DOUBLE TAKE BY RICO
Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), which recently
reported a set of stellar financial results, suffered a double
processing setback in March. First, an explosion closed
one processing plant and then the threat of another
explosion closed its replacement, reported Mining
Weekly. Shares in Amplats, the world’s second-biggest
platinum group metal (PGM) producer, dropped 14.32%
to R947.64. The company cut its PGM production
guidance for 2020 by 900 000 ounces, from between
4.2m and 4.7m ounces to between 3.3m and 3.8m
ounces. Sibanye-Stillwater (one of Amplats customers)
said in a statement that Amplats had indicated that
its converter plant would be unavailable for at least
eight weeks and would be unable to fully process the
Rustenburg, Kroondal and Platinum mile concentrate
(also see p.12).THE
BADPepsiCo agreed to a worker empowerment deal as
part of its acquisition of Pioneer Foods (the producers
of Sasko bread, Spekko rice, Imbo beans and Ceres
juices), in a deal that was confirmed by the Competition
Commission, said the department of trade and
industry in a statement. Under the terms of the deal,
PepsiCo made commitments to jobs, investment, local
empowerment and procurement and agreed that its
sub-Saharan headquarters would be in South Africa.
Pioneer Foods’ employees would be issued with
shares in PepsiCo worth R1.6bn, to be used to finance
a 13% stake in the local subsidiary after five years.
The company’s 10 000 employees are also protected
from any merger-specific retrenchments and PepsiCo
agreed to maintain aggregate employment at current
levels for a five-year period.THE
GOODA three-year pact between the
Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC)
and Russia ended in acrimony
at the beginning of March, after
Moscow refused to support
deeper oil cuts to cope with the
outbreak of the coronavirus.
OPEC responded by removing
all limits on its own production,
according to Reuters. Saudi
Arabia subsequently slashed
its official selling price for April
for all its crude grades to all
destinations, after OPEC’s
oil-supply cut pact with Russia
fell apart. Global oil prices went
into a tailspin as Brent crude fell
as much as 31.4%, the biggest
daily drop since the first Gulf
War in 1991 (see p.13).30%
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The coronavirus had infected more than 113 000
people globally and killed over 4 000, according
to CNN’s tally at the time of publication. Italy
became the worst-hit country in Europe, with the
death toll surpassing 460, more than a quarter of
which were reported in less than 24 hours. The
number of Italian infections was heading towards
the 10 000-mark, putting its national health
system under massive strain. The entire country
was placed on lockdown: All 60m residents are
under restrictions, including travel checks, school
closures and there is a complete ban on public
events. At the time of going to print, South Africa
had confirmed 13 positive cases of the virus, of
which seven came from Italy via Dubai to King
Shaka International Airport in Durban.THE
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