Kumba Iron Ore has outdone itself in the past year. Not only has it paid off its debt and shown impressive operational improvements, revising its annual sales guidance up, it has also pleased shareholders with a R5.1-billion dividend payout. This is the same company that parent Anglo American wanted to get rid of just 18 months ago. Despite all the improvements, though, the third mining charter - suspended in the wake of an urgent court interdict - might pose a risk to the miner's BEE status. Using the "once empowered, always empowered" rule, Kumba has a BEE shareholding of 29%. However, Kumba CEO Themba Mkhwanazi said without the "once empowered, always empowered" rule, it would not have the required BEE ownership target. This is because Kumba gets its BEE status from Exxaro's 20% black empowerment stake in Kumba's Sishen Iron Ore Company (SIOC) - which owns the Sishen and Kolomela mines that Kumba operates. Exxaro is in the process of reducing its BEE shareholding to 30% from 51%....
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