South Africa has the world’s richest mineral deposits, with $3.3 trillion in platinum, gold, iron ore and coal. That’s not enough to satisfy investors.

“Citigroup Inc. in 2010 ranked South Africa the world’s richest nation by commodity wealth, with more than $2.5 trillion in mineral reserves, 56 percent more than second-placed Russia. The standings probably haven’t changed since then because of the slow rate of “resource exhaustion,” Craig Sainsbury, who wrote the Citigroup report, said by e-mail on Oct. 1. He now works for Goldman Sachs & Co.”

Extended labor strikes, aging mines and regulatory uncertainty have dragged the stock-market values of South African miners to a four-year low compared with global peers. At the start of 2013, the stocks traded with almost no discount.

“Companies in the 104-member Bloomberg World Mining Index are trading at 14.8 times estimated earnings while those in the 16-member FTSE/JSE Africa Mining Index of South African commodities stocks are at 12.3 times projected earnings. ‘

The shifting investor sentiment….

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