South Africa may declare copper a precious metal

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa may designate copper as a precious metal to curb theft of the commodity, which costs the country about R7 billion a year, the Business Day newspaper reported yesterday.

Public Enterprise Minister Barbara Hogan told parliament copper cables theft was causing rail network delays, the paper said.Designating copper as precious would, on paper, make it harder for thieves to sell the stolen commodity, an unnamed legal expert is quoted as saying in the report.South Africa is a major exporter of coal to power stations in Europe and Asia. South African logistics group Transnet spent at least R30 million last year to replace stolen copper cables, while state-owned power utility Eskom spent R38 million, the paper said.Mineral resources director-general Sandile Nogxina told the paper his department would submit proposals to cabinet to amend the Precious Metals Act to include copper as a precious metal. – Nampa-Reuters