JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - Australia's OMH would increase its stake in Ntsimbintle Mining, the 50,1% owner of the Tshipi manganese mine in South Africa, but had not reached a deal to buy the Pallinghurst co-investors' 49,9% stake in the project.

The ASX-listed OMH reported on Thursday that it would buy a 26% stake in black economic-empowerment (BEE) consortium Ntsimbintle for A$64-million, instead of the initially agreed upon 20% stake for A$49,2-million.

However, the company said in a statement that it could not reach an agreement on the final terms with the group of five co-investors, which includes the Brian Gilbertson-led Pallinghurst Resources, to buy its stake in Tshipi.

In September, the companies announced that OMH would acquire a 49,9% interest in exchange for 139,9-million of its own shares.

OMH said it would continue discussions with the co-investors and Ntsimbintle to look at ways in which it could increase its effective interest in Tshipi over time.

"OMH remains excited about the quality of the Tshipi project, including its resource, the overall potential of the project and is committed to the Tshipi project becoming part of the company's strategy to transforming OMH into a globally integrated manganese and steelmaking raw materials company," it said in a statement.

Pallinghurst said that it welcomed OMH's potential investment in Ntsimbintle, and said it would allow the BEE consortium to fully meet its share of Tshipi's development costs.

The Tshipi mine, located in the Kalahari basin, has a projected production capacity of between 2,2-million tons and 2,3-million tons a year.

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