Sibanye Gold is paying more than it would have done on a $1bn bond because of the introduction of a new investor-unfriendly Mining Charter, sovereign downgrades by ratings agencies and uncertainty in the mining sector. Sibanye, SA’s largest producer of domestic gold and a major platinum group metal producer, has raised $2bn via a rights issue and now the two-tranche bond towards repaying $2.65bn of debt incurred to buy Stillwater Mining in the US for $2.2bn in cash. The cost of the bond was pushed higher by last Thursday’s release of the Mining Charter, with a number of investors in the US, where CEO Neal Froneman was on a road show last week to promote the bond issuance, raising concerns about the contents of the charter, which will add costs to operating mines in SA. "There was definitely an impact on the cost. A number of investors said directly to us that the added uncertainty to our cost of business in SA was a risk and they wanted a higher rate on the bonds," said Sibanye spok...
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