Johannesburg - Emperor Mines had selected a buyer for its closed Fijian gold mine and held discussions regarding its remaining assets, the Australian-listed group said yesterday.
Emperor, in which troubled JSE-listed gold producer DRDGold holds a 78.7 percent stake, was still considering a number of restructuring options, said spokesperson Patrick Bindon.
The company had held talks with between 15 and 20 parties seeking to merge with the group or buy its operations in Papua New Guinea, where it owns the Tolukuma gold mine and a 20 percent stake in Porgera, the rest of which is owned by Barrick Gold of Canada.
The restructuring follows the closure of Emperor's Vatukoula gold mine in Fiji in December.
Bindon said a number of parties had initially shown an interest in buying Vatukoula. The field of buyers had then been shortlisted to three parties before a "private Australian company" was selected to buy the mine as it had made "an attractive offer".
Emperor had held talks with the interim Fijian government regarding the sale and the two parties remained in dialogue to reach an eventual agreement, Bindon said, adding that the sale of Vatukoula was conditional on the support of the Fijian government.
"Emperor is looking for a clean exit from Fiji and for the buyer of Vatukoula to enjoy the support of the interim government," he said.
DRDGold has lost close to R1.3 billion in market value since the closure of Vatukoula was announced in December. The company's stock has also come under pressure due to uncertainty regarding the Australasian restructuring as well as the issue of new shares to pay down debt.
DRDGold's market capitalisation has nearly halved from almost R2.7 billion in early December to just above R1.4 billion yesterday.
Imara SP Reid analyst Stephen Meintjes said the share price had been suffering from disillusionment with the stock by US gold bug investors, who had bought into DRDGold's Australasian strategy.
For the half year to December, DRDGold reported a record loss of more than R1 billion, mainly due to the write-down of Vatukoula as well as losses at the mine.
In contrast to the Australasian venture, the company's South African operations appeared to be doing "fairly well", Bindon added.
In South Africa, DRDGold has interests in Blyvooruitzicht, ERPM and Crown surface operations. During the interim period, the local mines produced almost 180 000 ounces of gold, little changed from a year earlier.