JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The request for the issuing of a notice for the holding of an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to unseat members of the board of JSE-listed gold junior Simmer & Jack has been withdrawn.

The withdrawal on Friday follows an application by Simmers to the South Gauteng High Court.

The application stemmed from a bid by disgruntled empowerment partner Vulisango to place its nominees on the Simmers board at the EGM.

Simmers said in a Stock Exchange News (Sens) announcement that the liquidators of Xelexwa had withdrawn the EGM request. Vulisango holds its shares in Simmers through Xelexwa.

At the EGM, Vulisango wanted to elect former Harmony Gold CEO Bernard Swanepoel as chairperson, along with current Impala Platinum CEO David Brown, Aquarius CEO Stuart Murray and former Africa Rainbow Minerals coal division executive William Osae as nonexecutive directors

Simultaneously current Simmers CEO Gordon Miller, current chairperson Nigel Brunette, and directors John Berry and Adrian Meyer were to have been removed from the board.

Simmers argued in its application that it was in the interest of shareholders to have clarity and transparency of the partiers and entities seeking to gain control of the Simmers' board.

In a separate Sens announcement, Simmers said that Martin Oberholster had resigned from the Simmers' board "with immediate effect", in order to avoid exacerbating "an inherent conflict of interests for him", brought about by his position, on the one hand, as an employee of Rand Merchant Bank - a "material" Simmers shareholder - and, on the one hand, also as a director of Simmers, representing all shareholders.

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