South32 agrees Metalloys manganese sale to Menar Group

SOUTH32 said on Thursday it had sold its Metalloys facility in South Africa to Menar Group, a privately-held coal and manganese mining firm.The Australian group said it expected to conclude the deal, including its regulatory clearances, in the second half of next year. Menar would assume Metalloys liabilities thereafter, the group said.Metalloys, located in Gauteng province, has one million tons a year in manganese alloy capacity making it one of the largest manganese alloy producers globally.South32, which owns Metalloys through its Samancor subsidiary, mothballed the facilities in  March 2020 booking a $109m impairment on the asset in the process.It withdrew from a sales agreement in 2022 after the buyer failed to satisfy certain commercial conditions to the agreement.Exclusively a thermal coal exporter, Menar stepped into manganese with the development of its East Manganese mine in 2021. The operation, described by Menar MD Vuslat Bayoğlu as ‘school fees’ for Menar as it hasn’t made money from it, is due to close in about six months. But Menar is considering a new manganese development containing 50 million tons of the mineral.Manganese, used mainly in the manufacture of carbon steel, is expected to rack up much improved prices this year following weather damage sustained by South32 to it GEMCO facilities earlier this year.Global inventories of manganese are expected to last until the third quarter, but a one year outage of GEMCO’s facilities – equal to about 13% of world demand – will create a massive supply squeeze. ARM stands to benefit. Share earnings could increase to as much as 66% to R21/share, according to analysts at RMB Morgan Stanley.The post South32 agrees Metalloys manganese sale to Menar Group appeared first on Miningmx.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Zum vollständigen ArtikelWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Zum vollständigen Artikel