South African mining company JCI has agreed to sell its majority stake in Lesotho’s only diamond mine in a multimillion-dollar deal, the buyer announced on Monday.
Gem Diamonds said in a statement that JCI and its black empowerment partner, Matodzi, agreed to sell its 76% share in Letseng diamond mine in a deal worth R879-million.
”Gem Diamonds and the shareholders of Letseng Investment Holdings have reached an agreement on the purchase of their entire shareholding of 76% in … the Letseng Diamond Mine,” the company said.
”The transaction still needs a formal sign-off from the Lesotho government and [the company] is pleased to note the approval of the transaction by the boards of JCI and Matodzi,” Gem Diamonds said in the statement, issued in Johannesburg.
Selling its stake in the Letseng mine — at more than 3 000m the highest diamond mine in the world — JCI and Matodzi ended months of speculation on the fate of the operation following the death of flamboyant mining magnate Brett Kebble late last year.
Kebble (41), a controversial business tycoon with ties to South Africa’s ruling African National Congress, was gunned down in his luxury car in northern Johannesburg in September, shortly after being ousted as JCI chief executive.
JCI and Matodzi own a combined share of 76% in Letseng diamonds while the other 24% belongs to the government of Lesotho.
After Kebble’s death, claims of massive fraud against him emerged and South Africa’s elite Scorpions anti-crime unit in April announced they were investigating shareholder losses estimated at more than R1-billion.
Local papers are reporting unconfirmed claims that Letseng, known for its quality of gemstone rather than its quantity, has been used to launder blood diamonds coming from Angola. Letseng has always denied the claim.
Kebble launched the mine, which lay fallow for more than two decades in a remote corner of the small mountain kingdom of Lesotho, to great fanfare in November 2004. — Sapa-AFP