Glencore Weighs Buying Back Gupta-Linked Coal Mine

  • Optimum entered business rescue proceedings in February
  • The South African mine was owned by Glencore until 2015
Optimum Colliery in Middelburg.Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Glencore Plc is considering a bid for the Optimum coal operations in South Africa, which it sold in 2015 to a company part-owned by the politically connected Gupta family, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Optimum supplies fuel to state power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. and became a lightning rod issue for critics of the Gupta family members and their friendship with former president Jacob Zuma.