JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Dual-listed Central Rand Gold's (CRG's) share price on the JSE and LSE rose by more 10% early on Tuesday after the company announced it had secured a $1-million loan from an investor and appointed a new chairperson.

CRG has entered into a $1-million loan agreement with investor Jia Bang Wang, which will provide the company with sufficient working capital for the immediate future and for the procurement, shipping, installation and commissioning of a concentrator circuit.

The loan will be provided in two tranches, with the first tranche of $500 000 having already been received by the company and a further $500 000 to be made available on or by March 31.

The principal and accrued interest on the loan is repayable by July 9.

CRG, which operates in Johannesburg, has executed an agreement to acquire mine waste dumps that contain 2.3-million tonnes of gold-bearing materials, with an average on-site grade of 0.7 g/t.

The concentrator circuit will upgrade the gold grade of the mine waste dumps materials before further metallurgical processing. The circuit will comprise centrifugal concentrators, a scrubber, dewatering screens, water/slurry pumps and other ancillary equipment.

This is expected to be installed in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, CRG has appointed Simon Charles as independent nonexecutive chairperson, with immediate effect. He succeeds interim chairperson Nathan Taylor.

Charles is a senior partner in a firm of solicitors, Marriott Harrison, and heads that firm's equity capital markets team. In addition, he sits on the board of Aim-listed Imaginatik and is a member of the QCA's Corporate Finance Experts group.

"I am delighted to be joining the board at this key stage in its development . . . in light of the additional capital and the concentrator circuit proposed to come on stream this year, we are confident that the company is now well positioned to implement its core strategy of generating revenue from our assets and delivering meaningful returns for our shareholders,” he said.

CRG has also appointed Lola Trollip CEO. She previously served as acting CEO and MD of CRG Netherlands Antilles and, in the last nine months, also as acting CEO of CRG South Africa.

CRG's share price on the JSE rose by 10%, while its shares were up 18.6% on the LSE.