News

March 16, 2010

It’s Been Slow Going For Independence At Tropicana Recently, But Get Ready For A Boost Later In The Year

By Our Man in Oz

Sometime in the future an academic will find the answer to one of life’s more curious questions: why do South Africans succeed at an individual level when they migrate to Australia, while South African companies generally fail? Before digesting too much of this seemingly misplaced diversion into the differences in corporate and human affairs, rest assured that there is an underlying mining investment theme here, and its name is Independence Group. Independence is an Australian company with nickel and gold interests. It’s also a company which seems to have a sluggish South African joint venture partner sitting like a dead weight on its share price.

More on the repressed share price later. First, let’s finish with the curious case of the difference between the people and the companies which make the Indian Ocean crossing. Two useful references points are (1.) the emergency ward of Royal Perth Hospital, where half the doctors are South African, and (2.) the benches of the Supreme and District Courts in Western Australia which are loaded with South Africans. And that’s before you get to the hundreds of South African geologists, mining...