Locals Must Buy What Mining Companies Dispose, Ramatlhodi

The South African Mines Minister, Mr Ngoako Ramatlhodi has said that mining companies that wish to sell their mining concerns in South Africa are presenting an opportunity for local companies and communities to buy back a share of the sector from international conglomerates. He was speaking on the sidelines of the event called Chatham House Extractive Industries in Africa Event which is being held in London from the 16th to the 17th of March.

The South African minister is quoted in the media as having said that Anglo American companies that were looking to sell some of their assets in Africa, particularly in South Africa, should consider selling to local national champions or to companies owned by local communities or by their workers. Ramatlhodi said the South African idea was to target promoting a company that included a large percentage of women and young workers in its structures. “At the moment, for example, Anglo American is looking to dispose of most of its coal mines in South Africa so I want my people to take over those mines,” minister Ngoako Ramatlhod said. He added that a means of financing these companies could be arranged through local financial institutions who would propose a number of financing options for the up and coming companies to choose from.

It is also reported that a number of factors, including a steep fall in commodity prices, as well as a disruption which is due to labour disputes as well as uncertainty in policy, as changes on that front have always been looming, have caused the South African mining sectors to be unattractive to both current and potential investors, leading to one of the biggest names in world mining, Anglo American to seriously consider selling its concerns in the continent’s second biggest economy.

The Chatham House Extractive Industries in Africa Event, which the minister was attending, has drawn speakers from the African continent as well as experts in the mining sector. These include Jerry Currie, head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs, Alan Davies, Chief Executive at Rio Tinto, Hin Nii Osah Mills, Minister of Mines and Natural Resources in Ghana and Francisco Manuel Monteiro de Queiroz, who is also Minister of Geology and Mines.