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Hwange of Zimbabwe Says in talks to Sell Glencore its coal

Hwange Colliery Co., the partly state-owned Zimbabwean coal miner, said it’s in talks with Glencore Plc to sell the company its coal and coke products.

Hwange, which operates a mine in northwest Zimbabwe, is the country’s largest coal miner after Makomo Resources (Pvt) Ltd. and a supplier of the fuel to state-owned power utility Zesa Holdings (Pvt) Ltd. It currently produces about 200,000 metric tons of coal a month.

“We are talking to Glencore, they are interested in our coal and other coke products,” Thomas Makore, Hwange’s managing director, said in an interview on Sunday. “For now, I can’t disclose the quantities which Glencore wants or the cost due to confidentiality.”

The company said last year it was considering a rights offer to reorganize $70 million in debt and to pay its 3,200 employees.

Zimbabwe’s government is the biggest shareholder in Hwange Colliery with a 37 percent stake, while British businessman Nicholas van Hoogstraten holds 20 percent through Messina Investments Ltd. The company exports about 5,000 tons of coking coal, used to make steel, to South Africa every month.

Gugulethu Maqetuka, a spokesman for Glencore in South Africa, said the company declined to comment.

Glencore shares fell 30 cents, or 0.6 percent, to 51.60 rand by the close of trade in Johannesburg.

source: http://www.bloomberg.com