The unbundling of Kumba Resources from parent Iscor and its subsequent listing on the JSE Securities Exchange in late November was the success story on the "other mining" boards in 2001.
After a painful two-month delay while Iscor settled its differences with the Industrial Development Corp over the final terms of the deal, Kumba shares listed at R26,80 and then took off. The level reached by March this year - around R59 - surprised even the most optimistic of Kumba's supporters.
The initial reason given for the group's performance was the collapse of the rand against the US dollar.
Konkola Copper Mines . . . Anglo American called it a day after only 18 months
But a second driving force became apparent in March when Anglo American Plc revealed it had picked up a 20% stake. Half of that had been bought on the open market.
Kumba is available to investors and its future looks great - good news for investors starved of choice after the spate of delistings of SA resources stocks in the past few years.
The bad news is that Kumba could rapidly become an illiquid trading stock and could even be delisted, depending on how much of the action Anglo wants to grab for itself.
Kumba provides Anglo with the way it has long sought to get into the iron ore business. Anglo will be able to work from a proven and highly profitable SA base but with short-term expansion prospects in Australia through Kumba's Hope Downs iron ore project.
The focus of future developments will be the Kalahari iron ore resource around Sishen in the Northern Cape, where Anglo is looking to combine Kumba's iron operations with those of Avmin in the same region. It has also taken a controlling stake in Avmin.
Anglo CEO Tony Trahar says the group "intends working with all stakeholders, including Kumba, Avmin, the SA government and appropriate black empowerment groups, to realise the full growth potential of the Kalahari iron ore resource."
Trahar stresses Anglo's commitment to black empowerment in these developments and this could be a crucial issue, particularly regarding what happens to Kumba's coal operations.
These are substantial assets; Kumba's three collieries produced 16,8 Mt of coal in the year to June to earn revenues of R1,2bn.
Kumba's major colliery is Grootegeluk, near Ellisras in Limpopo province. This is a multiproduct mine producing about 15 Mt annually, of which 12 Mt is sold to Eskom's adjacent Matimba power station. The balance goes to Iscor or is exported.
The other collieries are Tshikondeni in Limpopo and Leeuwpan near Pretoria. Kumba is to develop a new mine, Kalbasfontein, near Witbank which should start producing at a rate of 1 Mt/year from 2003.
Kalbasfontein will supply 50% of the extra 2 Mt of coal that Kumba will be entitled to export in terms of its participation in the Phase 5 expansion of the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT).
Late last year Kumba announced it had entered discussions with black empowerment coal group Eyesizwe Mining to promote strategic co-operation in ways that could range from a business alliance to a merger.
This is where it could get interesting. Anglo helped create Eyesizwe when it brought together various coal operations in partnership with BHP Billiton and put the package of assets out to tender for purchase by suitable black businesses.
Eyesizwe produces about 18 Mt/year, of which 16 Mt is sold to Eskom power stations. The group has a limited exposure to the export market through its 1,2% shareholding in the RBCT.
Apparently destined for a listing on the JSE Securities Exchange, Eyesizwe has far more to gain from acquiring Kumba's coal assets than Kumba has from teaming up with Eyesizwe.
Kumba's future growth will come overwhelmingly from its iron ore and heavy minerals/titanium operations rather than coal, where its expansion prospects are limited, whereas Kumba's coal business would provide material growth to Eyesizwe.
Coal is one thing, but on the luxury end of carbon mining, diamonds, attention has shifted to junior companies like Trans Hex since the disappearance of De Beers from the JSE Securities Exchange once it had been taken private by the Anglo/Oppenheimer family/Debswana alliance last year.
De Beers remains active on the SA diamond mining scene, where it has done two sizeable black empowerment deals with listed companies New Diamond Corp (NDC) and Mvelaphanda Resources (Mvela).
Mvela tied up an exploration joint venture with De Beers, looking for new kimberlite pipes in Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces. That followed Mvela's listing on the JSE through a reverse takeover and name change of East Daggafontein .
Mvela at this stage houses only the mining resources of Tokyo Sexwale's growing business empire - principally a 22,5% stake in Northam and a 24,5% stake in Trans Hex - but excludes his interests in property, oil and gas.
The De Beers deal means Mvela now has exposure to all facets of the diamond mining business, from the search for host kimberlite pipes to the mining of alluvial and marine diamonds by Trans Hex.
Trans Hex has continued to build its position in the marine diamond mining business after the troubles that beset competitor Namibian Minerals Corp (Namco), which faces serious financial and operating problems.
That's despite the involvement of the Leviev group, which staved off Namco's looming liquidation at the beginning of last year. Leviev has now brought in its own management, forcing out Alastair Holberton as CEO in January. But the operation faces a battle to get back into the black.
In March, NDC, chaired by Tiego Moseneke, bought the defunct Kamfersdam diamond mine near Kimberley from De Beers. It intends to re-treat surface dumps while carrying out a two-year study looking at reopening the underground operation.
There appears to be considerable interest from foreign junior mining companies, as well as local black empowerment companies, in setting up small diamond mining ventures on ground that will be released when the new minerals legislation is introduced. That could lead to new listings of diamond mining companies on the JSE.
The low point of the mining year was probably Anglo American's decision to pull down the shutters on its Zambian copper operation, Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), which it controlled through Zambia Copper Investments (ZCI).
In an extraordinary move, Anglo decided KCM no longer met its investment criteria - barely 18 months after buying the assets - and declared it would close the mines if it could not find a buyer.
A buyer will almost certainly be found. Interest has been shown by both Metorex and Canadian junior First Quantum, both of which run other mines on the Zambian copperbelt. But the investment repercussions from Anglo's abrupt change of mind will be severe.
Other mining groups operating in Zambia, such as Metorex and Avmin, also ran into operating problems but decided to stay the course, though Metorex temporarily shelved its Chibiluma South mine expansion and Avmin put financial caveats on its decision to carry on at Chambishi.