and is due to be listed around mid-2006, Kumba said yesterday.

Kumba, majority owned by mining giant Anglo American Plc , announced last October it was splitting up into an iron ore firm and one focusing on coal and heavy metals that would be the country's biggest black-owned firm.

Kumba Iron Ore and Exxaro will each be separately listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange when the deal is finalised.

Kumba said last month that Sipho Nkosi, chief executive of unlisted, black-owned Eyesizwe Coal will take over in a year's time as head of the coal firm, while Con Fauconnier, the current chief executive of Kumba - Africa's top iron ore producer - will head the company in the meantime.

Nkosi will be CEO-designate during the first 12 months, after which Fauconnier will retire, Kumba has said.

Eyesizwe Coal Ltd will spearhead the new coal company, which is expected to have an enterprise value of some 16 billion rand, Kumba said in October.

The deal allows Anglo, which now owns 66,2 per cent of Kumba, to keep a strong presence in the lucrative iron ore industry while also meeting government demands to spread more ownership to the country's majority blacks.

Anglo would hold 49 per cent of Kumba Iron Ore and 17 per cent of the new diversified mining company, which will produce more than 45 million tonnes of coal per year.

- Nampa-Reuters

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