JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Platinum exploration company Sable Platinum on Thursday said it had entered into an agreement to acquire a 4% equity interest in Botswana-based mining company Global Initiatives for $4-million.

In terms of the agreement with Global’s executive director Atang Makgekgenene, Sable had also been granted an option to acquire a further 22% equity interest in Global in increments of 6%, 5% and 11% in coming years.

The acquisition was subject to all requisite regulatory approvals being obtained; the placement by Sable of the requisite number of Sable shares required to raise sufficient capital to discharge the purchase price; the completion of a legal, financial and technical due diligence by Sable on Global and the Selebi Phikwe project; and the completion of comprehensive sale of shares and shareholders agreements with Global.

Sable indicated that the rationale behind the acquisition was that Global had the rights to the tailings and slag dump at mining and metals company BCL’s Selebi Phikwe nickel and copper mine, in Botswana.

“The board of Sable is satisfied that because the Selebi Phikwe operation had been producing slag for some 40 years, there was significant potential for metals, including iron in the slag heap and Sable is investigating alternative methods to economically recover any such metals,” the company said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Sable had started investigating the possibility of mining vanadium and iron-ore present on four of the five project areas on the Western Limb of the Bushveld Complex, in the Rustenburg area.

The company believed the development of these properties would provide an earlier route to cash flow.

The company stated that the Selebi Phikwe project was a logical extension of this strategy. Early assessment of the project indicated that the acquisition of up to 26% of Global and a management contract on the Selebi Phikwe project would provide a significant upside to Sable shareholders.

Sable noted that the financial effects of the share acquisition were still being finalised and would be published in due course.