders would not provide the loans to push back the maturity of the 2016 debt to 2020.

“As a result, the group may have to cease trading at some point between December 2015 and May 2016 and shareholders could lose the entire value of their investment,” the company said on its website.

Lonmin was hit harder than other producers by the platinum mining strike in 2014, South Africa’s longest and costliest, as unlike its peers, virtually all its operations are concentrated in the strike-affected Rustenburg area.

To try to turn around its fortunes, the miner announced a plan in July to close or mothball several mine shafts, putting thousands of jobs at risk. It employs around 38,000 staff, including contractors.

 

SOME SUPPORT

The cash call has the backing of Lonmin’s third-largest shareholder, the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which has said it was willing to take up more than it is entitled to. The South African government-owned PIC owns about 7 percent of Lonmin.

The company said the Bapo Community, which owns 2.24 percent of its shares, would also back the rights issue.

Other top four shareholders in the company include South Africa’s Kagiso Asset Management, Capital World Investors and Old Mutual Investment Group.

Lonmin said the new shares would be issued at a “significant discount”, underscoring a more than 80 percent tumble in its stock price over the past year.

“We see this as a particularly stark warning by Lonmin but it is a reminder of the extreme pressures faced in the South African platinum industry,” Investec said in a note.

Spot platinum has fallen by about 20 percent over the last year to levels last seen in 2009 due to oversupply concerns and slowing demand in top consumer China.

 

(Reporting by Zandi Shabalala; Editing by Tiisetso Motsoeneng and Louise Heavens, Reuters)

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Anglo American defers platinum investment decisions, cuts diamond output

22 October 2015 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Mining group Anglo American said on Thursday it was postponing major project investment decisions at its platinum unit until at least 2017 and had cut diamond production in the face of soft demand.

In its production report for the three months to the end of September, the company said Anglo American Platinum’s output rose 14 percent to 614,300 ounces compared with 541,000 ounces in the same period last year, when many of its mines were rebooting after a five-month strike.

The decision to defer any major project plans for platinum until at least 2017 comes after the company reached an agreement to sell its labour-intensive South African assets to Sibanye Gold and as the white metal’s price trades near seven-year lows.

Anglo American, like its peers, is grappling with sliding commodity prices across the board, and exploration and evaluation spend for the quarter was down 34 percent to $70 million.

“Diamond production decreased by 27 percent to 6.0 million carats, following the decision to reduce production to better reflect current trading conditions,” the company said.

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Botswana’s mining production index down 7.6% in Q2 y/y

7 October 2015 Comments (0) Africa, Latest Updates from Reuters

GABORONE (Reuters) – Botswana’s mining production index fell to 98.5 in the second quarter of 2015, a year-on-year contraction of 7.6 percent, triggered by a slowdown in the diamond and copper mining sectors, its statistics office said on Wednesday.

Diamond production, exports of which contribute 30 percent to the GDP of the southern African nation, decreased by 5.4 percent in the second quarter of 2015 compared to a 1.5 percent contraction in the same period in 2014.

“This decline is mainly attributable to the weakening demand for diamonds in the global market,” Statistics Botswana said in a statement.

Copper production decreased by 69.7 percent year-on-year, the agency said.

 

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Sibanye raises platinum gamble with Aquarius deal

6 October 2015 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s Sibanye Gold has offered $294 million to buy Aquarius Platinum, making its second big bet on a platinum sector hammered by falling prices and rising costs.

The deal, announced on Tuesday, would put South Africa’s third-largest gold producer by value into the global top five producers of platinum group metals with annual output of more than a million ounces.

It is the second big deal in the sector for Sibanye, which bought the labour-intensive and costly Rustenburg operations of Anglo American Platinum last month.

Sibanye, a spin-off of Gold Fields, is capitalising on a platinum sector shake-up following an unprecedented five-month strike last year and weakening platinum prices that have hit profitability and raised costs in much of the industry.

Under the terms of the deal, Sibanye offered 19.5 U.S. cents, or 2.66 rand, per Aquarius share, a 56 percent and 60.3 percent premium to Monday’s closing prices in Johannesburg and London respectively. The offer values Aquarius at $294 million.

Aquarius’ shares in Johannesburg soared 40 percent at one point to 2.48 rand, slightly below the offer price, and was 34 percent higher at 1230 GMT.

The stock was up 37 percent in London. Shares in Sibanye advanced over 10 percent to 19.74 rand.

The offer is backed by Aquarius’ board but requires shareholder approval.

In Aquarius, Sibanye would be taking on two low cost and mechanised mines in South Africa and Zimbabwe, which together holds the world’s largest platinum reserves.

For Aquarius, the deal would allow its shareholders to exit the industry whose gloomy outlook was compounded late last month by disclosures Volkswagen AG falsified U.S. vehicle emission tests. Platinum was trading at $916.75 an ounce on Tuesday, having hit a near seven-year low of $888 on Friday.

