Mike Teke’s Seriti still has eye on Gupta coal assets as step towards big league

Just like when you grow up there are things that you desire in a toy store, there are assets I desire to own

Seriti Resources CEO Mike Teke has reiterated that Seriti wants to become a coal exporter — and that it would be interested in buying the assets and quotas of the Gupta family’s Optimum Coal. BusinessLIVE reported in March that Teke had an eye on the mine. Bidding for Optimum Coal would pit Seriti, which has ambitions to become a black-owned mining champion, against bigger miner Exxaro, which has expressed interest in buying Optimum’s coal export quotas. Optimum, which is in business rescue, has not clarified whether its assets are up for sale but Teke, who is also a shareholder in Seriti, used to own a stake in the company until Glencore bid for it in 2011.

“Yes I am interested,” Teke told Reuters on the sidelines of a mining conference in Johannesburg on Wednesday. “I still believe I can run the mine, I still believe I can add value, I still believe I can change the bad things that have happened at that mine.” Seriti already owns three coal mines, acquired a year ago from An…