JOHANNESBURG, Nov 14 (Reuters) – South African stocks fell
for a second straight session on Wednesday as disappointing
results dragged down retailers and a sell-off in mining stocks
continued despite the prospect of an end to a crippling strike
at Anglo American Platinum.

The JSE Top-40 index lost 0.41 percent to 33,042.71
while the broader All-share index also ended 0.41
percent lower at 37,241.79.

JOHANNESBURG/LONDON, Nov 13 (Reuters) – Miner Anglo American
gave the market a taste of the trouble ahead for its new
chief executive, raising cost estimates for its Minas Rio
project and warning of lower profits from South African iron
ore.

The Minas Rio iron ore project in Brazil is now expected to
cost at least three times the original estimate.

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – A few years ago governments in east Africa would practically pay companies to come and explore for oil or gas on their territory.

Those days are gone.

Promising discoveries from Mozambique to Kenya have put governments in the driver’s seat and the rising fees they will demand from oil and gas companies will start to weed out the smaller players that have blazed the region’s exploration path.

CAPE TOWN, Nov 1 (Reuters) – Wanted: investors for small
African nation with good oil and mineral potential – no seat at
the United Nations but history of independence in rough
neighborhood.

The break-away nation of Somaliland is a tough sell but the
announcement this week that serious hydrocarbon exploration is
about to kick off there shows that oil talks, regardless of
political status.

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – The break-away territory of Somaliland sees drilling for oil as possible by 2014 as three companies start exploration activities, the country’s mining and energy minister said on Tuesday.

Hussein Abdi Dualeh told Reuters the three companies are Ophir Energy Plc (OPHR.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Australia-based Jacka Resources (JKA.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Genel Energy (GENL.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which is headed by former BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) chief executive Tony Hayward.

JOHANNESBURG, Oct 3 (Reuters) – A spate of wildcat miners’
strikes spread to Africa’s top iron ore producer on Wednesday,
escalating the labour unrest that has become a major headache
for South African President Jacob Zuma.

The industrial action at Kumba Iron Ore, a unit of
global miner Anglo American, further dented investor
confidence in the continent’s wealthiest economy as it showed
the protests had moved beyond platinum and gold mines.

CARLTONVILLE, South Africa (Reuters) – Anglo American Platinum warned on Tuesday that security had worsened at its strike-hit South African mines as several thousand gold miners rallied over pay in the dispute-plagued industry.

As many as 75,000 miners, or 15 percent of the South African mining sector’s total workforce, are on wildcat strikes, threatening already shaky growth of Africa’s biggest economy.

CARLTONVILLE, South Africa (Reuters) – Two thousand striking miners evicted from company housing at a Gold Fields mine in South Africa occupied a nearby hill on Tuesday in scenes disturbingly reminiscent of the build-up to a mass police shooting at a platinum mine in August.

The protesting workers at Gold Fields’ KDC West mine, 50 kms (30 miles) west of Johannesburg, said they would not leave the rocky outcrop near the mine entrance until they received a hefty pay increase to 12,500 rand ($1,500) a month.

CARLTONVILLE, South Africa, Oct 2 (Reuters) – Two thousand
striking miners evicted from company housing at a Gold Fields
mine in South Africa occupied a nearby hill on Tuesday
in scenes disturbingly reminiscent of the build-up to a mass
police shooting at a platinum mine in August.

The protesting workers at Gold Fields’ KDC West mine, 50 kms
(30 miles) west of Johannesburg, said they would not leave the
rocky outcrop near the mine entrance until they received a hefty
pay increase to 12,500 rand ($1,500) a month.

JOHANNESBURG, Oct 1 (Reuters) – Top global platinum producer
Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) said on Monday it
would fire all strikers who did not attend disciplinary hearings
the following day as an illegal strike continued at 4 of its
South African mines.

With no end in sight to a spate of wildcat strikes in South
Africa, AngloGold Ashanti warned that an illegal
stoppage could lead to cuts in its operations there and said it
might also have to fire workers.