Mining company bands with cruiseliner to tackle youth unemployment
Approximately 45.5% of youth are currently out of a job.
But big business is doing its part to help.
READ | Workers' Day | Many willing workers, not enough jobs
Anglo American, through its Zimele initiative, has joined forces with Silversea Cruises.
They've created a programme designed to offer job opportunities in the hospitality and tourism industries, equipping participants with valuable skills and a professional network.
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TimesLIVE
4 days ago
- TimesLIVE
South Africa looks to join international diamond marketing push
Cabinet has approved participation in an international effort to boost the marketing of real diamonds, responding to the increasing appeal of lab-grown gems and funded by a 1% levy on the annual revenues of diamond companies. The natural diamond market has struggled in the past three years due to rising consumer demand for the cheaper synthetic gems, coupled with global macroeconomic volatility which has led to lower international prices. In June, representatives from leading African producer nations, trade bodies and De Beers, part of Anglo American, signed an accord aimed at working together to promote natural diamonds and drive global demand. The signatories intend to allocate 1% of the annual revenue they generate from rough diamond sales to fund the initiative, spearheaded by the Natural Diamond Council. South Africa had not initially signed the accord, but minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni on Thursday announced cabinet had approved the department of mineral resources and energy's participation in international agreements aimed at helping diamond-producing countries better promote and market natural diamonds globally. 'For this to be realised, cabinet has further approved the diamond industry be requested to contribute 1% of their annual revenues generated from rough diamond sales to support marketing of South Arica's real diamonds to enable economic growth and job creation,' Ntshavheni said. With their lower environmental impact and increasingly competitive pricing, synthetic diamonds are gaining appeal among younger, ethically conscious consumers, a shift that is pressuring traditional diamond miners and retailers to rethink their strategies. South Africa is the world's sixth-biggest diamond producer by volume. Its diamond production dipped 0.9% to about 5.8-million carats in 2024, with total sales of R13bn, down 21% from 2023. 'Lab-grown diamonds are eating into our dinner,' mineral and energy resources minister Gwede Mantashe said at a meeting with diamond producers on Tuesday. 'I'm very convinced the marketing of natural diamonds is a necessary intervention.'
Daily Maverick
31-07-2025
- Daily Maverick
Anglo still favours De Beers sale, IPO option could include JSE primary listing
The format and timelines of Anglo American's disposal of De Beers remain up in the air, underscoring the arduous nature of offloading the asset at a time when the once-glittering diamond industry is fast losing its shine. Anglo CEO Duncan Duncan Wanblad provided an update on the slow-motion De Beers disposal on Thursday when the company unveiled its interim results, saying that a trade sale was still the preferred option but an initial public offering (IPO) remained a possibility. The company is preparing for one or the other – a 'dual track' approach – against the backdrop of a prolonged rough patch in the natural diamond sector, which faces an existential crisis from lab-grown gems and shifting consumer patterns. 'Our preferred exit route is still via a trade sale. We certainly have a fair amount of very credible interest in the business, it is of course one of the world's most iconic brands and it's still a business that consists of some fantastic assets,' Wanblad said on a conference call with journalists. Wanblad acknowledged the 'current turmoil in diamond markets' but said Anglo's view was that the bottom of that cycle had been reached. 'If that (a trade sale) doesn't come together, we have to keep the options open for the dual track and therefore work is carrying on in parallel with setting up the business for an IPO at the right time,' he said. On that front, Wanblad said Anglo was still considering the best home for a primary listing, with three main contenders: London, Johannesburg or New York. 'It's a very special business and I think it would attract an enormous amount of interest from the right types of shareholders, and it's important for us to get that right,' he said. In terms of the timeline, Wanblad said that if the right buyer was found for a trade sale 'it would not be impossible to have this done in the next six to nine months'. For the IPO, the timing would hinge on 'some visible strength coming back to the market'. So, the format and timelines of Anglo's disposal of De Beers remain up in the air, underscoring the arduous nature of offloading the asset at a time when the once-glittering diamond industry is fast losing its shine. What this means A De Beers IPO with a primary listing in Johannesburg could add some sparkle to the sagging listings fortunes of the JSE – unless it turns out to be a damp squib. For Anglo, it remains a costly and time-consuming distraction from its pivot to a few key commodities. And for Botswana, the stakes are sky high. Long regarded as an African success story with a stable state and investment-grade ratings, its fortunes are sinking in tandem with diamonds – highlighting the dangers of dependence on a single commodity. The resource curse that has long bedevilled oil-producing African nations such as Angola is now casting its spell on Botswana. It must be said that a 'dual track' approach is costly – lawyers and investment bankers don't come cheap, and the fact that both a sale and IPO remain in play highlights the uncertainty of how all of this will play out. De Beers remains a drain and the poor diamond market accounted for a $500-million hit on Anglo's interim earnings, which were disappointing with a 55% fall in earnings per share. The bottom line: it is not a great time for either a sale or an IPO for the world's most famous diamond brand. 