Mike Teke's Big Expansion Plans For Seriti

Seriti Resources snapped up a number of coal mines from Anglo American recently, and is also eyeing Optimum Coal. Financing, however, may prove to be a challenge.

- David McKay

Mike Teke, the former president of the Chamber of Mines, was somewhat elusive on 1 March when asked if the consortium he now heads, Seriti Resources, would take the opportunity for an initial public offering; a listing, in other words.

“It’s too early to talk about this,” he said. “We will see what our options are before making a decision. For now, the aim is to bed down the mines we have bought.”

These mines, purchased from Anglo American, are New Denmark, Kriel and New Vaal, and supply a total of 24m tonnes a year to Eskom, which generates a quarter of South Africa’s power from the coal.

Seriti bought the mines from Anglo for a whopping R2.3bn and, in a separate transaction, New Largo – a thermal coal-mining project. And herein lies a problem: without New Largo, Eskom will battle to operate its new power station, Kusile, which is being built in Mpumalanga and which is projected to have a capacity of 4 800MW.