JCI related news release. I am kind of disappointed in the Kebbles, they sold their gold reserves at $4 an oz to Placer Dome at what could be the bottom in the gold mining share market:
biz.yahoo.com
S.Africa JCI to finalise structure after Placer deal
By Darren Schuettler
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 9 (Reuters) - South Africa's JCI Gold, the company that emerged from the ashes of mining house JCI
Ltd, said on Tuesday it hoped to give details of its final structure by the end of February.
JCI Executive Deputy Chairman Brett Kebble said the company was now focused on a proposed merger with Consolidated African Mines (CAM) after a seperate
deal with a major Canadian company neared completion on Tuesday.
''It (the CAM offer) is busy being done and obviously we are moving ahead as fast as we can,'' Kebble told Reuters.
He added that an announcement would ''hopefully'' be made by the end of February.
The JCI Gold/CAM merger would create a new company with major stakes in South African gold producers Western Areas , Randfontein Estates and minerals
explorer Barnex .
Western Areas and Vancouver-based Placer Dome (Toronto:PDG.TO - news) on Tuesday signed a definitive agreement on a joint venture gold project in South
Africa's famed Witwatersrand basin.
Placer has agreed to pay $235 million for a 50 percent interest in the Western Areas mine and South Deep project, one of the largest undeveloped gold deposits in
South Africa.
The assets have combined reserves of 59 million ounces and the investment is the largest by a foreign company in South Africa's gold mining industry.
Placer Chief Executive John Willson said a due diligence study confirmed South Deep as a ''world-class gold asset.''
Western Areas shareholders are now expected to vote on the definitive agreement in March, with closure in April.
Placer Dome, which will retain control of the joint venture, will begin an optimisation study of the mine and gold deposit which is expected to take until June.
Kebble reiterated that Western Areas would pay a special dividend after the study is completed and the future financial requirements of the joint venture are
finalised.
Placer's immediate share of production from the property will be 300,000 ounces of gold annually, rising to 375,000 ounces when South Deep comes on stream in
2002.
Western Areas gains a foreign partner with expertise in mechanised mining and global ventures and with deep pockets to help develop the expensive South Deep
site.
The investment by Canada's second biggest gold producer has provided a major boost to an industry that has struggled to lure offshore investors concerned about
ageing assets and political risk in South Africa.
''The acquisition has been seen as an endorsement of North American mining interest in South Africa,'' Societe Generale analyst Peter Donkin said in a report last
week. |
