- NEWS Desk Global
THUNGELA SETS HIGHER COAL OUTPUT TARGET AS IT SEEKS MORE ASSETS
South Africa's Thungela Resources said on Monday it was seeking to buy more coal assets after raising its production outlook for the fossil fuel following its acquisition of an Australian mine last year. Thungela, which ships thermal coal burned in power stations, bought the Ensham mine as part of a strategy to shift its sources away from home, where companies are struggling to export the fuel due to insufficient rail capacity.
While it wants to extract maximum value from the new mine, Thungela, which was spun out of Anglo American in 2021, also wants to purchase more coal assets. The Johannesburg-based miner said on Monday its net profit slumped 73% to 4.97 billion rand ($264.81 million) in the year ended December 2023 from about 18 billion rand the previous year due to lower coal prices and persistent rail constraints in South Africa. It proposed a $27 million share buy back and declared a 10 rand per share final dividend. Thungela's shares were up 5.11% at 1002 GMT, with the broader JSE All Share index down 0.18%.