South African Metal Producer Moves to Take Over Australian Zinc Miner
The headgear of the mineshaft is illuminated, Thursday, Feb 1, 2018, where more than 900 miners from the Sibanye-Stillwater’s Beatrix mine near Welkom, South Africa, were trapped for about 31 hours.
InternationalIndiaAfricaFormerly Sibanye Gold, Sibanye-Stillwater has diversified its activities since its establishment in 2013. Having started with gold mining, the company now conducts operations with platinum and lithium, and has its subsidiaries in North and South America, Southern Africa and Europe, aiming to also have one in Australia.South African metal producer Sibanye-Stillwater has announced an offer to take over Australian zinc miner New Century Resources.The decision was made as confidence in the Australian company’s board had been lost, Sibanye-Stillwater said, as cited by the media.At present, Stillwater is the top shareholder in New Century Resources with 19.9% of the company already belonging to the South African multinational producer.The South African company earlier said it had planned to purchase another 10.92% of the Australian zinc miner at or below the $0.76 per share offer price.A share of New Century is currently worth $0.76, with its peak hitting $16.96 in October 2017.As Sibanye-Stillwater has been broadening its activities into recycling and waste management, it had bought a stake in New Century producing zinc from the tailings of once Australia’s largest zinc mine in the country’s Queensland state, called “Century.”According to Stillwater, New Century’s focus had changed and the zinc miner began losing value and direction.
AfricaSouth African Mining Firm to Spend $616 Mln on Lithium Project in Finland 28 November 2022, 17:35 GMTLast month, New Century made a study on its Mount Lyell copper project in Tasmania, Australia, the estimated cost of which amounts to $191.7 million. Stillwater expressed concerns over that fact, saying an equity raising could be needed to fund such growth projects.Before making the takeover offer, the South African company noted it had also been worried about the company’s direction to the board, and had not supported the proposed reelection of two directors in November.In its turn, New Century’s board made a recommendation for its shareholders not to take any actions concerning this offer, as the board will review it and provide necessary proposals.In October 2022, Sibanye-Stillwater obtained control over Keliber, a Finnish battery chemicals producer, later approving $616.22 million for further development of its lithium project.
