Mar. 15, 2010
South Africa's Limpopo Province plans to sell most of its stake in a chrome producer owned by Sinosteel Corp., angering labor unions who want the government to pool its mining assets into one company.
"We may announce a winner very soon," Leo Gama, a spokesman for the province, said today. Five bidders have been shortlisted, he said, declining to identify them.
The 30 percent stake in ASA Metals, the venture controlled by Sinosteel, is being vied for by a group including prominent businessmen connected to the ruling African National Congress.
The leader of its youth league, Julius Malema, is lobbying for them to be sold the stake, the Johannesburg-based Sunday Times reported yesterday. The ANC Youth League yesterday denied that Malema will benefit from the transaction. Limpopo is Malema's home province.
The National Union of Mineworkers "is highly disturbed by the reports that these rights would benefit politically connected individuals," South Africa's largest labor union, said in an e-mailed statement. The NUM, which with other labor unions is allied to the ANC, said the party had agreed to place state mining assets in one company so that they could be developed to benefit the poor and boost employment.
Zwelinzima Vavi, secretary general of Congress of South African Trade Unions, was cited by Johannesburg's Times newspaper as saying the transaction wouldn't benefit the poor.
ASA last year said it was boosting ferrochrome production to about 360,000 metric tons a year. It also owns a chrome ore mine. Ferrochrome is an ingredient of stainless steel.
South Africa's Limpopo Province plans to sell most of its stake in a chrome producer owned by Sinosteel Corp., angering labor unions who want the government to pool its mining assets into one company.
"We may announce a winner very soon," Leo Gama, a spokesman for the province, said today. Five bidders have been shortlisted, he said, declining to identify them.
The 30 percent stake in ASA Metals, the venture controlled by Sinosteel, is being vied for by a group including prominent businessmen connected to the ruling African National Congress.
The leader of its youth league, Julius Malema, is lobbying for them to be sold the stake, the Johannesburg-based Sunday Times reported yesterday. The ANC Youth League yesterday denied that Malema will benefit from the transaction. Limpopo is Malema's home province.
The National Union of Mineworkers "is highly disturbed by the reports that these rights would benefit politically connected individuals," South Africa's largest labor union, said in an e-mailed statement. The NUM, which with other labor unions is allied to the ANC, said the party had agreed to place state mining assets in one company so that they could be developed to benefit the poor and boost employment.
Zwelinzima Vavi, secretary general of Congress of South African Trade Unions, was cited by Johannesburg's Times newspaper as saying the transaction wouldn't benefit the poor.
ASA last year said it was boosting ferrochrome production to about 360,000 metric tons a year. It also owns a chrome ore mine. Ferrochrome is an ingredient of stainless steel.
