PERTH (miningweekly.com) - Junior Emu Nickel has formed a joint venture (JV) vehicle with South Africa’s El Nino Mining Proprietary to acquire a diamond operation in the Kimberley region of South Africa.
The JV vehicle would purchase all of the issued capital in Superkolong Proprietary (SK), which, in turn, holds a 30.4% interest in Kimberley Miners Forum Proprietary (KMF).
KMF has purchased a number of coarse, diamondiferous kimberlite tailings dumps, while SK operates a diamond tailings processing and recovery plant on land leased from diamond giant De Beers.
The KMF plant has been operational since 2007, and a tailings agreement with De Beers allows KMF’s shareholders access to the tailings area until April 2018. Discussions were currently under way to extend this access period.
Under the terms of the transaction, the JV vehicle would pay the SK vendors some R135-million, in four payments, with the first R40-million due by the beginning of March.
Emu said on Wednesday that, based on current operational parameters, funding for the last three installments would be met from SK cash flow.
Following the transaction, the JV partners would work to upgrade the SK processing plant and operating capacity to some 230 000 t/m, which would ensure that the SK entitlement was processed during the current access term, enabling the JV to pay out the vendors earlier, and deliver an enhanced financial outcome for the ultimate SK shareholders.