JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – News leaked on Tuesday of a strong bid being made for the stricken Pamdozi Gold East Rand - the last of the Pamodzi group companies to attract an offer - at the same time as the JSE announced that an order of final Pamodzi Gold liquidation had been granted in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

While lead liquidator Enver Motala would neither confirm nor deny to Mining Weekly Online that the preferred bid for the East Rand had been received, a reliable source close to the mining operations confirmed that an announcement of the name of the preferred East Rand bidder was likely to be made this week.

JSE-listed Harmony Gold has paid R405-million for Pamodzi Gold Free State and the new Aurora Empowerment Systems, which has Malaysian and Middle Eastern financial backing, paid R215-million for Pamodzi Gold Orkney.

Mining Weekly Online understands that the joint liquidators have attracted in the region of R1-billion for all the assets, which could mean that East Rand bid is well north of R300-million.

The German HypoVereinsbank, which holds the gold hedge over the East Rand gold assets, has been investing more funds to keep the wheels of the Grootvlei mine turning.

Mining Weekly Online understands that Pamodzi Gold East Rand GM Graham Chamberlain, who kept producing gold on a shoestring until the September work stoppage, has tendered his resignation and accepted a position in a nongold mining environment.

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