 

SHAKING THINGS UP

“Everybody is saying prices cannot stay this low forever. Sibanye is shaking things up in the sector, they are taking advantage where everybody is saying there is value but nobody is doing anything about it,” said Richard Hart, an analyst at Arqaam Capital.

Sibanye Chief Executive Neal Froneman said he saw no job cuts on the horizon at his new asset. Lay-offs are politically-sensitive in South Africa, where unions say up to 22,000 mining jobs are current on the line and the unemployment rate is over 25 percent.

There are about 1,500 employees at Aquarius’ Mimosa mine in Zimbabwe and 8,500 at the Kroondal operation in South Africa, where the hardline Association of Mineworkers and Construction recently ousted arch rival the National Union of Mineworkers as the dominant union in the shafts.

Froneman said “we remain on the lookout” for assets but he did not expect to acquire anything else in the short term with a focus now on “bedding the new acquisitions down.”

Asked specifically if he wanted to snap up any assets from rival Harmony Gold, which is battling to stay profitable, Froneman said he was not interested.

He also said the company remained committed to its policy of paying a steady dividend of between 25 and 35 percent of normalised earnings.

Sibanye’s gold assets are older mines that generate good cash flow even at current prices and because of their age do not need huge investments, freeing money for shareholders.

The group’s production profile will now be about 60 percent gold and 40 percent platinum.

HSBC, which was the financial advisor to Sibanye, agreed to arrange a $300 million acquisition funding package.

($1 = 13.6725 rand)

(By Ed Stoddard, Reuters)

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Congo drops objections to Ivanhoe Mines’ copper deal

23 September 2015 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

kamoa copper mine

KINSHASA (Reuters) – Democratic Republic of Congo’s government supports Ivanhoe Mines’ $400 million sale of a stake in its Kamoa copper mine to China’s Zijin Mining, it said on Tuesday, dropping earlier objections to the deal.

The sale is a pre-requisite for the development of Kamoa, which is thought to be the world’s largest untouched high-grade copper discovery. A feasibility study on the Kamoa project is expected at the end of next year.

In a statement, mines minister Martin Kabwelulu and portfolio minister Louise Munga Mesozi added that Ivanhoe had agreed to sell an additional 15 percent stake in the mine to the government, which currently controls five percent.

The government said in June that Vancouver-based Ivanhoe’s sale in May of a nearly 50 percent stake in the copper project in southeastern Congo to Zijin for $412 million should be suspended until concerns over the purchase of its own stake were addressed.

It was not exactly clear what the government’s objections were, although industry sources said they wanted guarantees on their own stake first.

The conditions of the sale to the government still needed to be finalized in a contract with Ivanhoe subsidiary Kamoa Holding Limited and the mine, the statement said.

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Diamond jewellery sales rise to record in 2014: De Beers

21 September 2015 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Diamond miner De Beers said global diamond jewellery sales grew by 3 percent last year to a record of over $80 billion, helped by strong demand in the United States, but warned 2015 will be tough for the industry.

De Beers said sales of polished diamonds rose 7 percent in the United States, while demand in China and India grew by 6 percent and 3 percent in local currency terms, respectively.

“Growth would have been almost five percent had it not been for the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against the currencies of several of the major diamond consumer markets in the latter part of 2014,” De beers said in a report.

The company, a subsidiary of global miner Anglo American, warned growth would be muted in 2015 as the strong dollar and an economic slowdown in China weigh.

De Beers chief executive Philippe Mellier said many industry participants started the year with more inventory than planned due to weak demand for diamond jewellery at the end of 2014.

“This led to a period of ‘indigestion’ in the diamond value chain and as a result we expect 2015 as a whole to be a more challenging year,” Mellier said.

De Beers said global rough diamond production fell by 3 percent in volume terms in 2014 to about 142 million carats, remaining well below the 2005 peak of around 175 million carats.

The company said expected output from expansion projects currently under way in the sector would lift total carat production to levels similar to the mid-2000s.

 

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China’s CNMC says it followed the law in closing Zambian copper mine

14 September 2015 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

copper mine

LUSAKA (Reuters) – China’s CNMC Luanshya Copper Mines followed Zambian law when it closed the Baluba mine and sent more than 1,600 workers on forced leave due to plunging prices and energy shortages, the company said on Monday.

Zambia had threatened to revoke Luanshya’s mining licence if the company did not reinstate workers.

A slide in global copper prices has put pressure on Africa’s second biggest producer of the metal, with export earnings depressed despite the kwacha’s slump against the dollar this year.

“As a law abiding corporate citizen, we have always followed the Zambian laws,” CNMC Luanshya Copper Mines spokesman Sydney Chileya said in a statement, adding that it did not plan to make employees redundant.

