Southern Platinum acquired by Lonmin Investments
2005-06-14 14:33 MT - News Release
Mr. Alex Shorland-Ball of Lonmin reports
LONMIN COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF SOUTHERN PLATINUM; RENAMES MESSINA MINE LONMIN PLATINUM LIMPOPO
Lonmin PLC subsidiary Lonmin Investments Canada Inc. has paid for the common shares in the capital of Southern Platinum Corp. deposited and taken up on June 10, 2005, in connection with Lonmin Investments' offer to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares in the capital of Southern Platinum.
The 81,027,739 shares taken up and paid for by Lonmin Investments represent approximately 92.6 per cent of the total number of shares issued and outstanding, giving Lonmin an indirect controlling interest in Southern Platinum. The offer has been extended to 5 p.m. Toronto time on June 28, 2005, to allow shareholders who have not had the opportunity to tender their shares under the offer to do so.
Lonmin has now taken over control of the Messina mine operations, which will be renamed Lonmin Platinum Limpopo with immediate effect. Lonmin has also completed the acquisition of the offtake agreement with Impala Platinum.
All the former directors of Southern Platinum will be resigning from the board and will be replaced by Brad Mills, John Robinson, Ian Farmer, Peter Godsoe and Jack Jones, who are all directors or senior officers of Lonmin. Lonmin will also appoint a further resident Canadian independent director.
Ricus Grimbeek, currently vice-president of SHEC for Lonmin, has been appointed president of Lonmin Platinum Limpopo. Mr. Grimbeek has been heading Lonmin's integration planning team over the last two months and will now assume responsibility for the mine and the integration process.
Lonmin Platinum Limpopo has a strike length of 23 kilometres and an attributable platinum group mineral resource base of 20 million ounces (five platinum group elements plus gold) to a depth of 1,000 metres. The current mining operations at Lonmin Platinum Limpopo cover a strike length of four kilometres. Over the next 18 months, Lonmin plans to re-engineer these operations to change the mining method to long-hole stoping. Production from Lonmin Platinum Limpopo is targeted to increase from the current 45,000 ounces of platinum per year to 75,000 ounces of platinum for the financial year to September, 2007. Capital expenditures over the next three years to achieve this level of production will be around $75-million (U.S.).
Commenting on the completion of the acquisition, Brad Mills, chief executive, said: "I am delighted that we have managed to complete the acquisition of Southern Platinum and take over the running of Messina. The newly named Lonmin Platinum Limpopo is entering a new era in its development on a financially secure basis and we look forward to working with its employees to realize the potential of the Limpopo resource base."
We seek Safe Harbor.
K.D.