'Diamond prices remain stuck at low levels and have not shown signs of recovery,' Brendon Verster, an economist at Oxford Economics, noted in a recent commentary. De Beers' latest production report showed that diamond output in southern Africa cratered more than 33% in the second quarter of this year compared with the previous three months. Among other things, this bodes ill for the lacklustre economy of Botswana, which has expressed interest in upping its 15% share in De Beers to a controlling stake. Wanblad said on Thursday that Anglo was in talks with De Beers about increasing its stake but the country would not get a discount. And Botswana's deteriorating financial situation raises questions about its ability to finance such a transaction, which would be questionable: its economy is sinking with diamond prices and so it seems like a case of the country wanting to buy the anchor that is dragging it down into the abyss. 'Global diamond price conditions remain gloomy, with the impact being most pronounced in Botswana. The landlocked economy is running the risk of contracting again this year, with the Q1 GDP figures not inspiring any confidence,' Verster of Oxford Economics said in his research note. 'Given the ongoing diamond market woes, FX reserves have taken strain, dipping from $4.4bn in May 2024 to $3.1bn in May 2025.' One route for Botswana could be the debt markets. Unlike, say, South Africa, it has a coveted credit rating that is well above investment grade. But Moody's and S&P are expected to downgrade Botswana, though not below investment grade. In a much smoother process, Anglo recently demerged its platinum unit which now trades as Valterra Platinum – a launch that comes as platinum group metals are on the rebound. Will diamond prices rebound? Aside from the challenge presented by the lab-grown versions, consumers, for a range of reasons, are just no longer as drawn to the sparkle of diamonds as they once were. It all points to a potential fire sale or a possible flop of an IPO. DM
Daily Maverick
28-07-2025
- Daily Maverick
Valterra's maiden post-Anglo results underwhelm, but rising PGM prices bode well
The Valterra demerger from Anglo was a fairly straightforward process and the company looks ready to carve out its own destiny. The De Beers disposal will be much more challenging. Valterra Platinum's maiden interim results hardly shot the lights out, but rising platinum group metals prices (PGM) bode well for it as a standalone business outside the Anglo American stable. Indeed, with PGM prices once again on the boil, Anglo may yet rue its decision to demerge its platinum arm as it pivots to a sharper focus on copper, iron ore and fertiliser minerals. Valterra completed its demerger from Anglo in late May as the PGM market was showing the signs of an upturn. But the rally was not completely reflected in its results, which were hampered by an extreme flooding event at its Amandelbult operation – the weather is having a material impact on many a mining company these days. The company took a R4.6-billion hit from that deluge, but expects to get most of the money back from insurance. It also had a hit of R1.4-billion in one-off demerger-related costs – lawyers and bankers don't come cheap. Headline earnings per share tanked 81% to R4.73 per share. But the future, while perhaps not bright enough to don shades at this point, looks promising as the sun once again rises on the PGM industry. Perky prices Prices in the year to date have been perky. Platinum is up over 50% to more than 10-year highs, palladium is 35% higher, and rhodium is fetching 42% more. 'We have guided for a 15% increase in production in the second half, and we will be delivering that into buoyant prices,' CEO Craig Miller told Daily Maverick. 'We have been saying for quite some time that the market is in a deficit, that supply is relatively tight and that demand is robust. And that really played out in June and now July. The basket price in July is 20% higher than where it was in the second quarter.' Several factors explain this rebound from depressed prices that in recent years slashed the profits of PGM producers. These include the supply constraints that Miller mentioned, spurred in part by a collapse of the PGM recycling industry, which has also been battered by low prices. There have also been shifting demand patterns. Record gold prices have seen the jewellery industry switch to lower-priced platinum, while sales of hybrid vehicles – which actually require more PGMs than internal combustion engine vehicles – are gaining traction. For the second half of the year, Valterra will be able to bank on the recovery at Amandebult and higher grades from its cash-spinning Mogalakwena operation. The Valterra demerger from Anglo was also a fairly straightforward process, and the company looks ready to carve out its own destiny. Anglo will be releasing its interim results on Thursday and should provide an update then on its plans to dispose of diamond giant De Beers. The PGM sector has had a rough ride in recent years, but producers of natural diamonds face an existential crisis from the surge in lab-grown gems and changing consumer patterns.
