JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aquarius Platinum will no longer be offloading its indirect interests in Blue Ridge Platinum and Sheba’s Ridge Platinum to a Chinese consortium, announcing on Wednesday that certain South African regulatory approvals had “regrettably” not yet been granted and that the buyer had, this week, decided not to again extend the outside date, terminating the sales agreement.
The platinum producer announced in January that it would sell its shares in the assets to the Chinese consortium, led by the China National Arts & Crafts Corporation, for $37-million in cash.
However, the deal remained subject to a number of conditions, including Chinese government approvals, South Africa Competition Commission approval and a number of Department of Mineral Resources regulatory approvals.
The outside date for satisfaction of the conditions was initially set at June 30, but was subsequently extended on nine occasions by agreement between the parties.
Analysts at Liberum noted that this deal had been important for Aquarius, as it had provided the platinum miner with liquidity.
"At current prices Aquarius Platinum will run out of cash and may need a further capital raise. We do expect platinum prices to rebound from currently low levels, but liquidity is a significant concern, alongside the other key issues of upcoming capex bills and regulatory uncertainty in Zimbabwe," they commented.