JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Identified for approval at the upcoming annual general meeting (AGM) of Implats is the accommodation of a broader category of financial recipients by the platinum group metals (PGMs) mining company as part of the broad-based empowerment structure to be implemented following the acquisition of Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat).

Having been delisted from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in mid-September, RBPlat is now JSE-listed Implats’ wholly owned Impala Bafokeng subsidiary.

In a stock exchange news service (SENS) announcement on October 18, Implats said uncertainty related to its authority to provide certain financial assistance had come to its attention and the purpose of the SENS notice was to provide further information to shareholders ahead of the October 30 AGM.

Providing financial assistance – including inter-company loans and Implats share purchases – has been authorised in past years by way of the adoption by shareholders of special board-recommended resolutions.

But it has been brought to Implats’ attention that shareholders may now perceive the adoption of the recommended broader category of financial recipients as being wider than in the past. This is because not all recipients will be subsidiaries and related entities owing to the broad-based RBPlat-linked proposed empowerment transaction including the potential creation of a community share ownership trust holding a 4% equity interest for host communities across Implats’ Impala Platinum and Impala Bafokeng.

Among other options include replacing the RBPlat employee share ownership plan with an employee share ownership trust holding a 4% equity interest in Impala Bafokeng – or introducing a strategic empowerment partner, the Siyanda Consortium, which will acquire a 5% equity interest across Impala and Impala Bafokeng through a special purpose investment vehicle.

The latest environmental, social and governance report of Implats, which has eight operations and more than 70 000 employees in South Africa’s Bushveld Complex, Zimbabwe’s Great Dyke and North America’s Canadian Shield, places strong emphasis on creating economic opportunity for host communities supported by an attributable group mineral resource of 262.7-million six element PGM ounces.

Group company Zimplats accounts for 37% of the mineral resource base, Impala Rustenburg for 33% and the balance of 30% is provided by Marula, Mimosa, Two Rivers, Lac des Iles, Waterberg, and Afplats. Impala Bafokeng has still to be included.

The metals produced are marketed and sold in South Africa, Japan, China, US and Europe with recycled PGMs being used rather than consumed.