Cyril Ramaphosa may be good for miners' credit ratings, Moody’s suggests
The credit ratings of South African mining groups may improve under President Cyril Ramaphosa, Moody’s said in a note on Monday morning."Mr Ramaphosa, who was a successful mine labour union leader early in his career and has a strong understanding of the mining sector, said he intends to revitalise the sector and is determined to work with mining companies to attract new investment," Moody’s said.Under revisions to the Mining Charter proposed under former president Jacob Zuma’s administration, mines would be required to raise their black economic empowerment shareholding to 30% from 26%.New mining rights would come with a requirement to pay 1% of turnover to empowerment shareholders.Moody’s repeated warnings that it had given in past reports that these requirements would make South African mines unattractive to foreign investors.Moody’s listed three mining groups it rates: AngloGold Ashanti at Baa3, which is one notch above junk; Gold Fields at Ba1, which is one notch into junk; and...
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