OVERVIEW
Mining The South African mining landscape is changing.
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hen Gold Fields in 2013 spun off some of its older mines to a new company to be called Sibanye Gold, most of the attention was focussed on the older company’s remaining asset in South Africa, the South Deep mine. The thinking was that South Deep would be a more attractive investment proposition if it was uncoupled from the less profitable mines. What has happened instead is that Sibanye has diversified and grown to such an extent that it now has a new name, Sibanye Stillwater, which reflects its R30-billion purchase of mines in the US that produce platinum and palladium. It also bought several South African platinum assets including Aquarius Platinum and the Rustenburg mines of Amplats. Sibanye is now the third-largest producer of palladium and platinum in the world, and one of the 10 biggest gold producers. The gold sector has lost thousands of jobs in the last five years. Part of the reason for Gold Fields wanting to unbundle was political uncertainty in the mining sector. A new mining charter (Mining Charter 3) has not gone down well with mining companies. The level of black ownership and whether or not that percentage must be “topped up” every time a black shareholder sells, are just two of the contentious issues. The Chamber of Mines says that the value of
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SECTOR INSIGHT Sibanye Stillwater has become a global leader in just three years. • Operation Mining Phakisa Lab aims to fast-track solutions. BBBEE deals since the year 2000 is R205-billion. The mining industry itself is looking at new ways of doing business. At its 127th annual general meeting where a new CEO was appointed in May 2017, the Chamber of Mines announced that it would be rebranding. Guided by the Zambezi Protocol, the Chamber wants mining to be more positive and construcSOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2018