[miningmx.com] — VULISANGO – the controversial BEE group controlled by the Watson brothers – has taken effective control of Simmer and Jack Mines (Simmers) and may be negotiating an empowerment deal with First Uranium.
Vulisango announced on Wednesday that it had increased its stake in Simmers – now a cash shell following the sale of its assets to Village Main Reef (Village) – to 32.25%.
That followed the announcement on Monday that Gavin Watson had bought an 11.1% stake in Simmers.
That gives the Watsons a 43.6% overall stake in Simmers but Vulisango CEO Valence Watson says the two deals are separate and that Gavin Watson had acted independently of Vulisango.
Asked why Vulisango had increased its stake, Watson told Miningmx “Simmers is just sitting there as a cash shell and we are looking to see if something can be done with it”.
He said Vulisango would not increase its stake further in Simmers because then it would have to make an offer to minorities which it did not want to do.
On August 29, First Uranium announced it had struck an agreement with Vulisango “for the provision of certain services including, assisting the company in complying with the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act and assisting and giving guidance to the company with regard to its policies in accordance with the Mining Charter”.
The agreement also stated that First Uranium would “continue to work with Vulisango in considering options to improve the company’s BEE credentials subsequent to disposal by Village Main Reef of 19.79% of its 25.5% shareholding in First Uranium to AngloGold Ashanti”.
The agreement has “an indefinite term” and Vulisango gets a monthly fee of $55,200.
Village CEO Bernard Swanepoel openly criticised the way First Uranium was being managed before selling down the stake acquired from Simmers and has also stated the rest of its holding in First Uranium may be sold.
Watson declined to comment when asked whether Vulisango was negotiating to become First Uranium’s new BEE partner.
Vulisango’s main asset is its stake of some 120 million shares in Village, currently worth about R200m. Watson denied that Vulisango may be considering selling some or all of this stake to fund its plans for Simmers.
“We are very happy with our investment in Village as well as the management team of Bernard Swanepoel as CEO and Marius Saaiman as chief financial officer.
“I can now sleep at night with our assets under Bernard’s control.”
