The Competition Commission has unconditionally approved a proposed merger in which manganese miner Afrimat Manganese intends to acquire certain assets from Thabazimbi Joint Venture’s Gravenhage manganese project.
The assets include Gravenhage’s manganese mining right, immovable property, equipment, applications, records and contracts.
The commission has determined that the proposed transaction is unlikely to result in a substantial prevention or lessening of competition in any relevant markets, as well as that the proposed transaction does not raise any public interest concerns.
Afrimat Manganese is wholly-owned by Afrimat Bulk Commodities, which is in turn wholly-owned by JSE-listed diversified miner Afrimat.
Afrimat is involved in bulk commodities, including the supply of iron-ore, in Kuruman, in the Northern Cape; and industrial minerals, which involves the supply of dolomite, metallurgical dolomite, metallurgical calcite, animal hygiene lime, agricultural lime, silica, burnt lime and other limestone products to various users of industrial minerals.
In addition, Afrimat supplies construction materials, including bricks and blocks, other precast products, readymix cement, aggregates including clinker contracting services, including a full package of drilling and blasting solutions for the construction and the mining industries.
Almost all of the drilling and blasting services provided by Afrimat’s contracting services division are provided internally, in respect of the Afrimat group’s own mining activities.