Mining giant Anglo American is now calling for a private-public partnership that will see Transnet back to its best.
According to Anglo American’s CEO, Duncan Wanblad, he says the partnership will improve performance at South Africa’s state-owned rail and port firm Transnet.
Transnet has failed to meet demand and has hampered the miners’ ability to export their products as it continues to lose billions.
“From our perspective, one of the best outcomes might be a public-private partnership that deals with the operation of the system differently from the ownership of the system,” said Wanblad in an interview on the sidelines of the Mining Indaba conference in Cape Town, per IOL.
“We would like an environment created by the government, underpinned by the policies and regulations of the government, and a committed partnership, not only with the government but others to bring to bear an outcome that is to the benefit of everyone.
“We’d very much like to, that’s going to be down to the commercial terms we can land at the end of the day,” Wanblad said, adding that Anglo was not in talks to invest in any other assets in Africa.
“There is nothing specific that is live at the moment but Africa is a very viable jurisdiction for a company like Anglo American and its sustainability credentials it operates in.”
The underfire rail agency has been unable to meet the demand for freight trains to transport minerals such as iron ore, coal, and other commodities, as a strike and an increase in copper cable theft compounded long-standing maintenance problems and a shortage of locomotives.
BusinessTech Africa has gathered that inadequate freight rail services have cost exporters including Anglo’s unit Kumba Iron Ore millions of dollars.
“I wouldn’t say we are not interested in lithium but there are a couple of characteristics that make it quite difficult: it is very available… prices are extremely high for the quality of assets that are around, and … it’s one of the most eminently recyclable materials in the world,” added the CEO.
“The time it takes to get there and the fact that we find ourselves at the point of a crisis before it energises everyone to come together…that is the frustration.”