JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Empowerment company SSC Flaming Silver has received approval for a R190-million loan facility from the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), which will assist it in restarting the Lily and Barbrook mines, in Barberton, Mpumalanga.
The loan is subject to a number of conditions precedent and to the execution of the necessary agreements between the IDC and gold mining and exploration company Vantage Goldfields.
SSC Flaming Silver in November 2017 entered into a definitive agreement with Vantage Goldfields SA to acquire its 74% shareholding in Vantage Goldfields, which together with Lomshiyo Investments, a black economic empowerment partner, owns the Lily and Barbrook mines and associated infrastructure near Barberton.
Additional equity to take both businesses out of business rescue, in addition to the IDC loan facility, has been provided by the SSC Group.
“The SSC Group has been involved in the business rescue process of these operations for an extended period, during which time SSC management became acutely aware of the situation and the challenges faced, as well as the failed attempts that the shareholders of Vantage experienced in taking the company out of business rescue,” SSC Flaming Silver CEO Fred Arendse commented.
This investment, he explained, is an important development for SSC Group in establishing itself as a mining company and will provide much-needed support to the Mpumalanga local economy at an extremely difficult time, thereby reinforcing its commitment to sustaining and growing its investments in the country.