THE share price
of JSE-listed cash shell Village Main Reef Gold Mining
more than trebled on Friday to 110c after former Harmony
Gold Mining CEO Bernard Swanepoel unveiled plans to make
it the vehicle for a new resources company.
He said on Friday his mining advisory company, To The
Point Investments, had bought 37,8% of Village Main Reef
for 46c a share from Harmony for a total cost of R1m.
To The Point already owns 10% of Village Main, which it
bought from a private investor in June at 100c a share.
To The Point now owns 47,8% of Village Main and is now
obliged under stock exchange rules to make an offer to
minority shareholders to acquire all of their shares.
Swanepoel said the offer was likely to be at 100c a
share.
“We see a great opportunity to rebuild Village,
incorporated in 1889 and listed in 1934, back to some of
its former glory,” Swanepoel said.
“We are excited about making Village the ‘next
generation’ resources company and look forward to
unlocking value for present and future shareholders,” he
said.
Harmony acquired its 37,8% of Village Main at 20c a
share two years ago, while Swanepoel was still CEO, with
a view to listing some of Harmony’s assets separately.
At one stage, Swanepoel planned to put Harmony’s West
Rand uranium dumps into the Village Main listing but his
successor, Graham Briggs, has since entered into a joint
venture with the Pamodzi Resources Fund to exploit the
uranium dumps.
Swanepoel established To The Point late last year with
Clinton Halsey, a chartered accountant who was also
formerly employed by Harmony.
In January, Swanepoel was appointed a nonexecutive
director of uranium and gold processor Mintails, the
Australian-listed company, in a joint venture with
DRDGold in SA. He also sits on the boards of African
Rainbow Minerals and Sanlam.
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