The sale by Anglo American of its Eskom-tied coal mines to the black-owned Seriti startup is edging forward positively, new Anglo American FD Stephen Pearce said last week.
Anglo has signed a binding sale and purchase agreement with Seriti in a transaction that has been more than two years in the making. The coal operations involved Anglo’s Eskom-tied New Vaal, New Denmark and Kriel mines, as well as four closed collieries with reopening potential.
During question time, following Anglo’s presentation of spectacular half-year results, Pearce said in response to Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly that the applications for the transfer of ownership of the coal mines to Seriti were lodged last month.
“So far, the discussions with Seriti and the Department of Mineral Resources have all been quite positive in terms of moving the deal forward.
“There are a number of conditions precedent to getting that deal done. We’ve just received competition clearance and so other conditions should move forward within a reasonable timeframe. So far, it’s been positively edging forward,” Pearce disclosed.
Seriti, which has aspirations to be South Africa’s next mining champion, has received the backing of both the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Solidarity union, which put out statements welcoming the R2.3-billion deal.
Headed by CEO Mike Teke, Seriti is owned jointly by four equal anchor shareholders made up of Teke’s Masimong Group Holdings, Thebe Investment Corporation, headed by executive chairperson Vusi Khanyile, Zungu Investments Company, led by Sandile Zungu, and the black-women-led Community Investment Holdings Projects, which was established in 1995 by Dr Anna Mokgokong and Joe Madungandaba.
NUM deputy president Joseph Montisetse expressed the union’s happiness with the potential reopening of four closed collieries presenting the possibility of “massive job opportunities in communities around those closed coal operations”.
Solidarity deputy mining industry general secretary Connie Prinsloo was encouraged by Seriti’s vision of long-standing support for the development and sustainability of South Africa’s mining industry.
KwaThema-born Teke, 52, has reached the uppermost positions in business, including directorships of a number of public companies, all the way beyond his starting point as a R76-a-week labourer at Van Leer, in Springs, in 1984.
A former Chamber of Mines president, Teke was also until recently chairperson of the Richards Bay Coal Terminal, where he is still on the board.
He outlined the funding plan as being a combination of shareholder equity and debt from South African banks, and he committed Seriti to maintaining Anglo’s world-class operating standards in partnering with Eskom.
Under his leadership, Sereti has already also expressed interest in acquiring the undeveloped New Largo coal project, which is earmarked to supply coal to Eskom’s new Kusile power station, which is at an advanced stage of construction.
Teke has ambitions for the 79% black-owned Seriti to become a massive diversified mining company that could conceivably take over Anglo’s Kumba Iron Ore and eventually become an across-the-board diversified mining giant.