South32 Samancor JV to delay restart of manganese furnaces

South32 said on Tuesday that Samancor Manganese – its joint venture with Anglo American – will delay the restart of three of the four high-carbon ferromanganese furnaces at its Metalloys manganese operations in South Africa.

The company said the decision follows a decline of about 20% in the price of the commodity since the start of the current financial year and is aligned with South32’s commitment to maximise per share financial performance, rather than volume. It added that no permanent workers will be cut.

South32 also confirmed that a review of the fair value of its interest in the Samancor Manganese joint venture is currently underway.

Samancor Manganese is the world's largest producer of manganese with operations in South Africa and Australia.