S Africa's mining stocks hit by strikes, dwindling deposits

Johannesburg

SOUTH Africa has the world's richest mineral deposits, with US$3.3 trillion in platinum, gold, iron ore and coal. That's not enough to satisfy investors. Extended labour strikes, ageing mines and regulatory uncertainty have dragged the stock-market values of South African miners to a four-year low compared with global peers. At the start of 2013, the stocks traded with almost no discount.

"Without a question, if I look on a national level, South Africa is one of the most difficult places to operate in the world," said Charl Malan, who helps manages US$33 billion at Van Eck Associates Corp in New York. "If you're a non-South African company you trade at a premium multiple to a South African company."