JSE- and Aim-listed Jubilee Platinum said last week the liquidation application by Westdawn Investments, trading as JIC Mining Services, against Platinum Australia (PLA) subsidiary PhokaThaba had been set aside, with PhokaThaba agreeing to pay a settlement amount of R3.5-million to JIC within 14 days from the settlement date.

Jubilee was currently in the process of negotiating an all-share deal to acquire PLA.

JIC had launched the liquida- tion application in the High Court of South Africa North Gauteng division on May 28, owing to a dispute over outstanding payments.

The liquidation application triggered a regulated event as defined in the implementation deed entered into between Jubilee and PLA.

Jubilee indicated that the settle- ment agreement remedied the regulated event triggered under the implementation deed, which allowed the continuation of the first court hearing required to approve the scheme of arrangement for the acquisition of PLA by Jubilee, scheduled for June 20.

The proposed transaction afforded Jubilee the opportunity to acquire a fully operational platinum mine and processing plant, on the eastern limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex, supported by a shallow platinum-bearing upper-group two reef.

The company noted that the mine offered significant poten- tial for extending the existing mine life by partnering with bordering mining companies, as well as the processing of third- party material.

The acquisition would position Jubilee as a large South African platinum group metals producer, supported by strong prospects for expansion through the development of its near-surface resources.

“The transaction brings together strongly complementary assets forming an enlarged group consisting of operational mining and processing assets and at- surface platinum containing chrome tailings and surface stocks, supported by a pipeline of near-surface platinum projects, which are all underpinned by the large Tjate platinum project,” Jubilee CEO Leon Coetzer added.

Jubilee directors put forward that the transaction would bring the company’s mines-to-metal strategy forward by some 18 months and that the resultant earlier cash flow would position it well to secure further opportunities in the near term.

The input of ASA Metals Dilokong Chrome Mine tailings, also on the eastern limb of the Bushveld Complex, would enable PLA’s Smokey Hills platinum mine to be brought back into production at a more modest output rate than previously designed, thereby extending mine life and ensuring that mine production targets were more achievable.

The enlarged group would also have exclusive rights to the ConRoast smelting process, enhancing earnings from its own production and affording access to third-party earnings by entering into agreements to use ConRoast.