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/ 15 February 2005
Diversified mining group African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) is confident that gold-miner Harmony Gold, in which it has a 16,2% stake, will take control of Gold Fields, ARM executive chairperson Patrice Motsepe — who is also chairperson of Harmony — said on Tuesday. ARM continues to support the bid as it has been presented, he added.
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/ 14 February 2005
World number one platinum-miner Anglo Platinum (AngloPlat) on Monday announced that it has reduced its refined platinum target for its 2006 financial year to between 2,7-million ounces and 2,8-million ounces (oz) from its previous target of 2,9-million oz. The group aims to produce 2,6-million oz of platinum in 2005.
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/ 11 February 2005
African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) expects Harmony Gold’s bid for rival Gold Fields to take its "natural course", ARM executive chairman Patrice Motsepe said this week. ARM has a 16,2% stake in Harmony Gold. Motsepe noted that exciting opportunities would emerge from Harmony’s bid. "We are really supportive of the initiative in terms of the huge synergies that will be unlocked when the two companies work together".
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/ 10 February 2005
Diversified mining group Kumba Resources is willing to participate not only in the financing of rail infrastructure but also the operation of the rail system for the transport of its iron ore and coal products, if necessary. If Kumba does get involved in the financing, it will result in an adjustment to the rail tariff it pays, Kumba CEO Dr Con Fauconnier said.
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/ 9 February 2005
The bid by gold miner Harmony Gold for rival Gold Fields is "under water" and history shows that such a hostile offer has never succeeded, Gold Fields chief executive officer Ian Cockerill said on Wednesday. "In the history of hostile takeovers, 100% of all bids that are under water have never been successful," he said.
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/ 9 February 2005
Canadian junior miner Platinum Group Metals, or PTM, is hoping to start mining platinum in South Africa within five years, PTM CEO Michael Jones said this week at the Mining Indaba. PTM’s key asset is its joint venture with world number one platinum-miner Anglo Platinum (AngloPlat).
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/ 9 February 2005
For the moment, world number one diamond-miner De Beers has no plans to move the venue of its main sight from London where its marketing arm, the Diamond Trading Company, has its headquarters, De Beers group MD Gary Ralfe said on Tuesday.
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/ 4 February 2005
World number six gold-miner Harmony Gold on Friday said it intends to serve its unions and staff associations with notices of compulsory restructuring over the next two weeks. Harmony said it will be issuing Section 189 notifications, which will result in the start of the legally required 60-day review period.
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/ 3 February 2005
The South African gold-mining industry has been in a period of decline over the past 10 years and further consolidation of the sector is a logical move, such as the proposed merger of Harmony and Gold Fields, Harmony chief executive Bernard Swanepoel said on Thursday.
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/ 28 January 2005
World number six gold miner Harmony Gold on Thursday announced that it has elected to waive the minimum acceptance condition — that it secure 50,1% of Gold Fields stock — in terms of its subsequent offer to Gold Fields shareholders. "As a consequence, the subsequent offer has been declared unconditional as to acceptances," Harmony said.
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/ 27 January 2005
Trade union Solidarity said on Thursday afternoon, after an emergency meeting with oil and chemicals group Sasol, that it has agreed to be part of the internal investigation following the explosion at Sasol’s Natref plant in Sasolburg on Wednesday. Seventeen people were injured in the explosion, Solidarity said.
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/ 26 January 2005
World number six gold miner Harmony Gold on Wednesday fell to a fresh three-year of R50 a share on the JSE Securities Exchange. This was attributable to the fall in the price of group’s American Depository Receipt (ADR) in the United States due to the lower gold price, brokers said.
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/ 24 January 2005
Diversified mining group Kumba Resources on Monday came close to an all-time high on continued speculation about the settlement prices for iron ore, which are currently being negotiated. At 9.40am, Kumba was quoted at R57,49, up 28 cents or 0,5% from its Friday close.
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/ 24 January 2005
The JSE Securities Exchange (JSE) is not aware of any of its grain broker members being in financial difficulty and there are no signs that a grain broker member could be placed in default, JSE agricultural products division general manager Rod Gravelet-Blondin said on Monday.
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/ 20 January 2005
Africa’s largest sugar group, Illovo, on Thursday announced that it expects its headline earnings and earnings per share for the year ending March 31 2005 to be between 50% and 60% lower than the previous year. The existing I-Net Bridge consensus of analysts has Illovo producing 2005 headline earnings per share of 46,4 cents.
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/ 18 January 2005
World number six gold miner Harmony Gold is likely to extend the deadline for the take-up of its subsequent offer to Gold Fields shareholders to mid-March as the regulatory process related to its proposed merger has taken longer than expected. Harmony’s subsequent offer currently closes on February 4.
