African Minerals and London Mining share prices slump as Ebola outbreak fears rise
Shares in some Sierra Leone-focused miners on the London Stock Exchange plunged yesterday, amid increasing fears over the spread of the largest Ebola outbreak in history.
African Minerals saw the biggest decline, falling 18 per cent by market close, while London Mining slumped eight per cent. Neither company’s operations has been affected by the disease so far.
The latest epidemic of the deadly Ebola virus started in the West African country of Guinea five months ago, spreading to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria.
Yesterday, British Airways suspended all flights to Sierra Leone and Liberia due to “the deteriorating public health situation in both countries”.
The investor outflows from certain mining stocks coincided with peer Sierra Rutile’s update on its operations in Sierra Leone. It said there had been no reported or suspected cases of Ebola at its mines, but it had put precautionary measures in place nonetheless. Sierra Rutile’s shares bucked the trend and remained flat yesterday.
Analysts were cautious about fully attributing the share price declines to Ebola due to the variety in stock reactions and said that the drop could also be a continuation of concerns over the weak iron ore price.
“It there was an incident of Ebola at one of the operations that could have an impact on the company,” warned Hunter Hillcoat, analyst at Investec.