South Africa’s Northam Platinum to buy Everest Mine for $39 mln

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa's Northam Platinum said on Tuesday it will acquire Aquarius Platinum's Everest mine and related assets for 450 million rand ($39 million).

Northam also said Everest would add about 60 million platinum ounces to its business, and that it would manage the mine located in the South African province of Mpumalanga during the interim period before closing the deal.

South Africa's platinum industry, which is the world's top producer of the white metal used for emissions-capping catalytic converters in automobiles, is still recovering from last year's record five-month strike that cut production.

($1 = 11.5630 rand)