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There are concerns in the mining industry, as goldminers, coalminers and others address three related pressures: new laws, a strong currency, and lawsuits. Are South African mining firms under unbearable strain? Platinum prices have boomed for years and are likely stay high, partly because only two countries, South Africa and Russia, supply almost all the metal. New regulations for miners (and other firms) aim to create greater black ownership in a white-dominated business, and more revenue for the government's coffers. A mining charter requires that a minimum stake of 15% in all mining firms must be owned by black investors within five years, rising to 26% within a decade. Harmony Gold Mining and black-owned African Rainbow Minerals said that they would merge to form the world's fifth-largest producer, HARMony, a company worth 20 billion rand. Mining firms, in particular, face several lawsuits, which South Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki, says he does not support. The firms are accused of doing business with, and supporting, the white-minority South African government even after a United Nations ruling that apartheid was a crime against humanity.

The article focuses on Lazarus Zim, an executive at Anglo American mining company with headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mr Zim has just become the first black boss of Anglo American's South African operations. He reports only to the global boss of Anglo American, his compatriot Tony Trahar. The parent firm, listed both in London and Johannesburg, recently reported a rise in earnings of 59%, or $2.7 billion. Mr Zim sits atop a collection of South African firms--Anglo Gold Ashanti, Anglo Platinum, Anglo Coal and others--that last year contributed over a quarter of Anglo American's worldwide revenue. He is exactly what the company needs--especially in its efforts to patch up ragged relations with the government. Surveys indicate that mining firms believe other African countries have more welcoming laws. Miners also grumble that they are unsure what royalties the South African government will collect in exchange for licences (previously none were charged). Smoother relations will also probably depend on Anglo American making faster progress with "black economic empowerment". This means, in effect, shifting more wealth and power into black hands, something the government is desperate to speed up. Anglo American wants recognition for unbundling itself a decade ago, when it helped to set up black mining firms such as African Rainbow Minerals and Mvelaphanda Resources.

These are trying times for South Africa's mining companies. No longer. For months firms have given warning that higher costs, due to the now strong rand, are hitting profits. Two years ago a weak currency and high world prices boosted gold and other mineral exporters. This week the country's fourth-largest goldmining firm, Durban Roodepoort Deep, said it might have to close two mines and cut perhaps 13,000 jobs. The rest of the mining industry is also in talks, the toughest for many years. The last general strike, in 1987, came under the apartheid government. The protests had political as well as economic goals. The political heat is absent now, though miners do want better housing, welfare and medical help. This week the talks broke down and the union was set to serve legal notice that at least three goldmining companies, AngloGold, Harmony and Gold Fields, face a strike. The mining houses are also waiting to hear details of the government's new mining royalties bill, under which the state will claim an extra 2-8% of revenues on various minerals.

South Africa's cricket team was officially named the world's best this week, to great fury in Australia whose team had just suffered an embarrassing loss to England. Rugby matches, surfing competitions and the world barbecue (or braai) championships are always hot-headed affairs. But nothing gets southern-hemisphere blood boiling more than gold, diamonds and other minerals. A year ago, South Africa's AngloGold fought and lost a long battle to control Normandy, an Australian gold-mining company. In July 2002, Brian Gilbertson, a cocky former rocket scientist, and a South African, took the helm at BHP Billiton, a multinational mining firm based in Australia. At Billiton, a firm created by Gencor as a vehicle for international expansion which he ran from 1997, he first oversaw what was viewed as a daring expansion into aluminium smelting.