Two local suitors had expressed interest in purchasing the Grootvlei and Orkney mines of embattled mining group Aurora Empowerment Systems. One was listed on the JSE and the other was a private company, Pamodzi liquidator Enver Motala said yesterday.
“(The suitors) will be empowerment compliant. We are negotiating… but I can’t disclose details right now,” he said.
In two weeks, Motala would meet at the mines with prospective Chinese investors who had previously promised to buy a stake and finance Aurora.
The board of the Chinese company had approved the deal, but the state-owned firm awaited a nod from the Chinese government and shareholders.
Aurora is headed by President Jacob Zuma’s nephew Khulubuse Zuma (as chairman), former president Nelson Mandela’s grandson Zondwa Mandela (as managing director) and President Zuma’s former lawyer Michael Hulley.
Gideon Du Plessis, the spokesman for trade union Solidarity, which has applied for Aurora’s liquidation, said yesterday that while employees at Aurora might not have access to their salaries if a liquidation application was successful, staff would get their Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) benefits.
The success of the application would make room for interested parties waiting in the wings to bid for the mines.
Last month, the North Gauteng High Court granted the mining group an extension to find R600 million to buy both the mines after internal processes at the group’s proposed Chinese partner led to another delay to August.
Du Plessis said Solidarity wanted Aurora removed from running the mines as it had failed to pay staff salaries since last March. The union was pursuing legal action against Aurora to claim R4.6m for salaries in arrears to 100 staff.
“(Aurora has) committed itself to finalise UIF documentation, and submit the (data) by next week to the Department of Labour, so that workers can receive their UIF benefits by next month,” he said.
“Once liquidated, chances are employees will not get their money back, but they will become the preferred creditors if the company is sold for scrap.”
Du Plessis said that the liquidation would bring an end to the stripping by Aurora of the Grootvlei and Orkney mines, which devalued both assets, making them less attractive to prospective investors.
“If Aurora is removed there are other parties interested in the bid. This will bring an end to the Aurora saga, and will compel liquidators and the Department of Water Affairs to become responsible for the pumping of poisonous underground water,” he said.
National Union of Mineworkers spokesman Lesiba Seshoka believed the liquidators were extending the process to make more money.
Thulani Ngubane, a director at Aurora, said the company was dealing with the problems.
“I don’t want to have pressure from outsiders. Let us finish everything before the media is briefed,” he said. - Business Report
