[miningmx.com] – A RARETY in today’s mining market, the listing of a junior mining company, is a possibility for the Johannesburg Stock Exchange after Australians White Rivers Exploration (WRE) signed a joint venture with Harmony Gold.
Neil Warburton, CEO of WRE, said in a statement that the company was looking at funding options after agreeing with Harmony to explore potential gold resources at its Beisa project that borders Harmony’s operations in the Free State province.
“This EJV [exploration joint venture] has the potential to position White Rivers as a substantial mining operation,” said Warburton.
“We will be looking at a number of funding options as the venture progresses, including potential listings on the Johannesburg and London stock exchanges,’ he said.
The Beisa orebody, which is in the southern Free State has been picked over by a number of companies. Gencor first sank and commissioned a shaft to access its riches in 1981 in a development that is now known as Sibanye Gold’s Beatrix West.
More recently, Witwatersrand Consolidated Gold Resources (Wits Gold), now owned by Sibanye, signed an agreement in 2010 with White Rivers Gold to explore the orebody.
White Rivers Gold was started by Australian geologists Harry Mason and Mark Creasy who planned to raise €50m from private investors to carry out initial geophysical and seismic work.
Mason had earlier founded Rand Quest Syndicate with geologist twin brothers Richard and Morris Viljoen. The company is now known as Central Rand Gold.
In terms of the agreement between WRE and Harmony, WRE will have an “initial and fixed” 65% and 35% interest in the joint venture. It will fund exploration until a pre-feasibility study is signed.
Thereafter, both joint venture partners will contribute towards the completion of a bankable feasibility study (BFS) in line with their relative investments. Once a positive BFS is completed the EJV will be transferred such that Harmony lifts its stake to 49%.
“If the future exploration programme proves up significant gold resources, as expected, then access to Harmony’s neighbouring infrastructure will enable the mining and production of the EJV resources to be fast-tracked,” said Warburton.
Giyani Gold Corporation was the last junior company where gold was the target to list on the JSE in June 2013 with plans to explore the historic greenstone belts of South Africa’s Limpopo province. It has since bought private companies, Horizon Enerji and Sumo Coal in an effort to establish itself in the energy sector.
Harmony Gold recently shut Target 3, risking 1,300 jobs and discontinued an expansion project at Phakisa which it wrote-down for R1.3bn. It also said it was seeking to buy possible non-South African, African gold assets.
