Creditors of DRDGold’s North West operations, including organised labour, have approved the planned R45-million acquisition of the Buffelsfontein Gold Mines by listed mining group Simmer & Jack Mines, Simmers said on Thursday.
“At a meeting this morning, creditors voted unanimously to approve the section 3,11 scheme of arrangement whereby Simmers would acquire the entire issued share capital in Buffels for a capital consideration of R45-million. The next step is for the decision to be sanctioned by the High Court on October 19, 2005,” said Simmers CEO Gordon Miller.
The approval from creditors comes hours after permission from the Competition Commission was granted for the arrangement.
“All that remains now is for the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry to agree to the substitution of Simmers in place of DRDGold to assume responsibility in future water pumping directives governing the apportionment of the area’s water pumping costs,” added Miller.
“As soon as this has been agreed, Simmers can resume underground operations, which will hopefully bring a measure of relief to the community which is still reeling from the closure of the mines in March this year.”
The community of Stilfontein in the North West (where DRDGold’s Buffelsfontein and Hartebeesfontein mines are situated) was thrown into turmoil on March 22 this year when 6 000 miners lost their jobs as a result of DRDGold placing the mines under provisional liquidation.
In July this year, Simmers obtained permission from the provisional liquidators to begin surface operations but, while this provided a morale boost for the beleaguered community, the bulk of the miners remained unemployed as most of the 3 800 jobs which will be saved, are related to underground operations.
“The approval from the creditors is a critical step in the process of getting this community back on its feet,” noted Miller.
“Our main objective now is to get the operations up and running safely and to start employing and training people again.”
At its peak, it is projected that the operations will produce about 230 000 ounces of gold per annum over the next ten years and employ 3 800 people. ‒ I-Net Bridge