Motsepe’s phosphate bet backfires, with hundreds of jobs at stake
Patrice Motsepe's phosphate mining company, Kropz, is restructuring its Elandsfontein mine after failing to achieve profitability. The move threatens over 200 jobs and follows significant financial losses linked to global fertilizer market disruptions.
Why it matters
The failure highlights the vulnerability of African mining investments to geopolitical conflicts and global supply chain volatility.
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South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe’s near decade-long backing for phosphate producer Kropz has backfired, with the company announcing the restructuring of its sole operating asset and one of its contractors warning of hundreds of job losses.
On Monday, London-based Kropz said it will restructure its Elandsfontein mine, about 115km northwest of Cape Town, after $160 million of investment, halting production of its main product as it struggled to make a profit, partly because of the impact of war between the US and Iran on the global fertiliser industry. Motsepe’s African Rainbow Capital owns about 90% of Kropz.
Trollope Mining Group, which mines on Kropz’s behalf at Elandsfontein, said in a 2 September letter to employees seen by Bloomberg that its “contract will be drastically reduced if not completely terminated at the end of November” and 238 jobs may be cut.
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