African fossils

Renova is going to mine uranium in South Africa, and Harmony is going to mine gold in Russia

The Renova group of companies, controlled by Viktor Vekselberg, decided to strengthen its presence in Africa , where it entered more than two years ago: yesterday it signed a memorandum of understanding with the South African Harmony Gold Mining , one of the ten largest gold mining companies in the world. The partners plan to conduct joint activities in the field of gold and uranium mining, Interfax reports with reference to the head of Rosatom Sergei Kiriyenko, who is in South Africa on a working visit.

On the Russian side, the state company Techsnabexport is participating in the implementation of uranium projects - it agreed on cooperation in the implementation of uranium mining projects in Asian and African countries with Renova at the beginning of this year. As Mr. Kiriyenko told reporters after a meeting with representatives of the South African leadership, since October last year Techsnabexport has been supplying low-enriched uranium to the nuclear power plant operating near Cape Town - the only one in Africa, ITAR-TASS reports. Mr. Kiriyenko also mentioned that South Africa has adopted an extensive program for the development of nuclear energy, which provides for the construction of about 20 power units of various capacities. Therefore, Russia is interested in the presence of its companies in this segment of the economy.

As Renova explained to Vremya Novostey, “at this stage of relations there is no talk of creating a joint venture with Harmony, since the mechanism for possible forms of interaction has not yet been developed.” According to him, for now the companies plan to familiarize themselves with the projects that they could implement jointly in the future. For two months, Harmony Gold specialists will study Renova’s gold mining projects in Russia, and Renova representatives will study the possibilities of Harmony’s uranium mining business in South Africa. “Harmony specialists are scheduled to come to Russia this weekend to review the projects that we intend to offer them for joint implementation,” said a source at Renova. First of all, the South African company is interested in gold mining projects in Kamchatka. Earlier, information appeared about Renova’s intention to hold an IPO of Kamgold this year. However, Mr. Vekselberg’s company did not exclude the possibility of selling a large stake in the Kamchatka enterprise to a strategic investor. Harmony, which has more than half a century of experience in gold mining and is interested in having a presence in Russian gold mining, could well become this “strategist.”

For Harmony, uranium mining is a non-core business: the uranium it produces is a by-product of gold mining, and significant reserves remain in mine dumps. That is why Russian nuclear scientists are interested in cooperation with Renova, which in turn wants to work together on the South African market with Harmony, which has a half-century history. Indeed, in South Africa, a number of restrictions are imposed on foreign companies entering the mining business. Renova will be responsible for investments and management, Technosnabexport will provide technological support,” explains a source at Renova. The uranium mined within the framework of the partnership between Renova, Harmony and Techsnabexport will be consumed by Techsnabexport.

As for Renova's own projects in Africa, announced two years ago - for the extraction of platinum group metals and manganese - involving Harmony in their implementation is not being considered.

Anna LANDER