South Africa’s Eskom may need more bailouts despite tariff hikes

Global diversified miner Xstrata Plc. (LON:XTA) confirmed Friday it has dismissed 400 of its workers who have been on an illegal strike at its South African mines.

South African police fired tear gas on Thursday to disperse a group of striking coal miners a day after security guards killed two workers that had tried to break into a locked mine-explosives armoury at Forbes & Manhattan Coal Corp. (TSX:FMC) operations.

Thousands of dismissed workers at Anglo American Platinum Ltd.’s (Amplats) mine in Rustenburg have still not accepted an offer to reinstate them, the world's largest producer of the metal said on Thursday.

The European Commission said Wednesday it is delaying the deadline to emit a verdict on Glencore International PLC's $70 billion merger proposal with Xstrata (LON:XTA) after Glencore (LON:GLENA) made concessions to reduce EU concerns about too much potential concentration of interests in northern Europe.

The Alexandria-based company tried to pour cold water on the reports and said operations at the mine – the first modern gold mine to open in the North African country – were continuing as normal.

Despite setbacks in the global economy, sub-Saharan Africa is expected to grow at 4.8% in this year, broadly unchanged from the 4.9% growth rate registered in 2011 and largely on track, according to the World Bank’s latest report.

Even shareholders choking on $200 million of management bonuses, may have to okay the compensation if they want the deal to go ahead. But Xstrata may have other options beside Glencore.

South Africa’s Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), the world’s largest platinum producer, has offered to reinstate 12,000 miners fired in early October for illegally striking and pay them a $230) “hardship allowance” if they return to work by Tuesday morning.

Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE: NEM) announced Monday it was recognized for transparent climate change disclosure practices by the Carbon Disclosure Project’s (CDP) Leadership Index for the third consecutive year.