South32 CEO Graham Kerr
Photo by: Bloomberg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diversified miner South32 has received nearly 40 expressions of interest for its energy coal assets in South Africa.
Speaking on the sidelines of the company’s annual general meeting, South32 CEO Graham Kerr told Mining Weekly Online that, while the talks thus far have been confidential, the company has seen “very strong interest” from prospective suitors.
The company, in 2017, announced its intention to manage South African Energy Coal (SAEC), which includes the Khutala, Klipspruit, Middelburg and Wolwekrans collieries and processing plants in Mpumalanga, as a standalone business, allowing it to simplify the company.
Kerr said on Thursday that the company’s focus would be two-fold at SAEC, with the initial focus being on transforming the ownership base of the operation to include a larger black ownership, and the secondary focus being on creating a sustainable business.
“We have no plans to leave South Africa, the Hillside smelter does very well and our manganese operations are doing well, so its important that SAEC is successful if we no longer own it,” Kerr said.
Meanwhile, Kerr on Thursday also said the company was yet to receive any communication from the Colombian government over the reported $56-million in unpaid royalties owed over its Cerro Matoso nickel mine.
Reuters earlier this week quoted the comptroller which said that “the mining company Cerro Matoso owes the Colombian State more than 170-billion pesos for unpaid royalties between 1998 and 2003 and between 2007 and 2012,” with the calculations based on information from the national mining agency.
“There is a proposal put forward by the government to retrospectively apply a royalty backwards, which we don’t quite agree with at the moment, so we are working through that,” Kerr told Mining Weekly Online.