It has been “sanitised” and it is ready to trade on the JSE once more, with a wide range of diversified potential.

The Randgold & Exploration (R&E) mining company of the late Brett Kebble is heading back to the exchange after 93% of its shareholding voted overwhelmingly in favour of a settlement that unlocks R1,4-billion.

Close to R1-billion of that value will be dished out to long-suffering shareholders and the company will end up with a value of R500-million.

The return of the R&E share, which has not been allowed to trade since August 2005, follows the resolution of the marathon dispute between Investec, JCI and key shareholder Monty Koppel.

Both R&E and JCI formerly operated under the leadership of the deceased Kebble and have been under a cloud since he was killed in a still unsolved shooting five years ago.

Steps will also be taken for a resumption of the trade in R&E American Depository Receipts in the US, where it has been banned.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) deregistered R&E for its failure to comply with its rules.

“But we have now cleansed the company and believe that we meet the preliminary requirements, and we’ve instructed our US counsel to negotiate with the SEC to lift the ban,” R&E CEO Marais Steyn tells Mining Weekly in a video interview.

R&E nonexecutive chairperson David Kovarsky reports that R&E management has succeeded in “sanitising” the company.

“We believe that we have sufficient support from all stakeholders and, all in all, we can now look at a bright future,” says Steyn.

The company has high-worth prospecting rights and a long list of opportunities in resources.

Steyn sees R&E as having a future as a diversified miner as it already has gold, base metals, platinum and iron-ore prospects. In gold, it has increased its stake in Freddies, in the Free State province, to 85%.

“We’ll take these opportunities to our shareholders and they will be the ones who must ultimately decide,” Steyn says.

When it receives the expected settlement support from JCI, the company’s net asset value will be R1,4-billion or R20 a share, but only for a short spell, because R12,90 a share of that will be distributed to shareholders by the end of June. This value is derived from six-million Gold Fields shares, which contribute R8 a share of the R12,90.

The distribution of 1,5-billion new JCI shares to R&E shareholders represents about 44% of the outstanding capital of JCI and the unbundling of R&E’s 305-million JCI shares makes up the remaining R4,90.

Immediately after the distribution, the company will be worth R500-million, equating to R7 a share. The R&E share was trading at R8,90 a share when it was suspended.

On commodities that could be in the diversified R&E mix in the future, Steyn tells Mining Weekly that the range is from gold and base metals to platinum and iron-ore.

“We’ve done some prospecting and some drilling with these already. But they are in such a range that I can’t say what the focus will be. We are looking at every opportunity,” he adds.

On the company being a R500-million company after the distribution, he says that the company is looking at growth. In his view, a company with a R500 000 value does not really warrant a JSE listing.

“If our shareholders allow us to, we are going to grow this business and, hopefully, we’ll be successful.”

He does not expect any surprise obstacles to block the company’s progress and he cannot foresee any further prevention of the settlement, as occurred in the past.

To watch a video in which Randgold & Exploration CEO Marais Steyn tells Mining Weekly Online’s Martin Creamer that the fraud-hit Randgold & Resources is set to resume JSE trading on June 4, click here.

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