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Johannesburg - DRDGold [JSE:DRD] has sold its stake in the
embattled Blyvoor gold mine to Village Main Reef Gold Mining Company [JSE:VIL], the miner said on Monday.
"In terms of the agreement, DRDGold has sold to Village
its entire shareholding in Blyvoor (sale shares) and its working capital and
shareholder loan claims against Blyvoor (sale claims)," DRDGold said in a
statement.
DRDGold had held a 74% interest in Blyvoor gold mine, south
of Carletonville, in Gauteng. Last year, Blyvoor underwent business rescue
proceedings in terms of the new Companies Act after DRDGold said it would no
longer finance Blyvoor, which had needed about R80m to keep going until the end
of 2011.
In November, DRDGold announced it had accepted an expression
of interest from mining company Village to buy its stake in Blyvoor.
Village acquired DRDGold's shares through issuing Village
shares to DRDGold and paying R1.
This was valued at around R192m, DRDGold said. The sale
included various conditions, such as the conclusion of the sale of the mining
right of a portion of West Wits Mining Right by AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG] to
Blyvoor by May 30.
It would also depend on the approval of the competition authorities and the conversion of Blyvoor's old order mining rights to new order mining rights by the department of mineral resources. Last week, DRDGold said it could cut up to 1 800 jobs when it stopped mining two shafts at Blyvoor.
