South Africa’s Assore sees H1 earnings down by almost half

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African iron ore and manganese producer Assore said on Wednesday it expected half-year profit to fall by almost half due to softer commodity prices.Headline earnings per share – which strips out certain one-off items – are seen falling to between 5.31 and 6.51 rand for the six months through December from 9.59 rand a year earlier. Prices for iron ore dropped 38 percent during the period, Assore said in a statement. The steel-making ingredien