[miningmx.com] — RUSSIA’S Renova group has made a joint counter-bid
for First Uranium’s Ezulwini mine, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
The offer was made in conjunction with Waterpan Mining Consortium, which held a
minority stake in Ezulwini until 2007.
No bid amounts were mentioned, although it was said to be trumping the $70m offer
made by Gold One International in March.
“Konstantin Sadovnik, a director of Renova’s Transalloys (Pty) Ltd. unit, said today in
an e-mail that his company and Waterpan bid for the Ezulwini gold and uranium mine
in South Africa,’ read Bloomberg’s report. “Chopper Van der Bijl, a director at closely
held Waterpan, confirmed the offer yesterday in an e-mail. Both men declined to give
details.’
First Uranium’s agreement with Gold One over Ezulwini was announced in conjunction
with a deal to dispose of Mine Waste Solution for $335m to AngloGold Ashanti.
The proceeds of the transactions would largely be used to pay off debts totalling
$320m.
Renova acquired Transalloys from Highveld Steel & Vanadium Ltd. in 2007. It also
owns 49% of United Manganese of the Kalahari, a manganese mining operator in the
Northern Cape.
