BHP, Anglo manganese firm seals empowerment deal

JOHANNESBURG, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Samancor Manganese, jointly owned by mining groups BHP Billiton (BHP.AX: Quote, Profile, Research)(BLT.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Anglo American (AAL.L: Quote, Profile, Research), agreed to transfer 9 percent of its South African mining operations to a black investor group in exchange for nearby prospecting rights, the firm said on Tuesday. The firm, the world's biggest supplier of seaborne manganese ore, agreed a deal with Ntsimbintle Mining Ltd in an effort to meet South Africa's black economic empowerment (BEE) rules.

BHP Billiton (BILJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's largest diversified mining company, owns 60 percent of Samancor Manganese while Anglo American holds the other 40 percent.

Ntsimbintle will contribute its prospecting rights adjacent to Samancor's Mamatwan and Wessels mines and will receive a 9 percent stake in a new vehicle comprising the mines and the rights.

"It does add to the life of the mines," said BHP spokeswoman Bronwyn Wilkinson, referring to the prospecting rights.

A statement said BHP eventually plans to transfer 26 percent of its mines to black investors, in line with BEE requirements under the mining charter.

Talks were under way with another black investor group relating to a possible second transaction, Wilkinson said.

Samancor Manganese also owns mines in Australia, plants that produce manganese alloys in South Africa and Australia and an operation that produces electrolytic manganese in South Africa.

South Africa's BEE programme seeks to boost involvement of the black majority in the mainstream economy after they were excluded during apartheid. (Reporting by Eric Onstad; Editing by David Holmes)