Amplats looking to float SA mines

ANGLO American Platinum (Amplats) was considering floating its labour-intensive South African mines around Rustenburg rather than selling them because the offers it had received were too low, a company and banking source said on Friday. “It is definitely on the table now because the offers that are coming in just aren’t high enough,” one senior Amplats source, who did not wish to be named, told Reuters. One Johannesburg-based investment banker also said the firm had received a few offers for its Union Mine and three others near Rustenburg but had “thrown them into the dustbin” because they were too low. The Anglo American subsidiary is in the middle of a shake-up that includes selling off underperforming assets in an attempt to recover from a five-month strike last year. Amplats closed down 1.54 percent at R295.22 on Friday. – Reuters