Aim-listed high-purity iron (HPI), vanadium and titanium miner Ironveld reports that its subsidiary Ironveld Smelting's acquisition of Ferrochrome Furnaces (FCF), in Rustenburg, South Africa, has become unconditional.
FCF will, in accordance with the Companies Act of South Africa, be taken out of business rescue in the coming days and the transaction will close in accordance with its terms, it says.
Ironveld in August last year announced that its subsidiary had agreed to buy FCF for a nominal fee of R980.
It said at the time that it planned to change the name of FCF to Bokone Smelting in due course to reflect the regional heritage of its operations, given that 'Bokone' translates as 'North' in the Tswana and Sepedi languages.
Ironveld Smelting immediately started refurbishment work at the smelter complex and, in January, completed the refurbishment of one furnace.
The first furnace is smelting magnetite ore into marketable products of titanium slag and HPI, marking a transformational step in the company’s development.
A further two furnaces will be refurbished by April. Once all three furnaces are operational, the complex will have a processing capacity of 40 000 t/y of magnetite ore, which, in turn, will produce about 20 000 t/y of HPI, 190 t/y of vanadium in slag and 3 800 t/y of titanium in slag.
To mitigate against the impact of power supply disruptions as a result of loadshedding implemented by power utility Eskom, Ironveld is investing in an independent hybrid power generation plant, consisting of solar power and natural gas generation. The plant is owned by Ironveld Energy and is being installed and funded by Enernet Global.