South Sudan awards gold, uranium mining contracts

(Reuters) - South Sudan has awarded two companies exploration licenses for gold and uranium in areas thought to be rich in minerals, an official from the semi-autonomous region said.

British/South African New Kush Exploration and Mining Company and the UK-listed Brinkley Mining Plc paid $5,000 for one-year exploration licenses in the area bordering Kenya.


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AU plans African Investment Bank to fund development

(Reuters) - The African Union (AU) plans to establish an investment bank in the next three years as part of an effort to raise an annual $25 billion for development projects, an AU official said on Thursday.

Maxwell Mkwezalamba, the AU's Commissioner for Economic Affairs, said in an interview the resource-rich continent is increasingly growing frustrated over wealthy countries' failure to live up to pledges to double aid for Africa by 2010.


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S.Africa fuel strike into 5th day, motorists queue

(Reuters) - A strike by South African fuel workers entered a fifth day on Friday, prompting motorists in the economic capital to queue at filling stations as stocks dwindled.

"It has been a mad rush since 3 a.m. (0100 GMT) this morning," said Ashwin Chiba, manager of a filling station in the centre of Johannesburg, one of the few still with fuel.


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S.African stocks slide on global jitters; Lewis up

(Reuters) - South African stocks hit an almost four-month low on Friday as weaker global markets rattled financial stocks but retailer Lewis bucked the trend after it said sales rose and its credit book was in good shape.

The Johannesburg Top-40 index of blue-chip stocks dropped 1.11 percent to 24,915.31 points, its lowest closing level since April 11. The All-share index fell 1 percent to 27,582.01 points.


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Polish Zloty Set for Weekly Gain as Investors' Appetite for Risk Revives

(Bloomberg) -- The Polish zloty was poised for a
weekly gain, advancing to an eight-day high against the euro as
investors regained their appetite for emerging-market assets.

Investors resumed buying stocks and higher-yielding
currencies such as the zloty, the Turkish lira and the South
African rand as concern abated that losses on U.S. subprime
mortgages would slow global economic growth.


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China CNPC strikes oil of commercial value in Chad

(Reuters) - China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) has struck oil of commercial value for the first time in Chad, after buying a 50 percent share of an oil exploration partnership in the landlocked African nation last year.

CNPC, China's top oil and gas producer, did not provide any estimates of oil in place or an even more useful gauge such as recoverable reserves in a news release posted on its Web site (www.cnpc.com.cn) on Monday.


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Afrox says set for "real growth" in earnings

(Reuters) - South African gas group African Oxygen posted 9-month headline earnings per share of 117 cents compared with 93.7 cents in the six months to end June 2006, and said on Thursday it was positioned for "real growth" in earnings.

Afrox is changing its financial year to end December from end September to align itself with its holding company, Germany's Linde Group, so was unable to provide comparative figures.


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S.Africa's Denel cuts year loss to $80 million

(Reuters) - South African defence firm Denel cut its net loss for the year to March to 549 million rand from a loss of 1.36 billion rand in the previous year, and lifted turnover through new contracts, it said on Wednesday.

The troubled state-owned artillery, infantry and guided weapons manufacturer, which has received billions of rands in state assistance over the past three years, recorded a 17.8 percent rise in turnover to 3.27 billion rand.


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South African Rand Gains After Country's Credit Outlook Revised Higher

(Bloomberg) -- South Africa's rand rose against the
dollar after Fitch Ratings revised the country's credit outlook
to ``positive'' from ``stable.''

The rand also gained today as the spread, or yield gap,
between 10-year South African bonds and equivalent U.S.
Treasuries rose to near the highest in six months. The Reserve
Bank's 9.5 percent main lending rate makes local assets
attractive for investors who fund their purchases by borrowing
more cheaply in other currencies.


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S.African stocks slide on global jitters

(Reuters) - South African blue-chip stocks fell by more than 1.5 percent on Tuesday as a grim outlook for the U.S. housing market hit global equities and investors booked profits in local financial stocks.

The Johannesburg Top-40 index of blue-chip stocks slid as much as 1.55 percent but recovered slightly to trade 1.34 percent lower at 26,738.73 points by 1422 GMT. The All-share index dropped 1.22 percent to 29,521.29 points.


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Banks, optimism on rates propel S.Africa shares up

(Reuters) - South African shares climbed on Monday, given a lift by the banking sector on the back of hopes that the central bank will leave rates on hold next month.

