JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - The hearing into the merging of mining companies JCI and Randgold & Exploration (R&E) was on Monday again adjourned, this time to April 29 at the latest.

Both JCI and R&E in the past operated under the leadership of the controversial, deceased mining magnate, Brett Kebble.

Senior counsel Michael van der Nest, acting chairperson in the absence of senior counsel Vincent Maleka, supported the adjournment applied for by Letšeng and Monty Koppel and supported by JCI.

"As nobody opposed the adjournment, I grant the request for an adjournment and I propose a mechanism which will give both a fixed date for the adjournment hearing and a possibility for the date to be brought forward, in the event of the procedure being applied earlier," Van der Nest said.

The meeting was adjourned to Wednesday April 29 at 14:00 at a venue to be published by the Stock Exchange News Service by no later than Wednesday April 15.

JCI would be entitled to bring the date forward subject to giving 14-days notice.

JCI CEO Peter Gray said that JCI had come to an agreement in principle with Letšeng and Koppel regarding a settlement of their action against Investec Bank and JCI.

"We anticipated that the in principle agreement would be able to be implemented, but right at the death on Friday, new regulatory matters made it difficult for us to conclude that.

"We were hoping to sign an agreement prior to the weekend. We did feel that we made a lot of progress, but the formal agreement has not been signed.

"We feel that a satisfactory agreement can probably be implemented, but not in the time set," Gray said.

UK barrister Denis Daly, acting for Letšeng and Koppel, endorsed Gray's viewpoint, adding that the progress that had been made was "very far-reaching" and that there had been changes of position "of a significant nature".

Daly said that even if the parties had been able to offer the meeting a signed agreement, which was there in principle, an adjournment would still have had to have been sought because of regulations governing such agreements.

While not wanting to recanvass the many arguments that had been urged upon shareholders, Daly reiterated that approval of the merger agreement would have "overwhelming commercial benefits for all participants".

Daly last month won an adjournment on the basis of seeking a resolution of the dispute between Letšeng, JCI and Investec, which he said could benefit shareholders by R100-million "and possibly more than that".

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