JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – LSE-listed Avocet Mining’s share price rose 28.7% on Tuesday morning, after it announced that a judge in Burkina Faso had ordered the lifting of the seizure of a gold shipment last month.
The seizure of a 1 400 oz gold shipment was affected by bailiffs acting on behalf of former employees of Société des Mines de Bélahouro (SMB) who had been laid off following an illegal strike in December 2014.
At the time, Avocet, which owns 90% of SMB, which, in turn, owns the Inata mine, said the legal basis for the seizure was, according to representatives of the former employees, a number of unpaid benefits which remain outstanding.
The company added on Tuesday that it continued to explore solutions to resolve the $3.4-million legal claim made by former SMB employees.
In the meantime, steps are being taken to recover the seized gold for export and to reinstate normal gold shipments thereafter.
The intention is to resume operations at Inata later this week.