The Top-40 blue chip index added 0.71 percent to 27,101.50 points, while the broader All-Share index rose 0.65 percent to 29,885.27 points. The blue chip index has gained 20 percent so far this year.


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S.Africa government to sell shares in MTN to black investors

(Reuters) - A fund controlled by the South African government will sell about 11.7 million shares in mobile phone operator MTN to black investors for 931 million rand, the fund and MTN said on Monday.

The National Empowerment Fund, an arm of the Department of Trade and Industry that aims to redress the economic imbalances of apartheid, will sell the shares to black individuals and investment groups for 79.61 rand each -- a 20 percent discount to the 99.51 rand 30-day average on July 20.


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SABMiller S.African bond three times oversubscribed

(Reuters) - Brewer SABMiller's 1.6 billion rand local bond was launched on Thursday and was three times oversubscribed, Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) said.

SABMiller issued a 5-year bond to repay part of existing loans used to fund its South African business.


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Congo Immigration Detains Central African Mining Shareholder Rautenbach

(Bloomberg) -- The Democratic Republic of Congo
detained Billy Rautenbach, a shareholder of London-based cobalt
producer Central African Mining & Exploration Co., which is
bidding 943 million pounds ($1.94 billion) for Katanga Mining
Ltd, said Jean-Pierre Ondekane, the central African country's
director general of immigration.

Rautenbach is being held by immigration services in
Lubumbashi, the capital of the southern Katanga Province, where
he was stopped before he could travel on to a Central African
mine, Ondekane said in an interview in the capital, Kinshasa.
Rautenbach was given verbal notice that he was barred from Congo,
because of a request from South Africa for his arrest on fraud
charges, Ondekane said. A copy of the persona non grata decree
signed by Ondekane was sent to Bloomberg.


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Uganda halts uranium exploration deals - report

(Reuters) - Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has halted new uranium exploration deals with private companies while his government sets up an atomic energy unit, a state-owned newspaper reported on Thursday.

Foreign firms including Canada's Uranium Hunter are exploring in the east African country, with most interest so far focused near the southeastern shores of Lake Albert.


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DRDGOLD lifts resources by 150 pct at SAfrican mine

(Reuters) - South African gold miner DRDGOLD said on Tuesday it had seen a 150 percent increase in total resources at its East Rand Proprietary Mines Limited (ERPM) operation at Boksburg.

The increase, to 41.37 million ounces from 16.58 million ounces at 30 June 2006, the company said in a statement.


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Comair says FY profit to climb 20-40 pct

(Reuters) - South African airline operator Comair -- a franchised partner of British Airways -- on Tuesday said full-year headline earnings per share and EPS would increase between 20-40 percent.

But the company said "unprofitable ticket pricing" by state run airline SAA through its new low-cost airline Mango had negatively affected industry profits in the fourth quarter of the financial year to end-June.


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Miners boost S.Africa stocks; outlook hits Angloplat

(Reuters) - South African shares muscled to a record high on Thursday as a stronger gold price and Rio Tinto's bid for Alcan powered mining stocks but Anglo Platinum sank on a disappointing trading update.

The Johannesburg Top-40 index of blue-chip stocks rose 0.54 percent to 27,028.86 points, a historic closing peak, while the All-share index gained 0.49 percent to 29,789.95 points, also a record.


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S.African stocks climb on miners and retailers

(Reuters) - South African shares closed in positive territory on Monday, led by heavyweight miners Anglo American and BHP Billiton as well as banking and retail stocks.

"The market has been riding on the back of the strong performance of Anglo and BHP that have seen some upgrades and there has also been a rebound in commodity prices," said Mauwane Kotane, a trader at BoE Stockbrokers.


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Rand to Gain 12.5 Percent Versus Yen on Uridashi Bond Sales, Okasan Says

(Bloomberg) -- The rand may gain 12.5 percent
against the yen after a three-fold increase in sales of South
African bonds to Japanese investors, said Tsutomu Soma, a
dealer at Okasan Securities Co. in Tokyo.

The currency has risen 3.8 percent versus the yen in
2007 as the difference in yield between two-year South
African and Japanese bonds widened to a three-year high of
8.462 percentage points. Sales of rand Uridashi bonds, local
currency debt sold to individual investors in Japan, climbed
248 percent to $652.9 million in the first half from a year
earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.


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