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/ 14 January 2005
Global resources BHP Billiton moved to a three-month high on Friday on speculation about the level of 2005/06 iron-ore settlements, brokers said. Shares in South African diversified mining group Kumba Resources climbed to a two-and-half-year high on the strong prospects for iron-ore contract prices.
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/ 13 January 2005
Despite the modest correction in the gold price, the first half of 2005 is expected to see renewed interest in the precious metal. Gold is forecast to average $447 a troy ounce in the six-month period, United Kingdom-based consultancy GFMS said in a report released on Thursday.
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/ 12 January 2005
World number-four gold miner Gold Fields on Tuesday indicated that no viable alternative has emerged from recent talks and that it continues to pursue other alternatives other than rival Harmony’s offer. It is too soon to have expected a viable solution to emerge, Harmony marketing director Ferdi Dippenaar said.
There was a fire in the early hours of Thursday at investment bank Cazenove South Africa’s head office in Dunkeld, Johannesburg, Cazenove said in a statement. The Cazenove trading staff have been moved to an alternative site in Midrand and business is continuing as normal, Cazenove South Africa MD Tony Lederle said.
The rand on Thursday moved above R6 to the dollar for the first time since late November last year on the weaker euro against the dollar, Absa economist Christ Hart said. At 9.25am, the rand was quoted at R6,0128, its weakest level since November 24 2004, from Wednesday’s closing level of R5,9226.
The country’s property prices rose 32,1% in 2004 from 21,5% in 2003, South African banking group Absa said on Wednesday. In December 2004, the monthly Absa house price index rose by 32,6% in nominal year-on-year terms and the November increase in the index was revised to 34,6%.
Global resources group BHP Billiton and United States aluminium group Alcoa on Tuesday announced that they have completed the sale of Integris Metals to Ryerson Tull for $644-million (about R3,7-billion). The $644-million will be made up of $410-million in cash plus assumption of Integris’s debt, which is about $234-million.
Spot gold has broken through the key $430 a troy ounce level in a very decisive fashion and the risk in the next few days and during the first part of January is for additional losses, analysts for investment bank JP Morgan wrote in a technical note on Tuesday. At 8.15am, gold was quoted at $429,38/oz.
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/ 23 December 2004
World number-six gold miner Harmony Gold on Thursday fell to a fresh three-year low as the rand touched another six-year best and the rand gold price fell below R80 000 per kilogram for the first time since August 11 2004. Harmony is also under pressure due to its hostile takeover bid for world number-four gold miner Gold Fields.
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/ 22 December 2004
South African banking group Nedcor on Wednesday announced the sale of the corporate law advisory and consultancy business of Edward Nathan & Friedland (ENF), acquired by the group in October 1999. ENF has been sold, with effect from October 31 2004, for a cash consideration of R50-million to Edward Nathan.
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/ 22 December 2004
Australian exploration company Hancock Prospecting is looking to start the development of the Aus$1,7-billion Hope Downs iron-ore project in Western Australia following the arbitration ruling in favour of the company, Hancock chairperson Gina Rinehart said in a statement.
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/ 21 December 2004
Following the merger of LNM Holdings, which has a 50% stake in steel group Ispat Iscor, with Ispat International to form Mittal Steel Company, Ispat Iscor will be renamed and rebranded Mittal Steel South Africa. The name change is, however, subject to Ispat Iscor shareholder approval.
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/ 20 December 2004
Russian mining company Norilsk Nickel on Monday confirmed in a statement, issued in Moscow, that its representatives as well as those from Gold Fields and Harmony Gold have engaged in preliminary talks. On Friday, representatives of Gold Fields and Harmony Gold met in Moscow with Norilsk Nickel representatives.
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/ 14 December 2004
MD and CEO of Total South Africa Philip Jordan has been elected as the chairperson of the South African Petroleum Industry Association for 2005, the association said in a statement on Tuesday. Jordan succeeds Simphiwe Mehlomakulu, a general manager at PetroSA.
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/ 9 December 2004
The bid by Harmony for Gold Fields is not good for an empowerment company like Mvelaphanda Resources, Mvela chairperson Tokyo Sexwale said on Thursday. "The biggest losers are black people, black economic empowerment [BEE] players … because we don’t have the kind of chequebooks that old institutional investors have," he said.
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/ 9 December 2004
The chairperson of Gold Fields and Harmony Gold, Chris Thompson and Patrice Motsepe, held informal talks on Wednesday, Gold Fields and Harmony spokespersons said on Thursday. Both companies indicated that the talks had been at the initiative of the other company’s chairperson, with neither claiming that they had initiated the talks.