JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed Richland Resources this week closed the sale of its tanzanite mining, beneficiation and tsavorite licence interests in Tanzania to Sky Associates for $5.1-million.
The gemstone miner announced in November 2014 that it would exit Tanzania to focus on its sapphire operation in Australia, as illegal mining activities had negatively impacted on its operations in the East African country.
Sky now owned Tanzanite One Mining (TML), TsavoriteOne Mining and Urafiki Gemstones, which operated Richland’s cutting facilities in the country.
Richland received $4.08-million of the purchase price this week, in addition to the $510 000 already paid by Sky at the end of last year.
A further $510 000 would be paid on June 8.
“On behalf of Richland, and on a personal level, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the over 600 TML employees, who will be continuing with Sky, for their dedication and hard work over the years and, in particular, [over] the last two years when TML faced many security and operational challenges.
“I trust that the employees will be a valuable asset to Sky and wish them and Sky a bright and prosperous future,” commented Richland CEO Bernard Olivier.
He reiterated that Richland was focused on bringing its Capricorn Sapphire project, in Australia, into profitable production. Plant commissioning had started in February.
The gemstone miner was planning to launch the Capricorn Sapphire brand during the first quarter of this year.