SIGNS that Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) president, Felix Tshisekedi, is interested in reform were in evidence yesterday when he met with the Washington-based International Monetary Fund (IMF) in an effort to repair the relationship between it and the central Africa country. Tshisekedi, who replaced Joseph Kabila after elections in December, last month told delegates while on… Read More

ZIMBABWE’S plan to accelerate the development of its platinum group metal (PGM) sector has taken another turn with the country awarding a concession to mine the metal to Bavura Holdings, a company which has Nigerian billionaire, Benedict Peters, as a shareholder, said Reuters. The concession comes just over a year after President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government… Read More

ZAMBIA may conduct audits at all its mines in order to check for some of the breaches it has imputed to Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), the company owned by Vedanta Resources, said Reuters. “The government will be undertaking regular audits at all the mines to ensure compliance and avoid the recurrence of the situation at KCM,”… Read More

B2GOLD CEO, Clive Johnson, took the unusual step of issuing a statement emphasising the company was not interested in merger and acquisition activity. “In response to the recent media reports about B2Gold mining acquisitions, I would like to reiterate our long term growth strategy,” he said. “In addition to developing our existing pipeline of projects,… Read More

A PROVISIONAL liquidation order brought against Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) by Zambia’s ZCCM-IH, a state-owned company, was “an apparent misuse of legal process”, said Vedanta Resources which is to oppose the order in court tomorrow. Vedanta Resources controls KCM which operates copper mines and processing facilities in Zambia’s copperbelt region. Some $3bn had been invested… Read More

ANGLOGOLD Ashanti’s decision to sell its last remaining South African gold assets comes only about six months into CEO Kelvin Dushnisky’s tenure at the company since succeeding Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan. In short, it didn’t take long for Dushnisky to decide where the group stood on South Africa. “The industry generally in South Africa has not chosen… Read More

A DUE diligence into Universal Coal ahead of a R2.15bn bid for the company by Johannesburg-listed Afrimat, an industrial minerals company, was continuing, Afrimat said in full-year results ended February. Afrimat bid 40 Australian cents per Universal Cloal share effectively knocking out a previous bid tabled by Ata Resources, a private equity firm that led… Read More

EFFORTS to reform Tanzania’s minerals sector continued apace, according to Reuters which said the East African country would begin cancelling inactive mining exploration licences and distribute the mineral-bearing property to small-scale miners. Citing comments made in parliament by deputy minister for minerals, Stanslaus Nyongo, Reuters reported that “… all inactive prospecting licences are cancelled for… Read More

A CURRENCY crunch and the first effects of the latest round of power cuts made their presence felt in Zimbabwe’s mining sector in the first quarter of this year, said Reuters which cited the comments of Isaac Kwesu, CEO of the country’s Chamber of Mines. “Preliminary figures indicate that the first quarter was not a good… Read More

AFRITIN Mining, a UK-listed tin development company, said it had raised £3m through a share placement and arranged an additional £1.7m working capital facility with its 9.5% shareholder, Bushveld Minerals, also listed in London. The funds will be used for general corporate purposes and to bring the pilot plant at Afritin’s Uis tin mine in… Read More

WESCOAL Holdings, a Johannesburg-listed coal producer, is to buy shares held by a minority shareholder in Moabsvelden, a project in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province that it intends to build into a 1.5 million ton to 2 million ton (Mt) per year mine this year. The company will offer R24.5m for an 18.2% interest in Neosho,… Read More

BARRICK Gold sought to bring a speedy end to a dispute involving its 63.9% owned subsidiary, Acacia Mining, and the Tanzanian government (GoT) outlining a potential offer to buy the shares of minority shareholders in Acacia for a total of $285m. In 2017, the GoT stopped exports of gold concentrate from two of Acacia’s mines… Read More

SOUTH Africa’s public enterprises minister, Pravin Gordhan, revealed an embarrassingly shallow understanding on Tuesday evening of the mining industry’s multi-year struggle for policy certainty. Asked by a questioner after his speech at the pre-AGM dinner of the Minerals Council SA (MCSA) what president Cyril Ramaphosa’s government was doing to recover the billions of foreign investment… Read More

VEDANTA will continue to press for a meeting with Zambia president Edgar Lungu ahead of a High Court hearing set down for Friday. The court hearing is to rule on an application to provisionally liquidate Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) which Vedanta controls. The liquidation order was brought by KCM’s 20.6% shareholder, ZCCM Investment Holdings (ZCCM-IH),… Read More

RESOURCE Generation (Resgen), the Sydney- and Johannesburg-listed coal development company, said it hoped to finalise funding for its Boikarabelo project by September. Resgen said today in an announcement to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange that it continued to hold discussions with a group of banks. The project has been the subject of various bank reviews for… Read More

ZAMBIA has appointed a legal firm to act as provisional liquidator of Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), the assets owned by Indian firm, Vedanta. Citing a court document, Reuters said Zambian law firm Lungu Simwana & Company had been appointed as administrator. This comes a day after Zambian president, Edgar Lungu, stripped KCM of its mining… Read More

DOES the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) have the stomach for another strike? That’s perhaps the most important question ahead of platinum industry wage talks due to kick off this month. One view is that there’s every likelihood Joseph Mathunjwa, the increasingly incalculable president of AMCU, having lost some of his normal swagger in… Read More

MARK Wellesley-Wood, the controversial mining CEO and financier who was long the nemesis of the late Kebbles, Roger and Brett, has suddenly passed away. KEFI Minerals, a UK-listed company of which Wellesley-Wood was chairman, announced Wellesley-Wood’s passing earlier today. “Wellesley-Wood was a gentleman of the highest integrity and discipline, a true professional who made a… Read More

SOUTH Africa’s state-owned mining company, African Exploration & Mining Finance Company (AEMFC) in joint venture with Lurco Group would submit a new bid for control of Optimum Coal Mine after the consortium’s bid was “swept from the table”. According to City Press, a weekly newspaper, creditors accounting for 75% of claims at Optimum Coal Mine,… Read More

SIBANYE-Stillwater is to place shares worth R1.8bn in an effort to minimise the impact on its balance sheet of the ongoing strike at its gold mines and to head-off potential disruptions that may flow from wage negotiations in the South African platinum sector. Up to 108.9 million shares would be placed by means of an… Read More