4th May 2011 07:00
AQUARIUS PLATINUM LIMITED 4 May 2011 Acquisition of mineral rights adjacent to Everest Mine
Aquarius Platinum Limited ("Aquarius" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that both Aquarius and Aquarius Platinum (South Africa) (Proprietary) Limited ("AQPSA") have entered into a binding Sale of Rights Agreement (the "Agreement") with Northam Platinum Limited and its subsidiaries (the "Northam Group") to acquire the platinum group metals ("PGM") and associated base metals mineral rights on farms adjacent to AQPSA's Everest Mine on the Eastern Limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex.
Aquarius Group companies will pay the sum of R1.2 billion at transaction close (approximately US$179 million) to the Northam Group (net of any value added tax and other tax charges that may arise from the transaction), subject to certain conditions being met as more fully detailed below. The acquisition cost will be funded both from Aquarius' existing cash resources and from future cashflow generated by operations.
The mineral rights acquired comprise several farms underlain by both the UG2 and Merensky reef horizons, collectively called "Booysendal South" and contain approximately 31.1 million ounces of PGM (4E) resources (comprising 1.9 million ounces of measured, 7.5 million ounces of indicated and 21.7 million ounces of inferred PGM (4E) resources) after geological losses and will increase Aquarius' current resource base by approximately 24%.
Booysendal South - Contained Resources
Reef Category Grade (g/t) Resource (Moz 4E) (after geological losses) UG2 Measured 3.31 1.6 Indicated 3.44 5.8 Inferred 2.95 13.3 Total 3.09 20.7 Merensky Measured 2.74 0.3 Indicated 3.21 1.7 Inferred 3.69 8.4 Total 3.56 10.4 Total Measured 3.19 1.9 Indicated 3.38 7.5 Inferred 3.19 21.7 Total 3.24 31.1 For graph see www.aquariusplatinum.com Fig. 1 Growth of Aquarius' PGM Resources
Transaction Rationale
The UG2 ore body at Booysendal South is contiguous with Aquarius' Everest Mine, and as a result Aquarius is uniquely placed to access this reef horizon in the short to medium term from the existing Everest infrastructure. Adding Booysendal South to the Everest mine plan has the potential to extend the life of the Everest Mine from some 8 years to in excess of 30 plus years, while also potentially enabling Aquarius to raise mining volumes at Everest to make use of both current excess and potential expansion capacity at the Everest processing plant.
The resources contained in Booysendal South are substantial and will add significantly to Aquarius' existing resource base, in keeping with the Company's strategy of resource expansion.
Accessing the Booysendal South ore body from the existing Everest infrastructure will also significantly reduce the environmental impact of mining the properties relative to any greenfield project plan sited on the properties.
The Agreement accordingly enables Aquarius to both optimise and expand its Everest operation with modest stay-in-business and brownfield capital expenditures, and bring to account an important undeveloped PGM property in the nearer term.
For map see www.aquariusplatinum.com Fig. 2: Booysendal
Conditions Precedent
The closing of this transaction is subject to several conditions precedent, the most material being:
* written consent by the Minister of Mineral Resources in terms, inter alia, of Section 102 of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002 to amend the Everest Mine Converted Mining Right to include Booysendal South and to amend the Booysendal Converted Mining Right to exclude it; * regulatory approvals including the approval of the South African Competition Commission; and * a binding tax ruling from the South African Revenue Service, acceptable to the parties, confirming the tax consequences of the transaction.
The parties to the Agreement will co-operate with the objective of fulfilling the conditions precedent as soon as practically possible and anticipate that it will take between 12 to 18 months to fulfil all of them and to close the transaction. Should all conditions precedent not be fulfilled within 24 months of the date of signature of the Agreement, the Agreement shall terminate unless extended by agreement between the parties.
Commenting on the acquisition, Stuart Murray, CEO of Aquarius, said:
"This acquisition is important for Aquarius, as it enables us to significantly extend the mine life and potentially expand the production of one of our important assets. Everest is our mine that empowerment built utilising the proceeds of our 2003 Black Economic Empowerment transaction with the Savannah Consortium and it is gratifying to see this particular asset potentially transformed by this deal.
This acquisition enables Aquarius to exploit these PGM resources using existing infrastructure, much in the way we transformed both Kroondal and Marikana through the pool and share deals with our partners there. I anticipate a very capital efficient expansion will ensue at Everest and the transaction will be highly accretive to the mine's value.
The transaction is a commercially sensible outcome for all parties in that it represents a sensible redefining of farm boundaries to optimise both companies' current and future operations and we look forward to a continuing good relationship with our neighbours. This deal further underpins the implementation of our strategy to grow our resource, reserve and future production base by opportunistic acquisition and, together with the recent Afarak transaction announced last month, potentially increases Aquarius' resource base by nearly 50%."
The information in this announcement that relates to Exploration Results, Mineral Resources or Ore Reserves serves as common reference to both parties and is based on information originally compiled by Damian Smith whilst in the employ of Northam Platinum Limited, and has been reviewed by Ina Cilliers of Aquarius. Damian Smith of Prospect Geoservices cc and Ina Cilliers are Members of The Geological Society of South Africa and are registered with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions, both of which are `Recognised Overseas Professional Organisations' (`ROPO') included in a list promulgated by the ASX from time to time. Damian Smith and Ina Cilliers have sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which they are undertaking to qualify as Competent Persons as defined in the 2004 Edition of the `Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves'. Damian Smith consents to the inclusion in this announcement of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.
For further information please contact:
In the United KingdomGavin Mackay+44 7909 547 042In Australia: In South Africa: Willi Boehm Stuart Murray +61 8 9367 5211 +27 (0) 11 656 1140
vendorRelated Shares:
AQP.L