PERTH (miningweekly.com) – South Africa-focused Coal of Africa Limited (CoAL) on Thursday told shareholders that the first part of its $64.9-million capital raising had been approved.
Hong Kong-based Haohua Energy International Resources has received all regulatory approvals required for its $23.4-million investment into CoAL, with the company saying it would now apply for the admission of the 251-million ordinary shares under the first stage of the private placement.
The second stage of the equity raise, worth a further $41.5-million, was conditional on investor TMM Holdings obtaining sufficient funds to purchase the second stage of placement shares.
Meanwhile, CoAL also announced that it was advancing with the $23.5-million sale of its idled Mooiplaats colliery to Blackspear Holdings Proprietary.
The company noted that Blackspear had agreed to terms with a financial and operational partner to fund the acquisition of the project, with approval of the finance subject to the completion of a technical due diligence and final board approval.
The company was expected to have the financing secured by the end of November, while the Mooiplaats divestment would be completed by the end of February next year.
The sale of the Mooiplaats asset forms part of CoAL’s five-point turnaround strategy implemented a year ago, which included offloading the Woestalleen colliery, near Ermelo, the Mpumalanga-based Opgoedenhoop mining right, coal explorer Lemur Resources and the Holfontein project, in the Witbank coalfield.