GEMFIELDS, the Johannesburg-listed precious stones mining and marketing company, said the premises of its Zambian subsidiary, Kagem Mining, were raided by the southern African country’s tax authorities on August 16. In a statement to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Gemfields said the Zambian Revenue Authority (ZRA) served two search warrants in an unannounced visit to Kagem… Read More

EXXARO Resources was “days away” from finalising an agreement with Eskom which would see the South African power utility fund R1.8bn for the renewal of coal resources at the Mpumalanga province colliery, Matla which Exxaro operates. “We have made good progress with Eskom,” said Nombasa Tsengwa, head of Exxaro’s coal business in a media call… Read More

THE World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) has teamed up with precious metals retail firm Shenzhen Hengfu Yingjia (Hengfu) to sell platinum bars in China and develop the physical platinum investment market in South China. In terms of the agreement investment grade platinum bars – minted by the Swiss Metalor Group and available in sizes of… Read More

THE view of investment banks on the likely impact of electric vehicles (EVs) is just a question of degree. EVs talk so sensibly to society’s broad concerns, as contained in the Paris Agreement on climate change for instance, that demand for the metals required for their fabrication is likely to be anything from robust to… Read More

THE proposed merger of the platinum operations owned by Sibanye-Stillwater with Lonmin received another important approval today after the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) unconditionally gave its support to the transaction. All that is required now for the combination is approval by shareholders in Sibanye-Stillwater and Lonmin, as well as the South African competition… Read More

GLENCORE’S credit rating was improved by S&P Global Ratings in an assessment that takes a sanguine view of the political risk currently making headlines at the Swiss group’s Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) copper and cobalt operations. Analysts have commented recently that Glencore has tended to under-perform its peers lately partly owing to a legal… Read More

The share price of Bushveld Minerals – the London-listed junior miner which operates the Vametco vanadium mine in South Africa – has more than doubled since mid -March and Bushveld’s March quarter report shows why. Bushveld shares have soared from 8.55p on March 12 to 20.3p currently pushing the group’s market capitalisation to £216m equivalent… Read More

South Africa’s platinum miners resemble a “dysfunctional oligopoly” and are currently increasing supply despite depressed platinum prices with no meaningful improvement in the situation expected until 2020. That’s the view of JP Morgan Cazenove in its latest review of the SA platinum sector which singles out Impala Platinum (Implats) as being the “most vulnerable” producer… Read More

NEAL Froneman warned Ben Magara’s Lonmin that failing to deliver on the platinum firm’s restructuring plans would see the withdrawal of Sibanye-Stillwater’s R5.1bn all share offer, the company of which he is CEO. “There’s a huge onus on [Lonmin] management not to get themselves in a black hole because we cannot ask our shareholders to… Read More

FORMER Gencor and BHP Billiton executive Miklos (Mike) Salamon passed away earlier this month, according to an announcement on October 25 by GEM Diamonds of which he was independent non-executive director. He had been battling cancer for several years. “Mr Salamon had served on the coard since 2008 and made an invaluable contribution,” said GEM.… Read More