CIL buying coal rights in Limpopo province of SA

Tuesday, 10 Jan 2012

Later this month Coal India Ltd will sign an agreement with the Limpopo government in terms of which it will receive mining rights on various coal blocks in that province.

CIL will not acquire mines that are already operational, but rather promising coal blocks where mines will be developed.

Sake24 source said that “CIL had received the blocks entirely free of charge after the Mozambican government asked permission to develop mines there. But they paid us several hundred millions.”

These mines will be developed in partnership with the government of Limpopo which, through a state controlled corporation, will retain a 26% interest in the mines, probably to devolve it to black empowerment partners for CIL to comply with the requirements of the mining charter.

The Sake24 source said that “The Limpopo government has already handed CIL a draft agreement which took many months of negotiation. This will be discussed at CIL’s next board meeting to be held in two weeks’ time. If the CIL board accepts it, a CIL delegation will visit the country during the week of January 21, during which the agreement will be signed and formally announced.”

A senior official in the Limpopo government told Sake24 that the provincial government was acting more as a broker in this transaction worth many hundreds of millions.

Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale a confidant and friend of suspended ANC Youth League leader, Julius Malema, apparently last year invited CIL to participate in developing the province’s coal industry.

Last week in New Delhi Mr NC Jha chairman of CIL had said that the board would within the coming weeks consider a proposal in terms of which CIL would receive interests in coal mines in the province. together with the Limpopo government.

(Sourced from Sake24)

Coal license for union boss sparks ICAC investigation - Report

Thursday, 17 Nov 2011

It is reported that the awarding of a coal exploration license to a former union leader by the disgraced former labor minister Mr Ian Macdonald is set to be investigated by the corruption watchdog after an independent report found there was 'a circumstantial case of wrongdoing'.

The energy and resources minister Mr Chris Hartcher introduced a resolution to Parliament requiring the Independent Commission Against Corruption to investigate the circumstances surrounding the granting of the license. He told Parliament the report showed there was a clear departure from proper practice. He added that "There have been serious errors of judgment on the part of Ian Macdonald, with a cloud hanging over the dealings between him and his union mate."

In July 2011, the Department of Resources and Energy commissioned Clayton Utz to review the circumstances surrounding the awarding of the license by Mr Macdonald, who was minister for mineral resources in the former Labor government.

Mr Macdonald, who resigned from Parliament last year over an expenses scandal, awarded the license to Doyles Creek Mining, a company chaired by Mr John Maitland, a former national secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union who also had an 11% shareholding. Doyles Creek Mining was taken over by NuCoal resources last year and floated on the stock exchange for USD 100 million, eventually inflating Mr Maitland's shareholding from USD 165,000 to about USD 10 million.

The report, revealed by the Herald, found that there were other companies interested in an exploration license at Doyles Creek, in the upper Hunter. But Mr Macdonald invited Doyles Creek Mining to apply for the license, failing to put it to tender as required under departmental guidelines.

The report finds that Mr Macdonald's decision 'may well be voidable on the basis of it being in excess of jurisdiction, bad faith or manifestly unreasonable. It recommends the government establish a special commission of inquiry into the granting of the license.

The resolution, which passed the Legislative Assembly but has yet to be considered by the upper house, requires the ICAC to investigate the circumstances surrounding the application and allocation of the license and the making of profits, if any, by the shareholders of NuCoal Resources NL as proprietors of Doyles Creek Mining Pty Limited.

It asks the ICAC to advise on action the government should take and whether it should begin action against any individual or company. The government has chosen to ask Parliament to refer the case to the ICAC as it ensures that the commission must ''fully investigate'' the matter.

(sourced from www.smh.com.au)

RINL to get iron ore mining rights at Rajasthan - Report

Tuesday, 26 Jul 2011 |By ET

ET citing, 2 people directly involved in the development, reported that government is close to granting mining rights to Rashtriya Ispat Nigam at Bhilwara in Rajasthan.

As per report, RINL will get 350 million tonnes of iron ore.

Iron ore in Bhilwara has a ferrous content of about 45% to 50%.

Earlier this year, Jindal Saw entered into an agreement with Rajasthan giving it rights to at least 180 million tonnes of ore with a ferrous content of about 30%.

SAIL confirms steel deal with Lazarus Zim

Business Day reported earlier this week that the Zim investment vehicle Afripalm Resources had signed a deal with the Steel Authority of India


Friday, Feb25, 2011
By Business Day

The chairman of state-run Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), C.S. Verma, has confirmed his company is to conduct a feasibility study for a R21 billion plan, expected to produce 3-5 million tonnes of steel a year in South Africa.

That’s after Afripalm Chairman Lazarus Zim had said on Wednesday that Afripalm Resources had signed an understanding with the Steel.

Zim’s Afripalm Resources signed an understanding with the the Steel Authority of India.

In SA the bulk of steel is made by ArcelorMittal, formerly Iscor.

Also an Indian-run company, the Mittal group is the biggest privately owned steel maker in the word.

But its sojourn in SA has not always been a happy one. Mittal came to SA after it was promised that most of the iron-ore that feeds its furnaces would be available at cost plus 3%.

That promise was met, but the company has had persistent problems with the government, which accuses it of charging artificially high prices in the local market despite the cheap iron ore that had been arranged for it.

Then, two years ago, Arcelor-Mittal bungled and forgot to renew a mining right that guaranteed it the cheap ore.

This led to a slew of legal and political action (and whispered threats from the company that it might be forced to withdraw from SA) with, as yet, no final result.

All of that could now be made moot should Zim and his Indian investors go ahead with a plant of their own.

The steel investment would at least partly explain the many private meetings Jacob Zuma , Zim and members of the Gupta family had with Indian officials during Zuma’s state visit to India last year.

The meetings offended a wide range of business figures who were travelling with Zuma but felt excluded.

It also seems likely that the possibility of attracting this investment is one reason why the government has responded so severely to attempts by Kumba to secure for itself the iron-ore rights that ArcelorMittal lost, and to be able to sell the ore at market rates.

he government is opposing Kumba and wants the right given to a company called ICT in which the Gupta family has a strong but indirect interest.

It is hard to know to what extent Zim’s plan may rest on that ore being available at cost plus 3%.

With REUTERS