BHP Group just won an extra week to convince Anglo American on its $49-billion takeover plan. But the world’s biggest miner still must resolve the deal’s most intractable obstacle: What to do about South Africa?

After a month of rising tensions, the companies are holding discussions after BHP raised the value of its proposal for a third time on Monday. Anglo has rejected the latest bid, but agreed to extend a deadline for BHP to commit to a binding offer so that talks can continue.