JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The CEO of Xstrata-pursued Anglo American, Cynthia Carroll, met South Africa’s new Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu at the weekend, amid intensifying media reportage on the prospect of a possible merger between the two companies.

South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources spokesperson Jeremy Michaels said in an emailed statement that Carroll and Shabangu met late on Friday as part of “routine engagements”.

No reference was made on this occasion to the Xstrata-proposed, but Anglo-rejected, merger.

Shabangu and labour unions last week applauded Anglo’s rejection of Xstrata’s overture.

Michaels said that Carroll had briefed Shabangu on Anglo's strategic and operational imperatives in the medium- to-long-term, both domestically and internationally.

“Minister Shabangu was pleased with the briefing and expressed her satisfaction with support for Anglo's continued constructive participation in the South African mining industry, and the country's economy as a whole,” Michaels said.

Shabangu, he said, had also expressed her keen interest in “working together with Ms Carroll”, to improve further the cooperation between Anglo and the South African government, especially in the areas of mine safety and transformation of the industry.

Shabangu, Michaels added, also looked to developing further cooperation with Anglo to ensure that the South African mining industry was “healthy, sustainable and contributed positively to South Africa's socioeconomic development, thereby ensuring that the lives of our people are improved”.

Xstrata’s head of strategy and corporate affairs, Thras Moraitis, who will be in Johannesburg this week to provide some background on Xstrata globally, would not be meeting the South African government on this occasion, a spokesperson said, as Xstrata had already made earlier contact.

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