Welcome to the 13th edition of the South African Business journal. First published in 2011, the publication has established itself as the premier business and investment guide to South Africa, supported by an e-book edition and website at www.southafricanbusiness.co.za.
A special feature in this journal focusses on the vital focus on infrastructure that is seizing the attention of the political and business leadership of South Africa. This is not the arena of endless talk shops. Rather, 160 CEOs of some of the country’s most influential companies are rolling up their sleeves and trying to make things work better. The article looks at steps being taken by a combination of the public and private sectors to beef up the country’s railways, ports and energy network. Crime is also under the spotlight. As this journal goes to print, South Africa will ascend to the presidency of the G20, a singular honour and an opportunity for the country to put its best foot forward. A brief overview of each of the country’s provinces is also provided.
South African Business is complemented by nine regional publications covering the business and investment environment in each of South Africa’s provinces. The e-book editions can be viewed online at www.globalafricanetwork.com. These unique titles are supported by a monthly business e-newsletter with a circulation of over 35 000. The Journal of Africa Business joined the Global African Network stable of publications as an annual in 2020 and is now published quarterly.
MiningAnglo American is
MiningAnglo American is selling.The board of Anglo American rejected several offers made byBHP to buy the company during 2024. The bid would haveexcluded Anglo’s two big South African assets, Kumba IronOre, pictured, and Anglo American Platinum (Amplats).In November 2023 Anglo’s shares came under pressure from themarket when the company announced reduced copper targets andmajor cost-saving measures which included job cuts. Anglo has a longtermstrategy to be more focused and consequently is in the process ofselling assets and shareholdings in diamonds, coal, nickel and platinum.The portfolio transformation will result in the focus being on copper,premium iron ore and crop nutrients.Platinum producers have all been under pressure, with NorthamPlatinum postponing some projects and Sibanye Stillwater laying offstaff due to lower global prices. By contrast, the two older staples ofSouth African mining, gold and coal, are making a comeback.A sale that was first mooted in 2021 was finally resolved in June2023 when Northam Platinum agreed to sell its stake in Royal BafokengPlatinum (RBPlat) to Impala Platinum (Implats).That sale took Implats’ holding in RBPlat to 91% after it had bought9.26% of the company from Public Investment Corporation (PIC) earlierin the year to give it a majority holding. The RBPlat platinum groupmetals (PGM) facility, which lies directly south of Sun City, is adjacent toImplats Rustenburg’s land. The Impala Rustenburg operation comprisesSECTOR INSIGHTThe world’s deepest minewill be made even deeper.a nine-shaft mining complexand concentrating and smeltingplants. The big sale coincidedwith a decline in the global pricesof some of the PGMs such aspalladium and rhodium. Althoughthe long-term prospects forPGMs are good in support of thenascent hydrogen economy, aslowing Chinese economy andthe expanded market for electricvehicles are negative factors.Gold and coalGold is popular again as the globalprice hit record levels because ofSOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 202542PHOTO: Anglo American
war and instability in so many parts of the world. In November 2024,Sibanye Stillwater reported a 292% increase in adjusted earnings fromits South African gold operations while Gold Fields reported normalisedearnings of 0-million in 2023, up from 0-million the year before.Sibanye Stillwater’s diversification strategy included moving intoplatinum and this has paid off, despite the current commodity price.While Anglo is doing the opposite in selling many of its assets, it ismirroring one aspect of the Sibanye masterplan by investing in lithiumbatteries. Sibanye has built up its share in a lithium mine and refineryin Finland to the extent that it now holds 80% of the facility, with thestate-owned Finnish Minerals Group (FMG) owning the balance. In 2024,Anglo American signed an agreement with FMGThe Financial Mail’s cover story in March 2024 was about gold’sresurgence and how “local miners are reinventing their businessoperations to stay in the game”. One example was the R7.9-billiondevoted by Harmony Gold to extending the Mponeng mine in Gauteng,which means that the world’s deepest mine will be made even deeper.Harmony bought Mponeng from AngloGold Ashanti. The article furthernoted plans to list Blyvoor Gold in New York and increased productionforecasts from Pan African Resources.Coal’s resurgence is closely linked to a global rethink about thespeed of the transition to cleaner fuels. In South Africa, that meansthat four coal-burning power plants, Camden, Grootvlei, Hendrina andKriel, will now only be decommissioned in 2030. The commitment toswitch power sources has not changed, but the timeframe has. Coal willcontinue to be mined for some time to come.Afrimat, previously listed on the JSE in the “Construction and BuildingMaterials” section, has changed its classification to “General Mining”,a recognition of the company’s ambitious buying programme in theNorthern Cape and Mpumalanga. With construction and building nowcontributing just 20% to operating profit, Afrimat is active in anthraciteand iron ore and will further expand into phosphates, rare earthelements and vermiculite. Among its new acquisitions, Afrimat nowcontrols the Nkomati Anthracite mine in Mpumalanga. The mine, whichis in the south-eastern corner of the province, has proven resources of8.7-million tons and upwards of 400 jobs were created over the last twoyears. Local communities have a 16.1% stake in the relaunched mine andthe Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency (MEGA) holds 34%.In July 2023, as scheduled, De Beers Group celebrated thebeginning of production at its Venetia Mine in the northern part ofLimpopo Province. The long-term, .3-billion conversion projectCoal is far from finished.of the diamond mine to anunderground mine began in2012 and will extend the life ofthe mine to 2045 or beyond.In the Northern Cape, theNamakwa Special Economic Zonein Aggeneys is being envisionedas an industrial cluster with thebiggest new mine project in thecountry, the Gamsberg project ofVedanta Zinc International, as thecentral tenant. The project will600 000 tons of zinc when phasethree is complete.Copper is one of the mostimportant elements needed topower the renewable energytransformation and so it’s nosurprise that areas minedhistorically for that mineral in theNorthern Cape are now back inthe news. Batteries need copper,as do systems used to transmitenergy from solar or windsources. Electric vehicles containan average of 85kg. Copper 360and Orion Minerals are activelypursuing old sites and new. ■ONLINE RESOURCESCouncil for Geoscience: www.geoscience.org.zaMinerals Council South Africa: www.mineralscouncil.org.zaNational Department of Mineral Resources and Energy: www.dmr.gov.zaPHOTO: Thungela Resources43SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2025
