angloplat failing BEE test
30 January 2007

PLATINUM miner Anglo Platinum (Angloplat) and government were in a “stand-off” over differences in interpretation of black economic empowerment requirements, Minerals and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said yesterday.

She was addressing media in Pretoria after a lunch with incoming Anglo American CE Cynthia Carroll. Anglo American owns about 75% of Angloplat.  “If you have one company, which is a subsidiary of Anglo American, not wanting to embrace transformation, then it means there’s a problem,” Reuters reported Sonjica as saying.

The previous relationship between the ministry and the company had not been “as good as we would have wanted”, Sonjica said, leading to misunderstanding over black empowerment. “That kind of misunderstanding and distortion has been happening between ourselves and Anglo Platinum.”

The minister could have been referring to the furore that arose almost three years ago when government took offence at Anglo CE Tony Trahar’s remarks about SA’s “political-risk issue”.

One of the main areas where Angloplat was not meeting requirements on black empowerment was in its social and labour plan, Sonjica said.

According to industry website Miningmx.com, Angloplat considered it was more than 15% empowered as a result of past deals. But minerals and energy deputy director-general Jacinto Rocha said Angloplat was the only company seeking empowerment credits for deals in which it sold undeveloped platinum ounces in the ground to empowerment companies, as opposed to producing platinum mines.

Rocha said Angloplat was seeking “a special dispensation”.

Carroll, who is visiting Anglo American’s iron ore, platinum and coal mines this week, said her relationship with Sonjica would be “very important” for the future success of the company.

Asked whether the meeting with Sonjica had been tougher than expected, Carroll said: “Oh no, I think we’ll see things in a very common way. I sense her approach is similar to my approach in terms of being open and transparent and wanting to work together,” according to Miningmx.com.

The 2002 mining charter, compliance with which is needed to renew mining licences, requires South African mining companies to achieve certain targets. The targets include minimum black equity ownership, black and female representation at management level, and improving conditions in mining communities.

Sonjica said it would help if Anglo would fill the post of CEO of its South African division, vacated by Lazarus Zim last year.  “It’s got to be a positive that it’s out in the open and they’re talking about it,” Bloomberg reported Investec Asset Management fund manager Daniel Sacks as saying.   “People still think they have more to do.”

Angloplat recently sold a stake in its Union mine to the Bakgatla community. It has a joint venture at its Modikwa mine with African Rainbow Minerals, a black-controlled mining company, and another joint venture at the Bafokeng-Rasimone platinum mine with the Royal Bafokeng Nation. It has also sold platinum reserves to black investors on the northern limb of the Bushveld complex. 

Bloomberg and Reuters,  Charlotte Mathews,  Resources Editor