New investors, Siyakhula Sonke Empowerment Co-operation, have bought the Lily Gold Mine in Barberton, Mpumalanga, for an undisclosed amount of money.
The former owners of Lily and Babrook mines, Vantage Goldfields have decided to sell both mines. Lily Gold Mine suspended operations three years ago after the mine collapsed leaving three employees, Solomon Nyerenda, Pretty Nkambule and Yvonne Mnisi, trapped underground.
The new company has envisaged starting operations soon. CEO Fred Arendse says they have finally secured R190-million of funding from the Industrial Development Corporation.
“We have signed an agreement as early as November last year with the Vantage require the mines from them and we have raised the required capital to bring both mines out of the business rescue and how we gonna do that is first is to open Babrook because Babrook mine was closed as the result of the collapse. So that is the easy in the part of opening that mine first and we envisage to do that in June this year.”
