Are coal’s ‘farm fences’ destined to come down?
It happened in the gold industry when the restrictive ‘farm fences’, which had kept South African gold-mines penned into geologically-irrelevant lease areas, were taken down. Now it looks set to happen in the coal business, as South African coal companies move to boost efficiencies in an increasingly hostile and demanding environment. Since the delisting of South Africa’s two largest coal businesses, Ingwe and Amcoal (since renamed Anglo Coal to fit in with the new structure at the leading mining and resources group now listed in London) last year, pressure has been brought to bear on these non-glamorous subsidiaries to improve their cash-generation potential so as to support overall growth of the parent companies. Some analysts believe one of the key ways of achieving this will be through mineral rights swops which allow the companies to mine smarter, at lower costs and for longer. Leading coal analyst Ross Gardiner of SG Frankel tells Mining Weekly that ensuring better utilisation of
