South32 aims to cut carbon emissions

The miner this week announced that the sale of its South African Energy Coal operations to Seriti Resources Holdings would be completed by June 1.

“We are sustainably reshaping our business for a low carbon future by increasing our exposure to base metals. We have set a new medium-term target to halve our operational emissions by 2035 and are investing in efficiency projects, applying low carbon design principles and evaluating carbon reduction technologies to achieve this goal,” said CEO Graham Kerr.

In addition to divesting the South African Energy Coal business, South32 previously exited its lower margin manganese alloy smelting business, with the divestment of the Tasmanian Electro Metallurgical Company (Temco) smelter in Tasmania, and its Metalloys operation being placed on care and maintenance.

“Demonstrating the continued strength of our operational and financial performance, as well as the positive outlook for our business, we are also announcing a further $200-million to be returned to shareholders through our capital management programme,” Kerr said on Tuesday.

“This decision is supported by our strong balance sheet and disciplined approach to capital allocation, and will take total returns to shareholders by our capital management programme to $1.88-billion.”