Anglo American Plc’s Kumba Iron Ore unit and ArcelorMittal South Africa Limited the continent’s biggest steelmaker known as AMSA said they’re in talks to secure a permanent deal for delivery of the raw material.

Kumba in December agreed to 1 year deal with AMSA to supply as much as 4.8 million tonnes of iron ore from its Sishen mine, Africa’s largest iron ore operation, to the local unit of the world’s biggest steel producer at an average price of USD 65 per tonne. The arrangement ends on December 31st 2013.

AMSA, based in Vanderbijlpark, 70 kilometers (44 miles) south of Johannesburg, said that “Discussions are under way on the possibility of a new supply agreement for iron ore from Kumba’s mines, including Sishen and Thabazimbi.”

Kumba in March 2010 canceled a 2001 agreement to supply AMSA with 6.25 million tons of ore a year at cost plus three percentage points from Sishen after the steelmaker’s partial mining right over the operation expired the previous year. They delayed arbitration until court proceedings over the right are concluded.

South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal in March dismissed an appeal by the state and Imperial Crown Trading 289 (Pty) Ltd. to have rights to the complex reinstated. A former shareholder of ICT, Jagdish Parekh, was a business associate of President Jacob Zuma’s son, Duduzane. The case continues in the Constitutional Court. Duduzane Zuma is not a shareholder in ICT.