Aquarius Platinum has announced the acquisition of platinum group metal (PGM) mineral rights through its purchase of South Africa-based Afarak Platinum.
Under the terms of the deal, worth $109.7 million, Aquarius will hold a 74 per cent interest in Afarak. The remaining 26 per cent is held by empowerment company Watervale, which is controlled by Savannah Resources, a major shareholder in Aquarius.
The world’s fourth largest primary platinum producer, Aquarius holds interests in mines across Southern Africa, the world’s largest platinum producing region. Its operations are situated on both the eastern and western limbs of South Africa's Bushveld Complex, and on the Great Dyke in Zimbabwe.
Afarak holds interests in prospecting rights to two properties—Hoedspruit and Kruidfontein, which are both situated on the western limb of the Bushveld Complex. Afarak has a 100 per cent interest in Hoedspruit and the right to earn a 50 per cent interest in Kruidfontein through additional exploration expenditure of up to $15 million.
The Hoedspruit licence area is located close to Rustenburg in the North West province, while the Kruidfontein licence area lies north of the Pilanesberg National Park.
Commenting on the deal, Stuart Murray, CEO of Aquarius, said: "The acquisition of these properties, and in particular the Rustenburg area property, greatly enhances the strategic options for the company into the future, and the purchase price is attractive for the quantity and quality of the ounces acquired.
“This purchase is another example of the implementation of our strategy to grow our resource, reserve and future production base by opportunistic acquisition. Hoedspruit and Kruidfontein will add significantly to Aquarius' current portfolio of PGM resources."
In South Africa, Aquarius' main assets are the Kroondal, Marikana, Everest and Blue Ridge mines. In Zimbabwe, the company holds an interest in Mimosa, a low cost PGM producer, via a 50 per cent stake in Mimosa Investments.
Aquarius also holds a 50 per cent interest in CTRP and Platinum Mile, companies that recover PGMs from the tailings streams of platinum and chrome mining operations on the Bushveld Complex’s western limb.
Aquarius employed a total of 11,072 people at the end of the financial year 2010, of whom 9,343 were contractors.
