South32 Explained

Industry:	Metals Mining
Predecessor:	BHP Billiton
Foundation:	18 May 2015
Location City:	Perth, Western Australia
Key People:	Karen Wood (Chair) Graham Kerr (CEO)
Products:	Alumina Aluminium Copper Manganese Metallurgical coal Lead Nickel Silver Zinc
Revenue:	$US 6.3 billion
Revenue Year:	2021
Net Income:	$US 1.5 billion
Net Income Year:	2021
Homepage:	www.south32.net

South32 is a mining and metals company headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. It was spun out of BHP Billiton on 18 May 2015.^[1] It is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange with secondary listings on the Johannesburg and London Stock Exchanges.^[2]

Products

The company is a producer of bauxite, alumina, aluminium, metallurgical coal, manganese, nickel, copper, molybdenum, gold, silver, lead and zinc.^[3]

Operations

South32 has operations in Australia, South Africa, Mozambique, Colombia and the United States. In addition it has investments in an integrated aluminium business in Brazil and a copper and molybdenum mine in Chile.^[4]

Australia

• Australia Manganese (60% shareholding); GEMCO mine on Groote Eylandt in the Northern Territory^[5]
• Cannington Mine silver, lead and zinc mine, 200 km southeast of Mount Isa, Queensland^[6]
• Illawarra Metallurgical Coal near Wollongong, New South Wales operates two underground metallurgical coal mines^[7] In February 2024, South32 announced an agreement to sell the Illawarra mines to a consortium of Golden Energy and Resources and M Resources.^[8]
• Worsley Alumina at Worsley, Western Australia (86% owned) is a bauxite mine and alumina refinery, a portion of the alumina is exported to South32's African smelters for conversion into aluminium^[9]

Brazil

• Mineração Rio do Norte bauxite mine near Porto Trombetas (33%)
• Alumar alumina refinery (36%) and the adjoining aluminium smelter (40%) near São Luís

Chile

• Sierra Gorda copper and molybdenum mine located near Calama (45%)

Colombia

• Cerro Matoso nickel mine and smelter in northern Colombia (99.94%)

Mozambique

• Mozal aluminium smelter in Maputo (47.1%)^[10]

South Africa

• Hillside aluminium smelter at Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal^[11]
• The Wessels underground and Mamatwan opencut manganese mines at Hotazel in the Northern Cape
• Metalloys smelters at Meyerton, Gauteng

United States

• Hermosa, a mineral resource development option located in the Patagonia mountains of southern Arizona
• Ambler Metals (50%), a mineral resource development option located in Alaska

Former operations

• TEMCO, a manganese smelter located at Georgetown, Tasmania, was sold to GFG Alliance in January 2021^[12]
• South Africa Energy Coal (SAEC), operating thermal coal mining assets in South Africa, was sold to Seriti in June 2021^[13]

Notes and References

1. https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20150518/pdf/42ymhg22fspcls.pdf Admission to Official List
2. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-05/bhp-billiton-south32-spin-off/6445510 BHP Billiton's South 32 spin off: Will it pay off?
3. Web site: The commodities we bring to society . South32 . 30 June 2021.
4. http://www.smh.com.au/business/mining-and-resources/south32-debuts-as-australias-thirdbiggest-miner-with-market-value-of-113b-20150518-gh3xo0.html South32 debuts as Australia's third-biggest miner with market value of $11.3b
5. https://www.south32.net/our-business/australia/gemco GEMCO
6. https://www.south32.net/our-business/australia/cannington Cannington
7. https://www.south32.net/our-business/australia/illawarra-metallurgical-coal Illawarra Metallurgical Coal
8. News: McLaren . Mick . South32 Illawarra Metallurgical Coal mines to be sold off in deal that needs BlueScope approval . . 29 February 2024.
9. https://www.south32.net/our-business/australia/worsley-alumina Worsley Alumina
10. https://www.south32.net/our-business/southern-africa/mozal-aluminium Mozal Aluminium
11. https://www.south32.net/our-business/southern-africa/south-africa-aluminium Hillside Aluminium
12. https://www.australianmining.com.au/news/anglo-american-south32-complete-sale-of-tasmanian-smelter/ Anglo American, South32 complete sale of Tasmanian smelter
13. Web site: Completion of South Africa energy coal divestment . South32 . 1 June 2021.