S. Africa Considers Kumba Iron Ore Case Intervention, M&G Says

Dec 23, 2011 -- South Africa’s cabinet has mandated a task team to consider the legal options it can use to intervene in an iron ore supply agreement dispute between Kumba Iron Ore Ltd. (KIO) and ArcelorMittal South Africa Ltd. (ACL), Mail & Guardian said, citing Nimrod Zalk, head of industrial development at the Department of Trade and Industry.

Arbitration over the supply agreement, giving ArcelorMittal South Africa, a unit of the world’s biggest steelmaker, ore at cost plus 3 percent, has been suspended until a legal process over the mining rights to the Sishen Mine has been completed.

The government had to decide whether to wait for the legal process to be completed or to intervene before it goes to arbitration, the Johannesburg-based newspaper cited Zalk as saying.