Afrimat diversifies into manganese mining
By Edward West
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Afrimat will acquire 100 percent of the Gravenhage manganese mining right and associated assets, one of the last independently owned and undeveloped manganese deposits in South Africa.
Gravenhage is a long-life near-development manganese resource some 50km north of Hotazel and about 120km from Afrimat’s Demaneng iron ore mine.
It was bought from the China-based Baowu steel group after that group decided to exit all its South African businesses, Afrimat CEO Andries van Heerden said in an interview Friday.
The acquisition, which will be bought for $45m (R627.5m) and R15m for the land, of which the $45m would be paid in two tranches, represented a continuation of Afrimat’s bulk commodities growth and diversification strategy, Van Heerden said in an interview on Friday. The initial $30m payment was already laying in an account available to be paid, he said.