Aquarius sale of Blue Ridge, Sheba’s Ridge terminated
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aquarius Platinum will no longer be offloading its indirect interests in Blue Ridge Platinum and Sheba’s Ridge Platinum to a Chinese consortium, announcing on Wednesday that certain South African regulatory approvals had “regrettably” not yet been granted and that the buyer had, this week, decided not to again extend the outside date, terminating the sales agreement.
The platinum producer announced in January that it would sell its shares in the assets to the Chinese consortium, led by the China National Arts & Crafts Corporation, for $37-million in cash.
However, the deal remained subject to a number of conditions, including Chinese government approvals, South Africa Competition Commission approval and a number of Department of Mineral Resources regulatory approvals.
The outside date for satisfaction of the conditions was initially set at June 30, but was subsequently extended on nine occasions by agreement between the parties.
Analysts at Liberum noted that this deal had been important for Aquarius, as it had provided the platinum miner with liquidity.
"At current prices Aquarius Platinum will run out of cash and may need a further capital raise. We do expect platinum prices to rebound from currently low levels, but liquidity is a significant concern, alongside the other key issues of upcoming capex bills and regulatory uncertainty in Zimbabwe," they commented.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Booyco Electronics, South African pioneer of Proximity Detection Systems, offers safety solutions for underground and surface mining, quarrying,...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