Those placed on forced leave would receive a monthly allowance and other entitlements such as medical cover, the company said.

Chileya said the entire Luanshya Mine would have collapsed within three months if the company had not suspended production at Baluba.

The Mine Workers’ Union of Zambia (MUZ) said on Saturday it would challenge the decision, which it alleged was made without consulting labour unions.

Glencore’s Zambian subsidiary Mopani Copper Mines, is in talks with the government and unions over plans to suspend its production, but a source close to the company said on Friday a large number of workers would be retained.

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Botswana’s first uranium mine targets 3.75m pounds output

11 September 2015 Comments (1) Africa, Australia, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters

uranium mining

GABORONE (Reuters) – Australian firm A-Cap Resources has applied for a licence to open what would be Botswana’s first uranium mine with a capital expenditure of $351 million, the firm said on Friday.

Botswana is estimated to hold around 1.04 billion tonnes in uranium reserves, in the central part of the country, and the government has issued prospecting licenses in the last decade although no production has taken place.

The exploration firm said results of technical studies showed the project would produce up to 3.75 million pounds of the ore in the first five years of its projected 18-year life.

The project was ideally located near roads, a railway network and power supply, the company said a statement, and was also on the site of one of the largest uranium deposits in the Africa, with estimated deposits of 261 million pounds.

A resurgent uranium price meant the project, where explorations started in 2006, was viable, the firm said.

Global uranium production had stalled recently due to depressed prices, curtailing exploration activities and the opening of new mines.

Spot uranium prices slumped over 12 percent in the past three quarters before bouncing back to a 5 month-high of $37.25 per pound in September.

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Glencore’s Zambia unit to keep most workers despite suspension

11 September 2015 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Latest Updates from Reuters, UK

LUSAKA (Reuters) – Glencore’s Zambian subsidiary Mopani Copper Mines will retain most of its workers even after copper production is suspended following a drop on the metal’s price, a source close to the company said on Friday.

An electricity shortage in the southern African nation and weaker copper prices have put pressure on the mining industry, threatening output, jobs and economic growth in Africa’s second-biggest copper producer.

The source said Mopani was in talks with the government and unions over Glencore’s plan to suspend operations and invest to improve efficiency at the mine.

The president of Zambia’s largest mining union said the move by the government could help save thousands of jobs.

“Over the next 18 months, Mopani will invest $500 million in expansion projects. A large number of employees are expected to be kept for mine development and care and maintenance,” the source told Reuters.

“We want Mopani to be efficient and competitive in the global copper market. It will also extend the mine life.”

Mining and trading company Glencore said on Monday it would suspended dividends, sell assets and suspend some copper production at Mopani and its Katanga Mining division in Democratic Republic of Congo for 18 months.

Mopani is the second largest employer in Zambia after the government with about 21,000 direct and contract workers.

Mopani would offer workers at the mining firm voluntary separation packages in line with Zambian law after the talks with the government ended, the source said.

A second source said the company was talking to the government and unions, but job cuts had not be discussed.

“As far as we are concerned everything is normal. We are undertaking a study to optimise our production efficiency with the unions and the government. Until we conclude that study we can’t make any pronouncements,” the source at Mopani said.

Glencore, Vedanta Resources, China’s NFC Africa and CNMC Luanshya Copper Mine have all said they will shut down some operations in Zambia because of the harsh business environment.

Electricity shortages and the slide in copper have driven the kwacha currency to record lows amid a sell-off in commodity-linked currencies as China’s economy slows.

By Chris Mfula (Reuters)

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Glencore holds talks with Congo officials on Katanga mine

11 September 2015 Comments (0) Africa, Business, Canada, Latest Updates from Reuters

KINSHASA (Reuters) – Glencore held talks with Congolese officials in Kinshasa on Thursday over the company’s plans to suspend some copper output at its Katanga Mining unit for 18 months, an adviser to the prime minister said.

The adviser, who asked not to be identified, said there could be an announcement by the mining ministry on Friday regarding the talks. A Glencore spokesman declined to confirm Thursday’s meeting.

The London-listed company said on Monday it planned to suspend 400,000 tonnes of copper output at Katanga and at Mopani Copper Mines in Zambia over the next 18 months.

“This is not a mine that is going to close. It’s just a moment when the copper price is very, very low,” said the adviser, referring to Katanga Mining. “When they sell copper they lose money.”

He said Glencore’s Mutanda Mining operation in Congo was a more efficient operation and did not face the same problems.

A Glencore source said the company would invest about $900 million in Katanga Mining to modernize it. This would bring the production cost per pound down from $2.50 to about $1.65 by time mine reopens in 2017.

By comparison, Mutanda Mining’s cost of production is around $1.33 per pound of copper because it is a newer mine, the source said.

The source declined to comment on potential job losses, saying discussions about employment continued.

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