Companies including Anglo American Plc and Sibanye Gold Ltd. dropped after South Africa increased the minimum black ownership requirement for local mines and set a 12-month deadline for compliance with the new rules.
The Department of Mineral Resources will raise the requirement from the current 26 percent to ensure more proceeds from the country’s natural resources flow to the black majority, Mining Minister Mosebenzi Zwane said on Thursday in Pretoria, the capital. The new minimum applies regardless of whether they have previously sold shares or assets to black investors that later divested.
Sibanye dropped 7.4 percent at 12:58 p.m. in Johannesburg, while Kumba was 6.2 percent lower. Anglo American declined 6 percent in London.
A holder who claims a historical transaction that achieved 26 percent prior to the new Mining Charter, which Zwane presented on Thursday, “must top up to 30 percent,” regardless of whether the earlier black shareholders still hold their position, according to a statement handed to reporters.
Most mining companies reached the 26 percent level under previous versions of the charter but many of the black investors have since sold out.
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