AUSTRALIA-listed Stonewall Resources, which owns historic gold mines near Pilgrim’s Rest in Mpumalanga, will be paid $12.6m plus interest and costs by Hong Kong-listed Shandong Qixing Iron Tower under an arbitration award, after Shandong walked away from an offer to buy Stonewall in late 2014. Chinese companies were keen buyers of South African gold and platinum companies a few years ago, with some big investments in Gold One, Taung Gold, and Wesizwe Platinum. But interest has ebbed in the past two years. Central Rand Gold, which spent more than a year in talks with four Chinese buyers, ultimately failed to sign any deal.
Stonewall, which owns the TGME assets bought from Simmer & Jack in 2010, said previously Shandong’s reasons for terminating the sale agreement were unclear, but seemed to be related to weaker gold prices and Shandong’s expectation that this would affect returns from Stonewall. Although the award will come as a relief to the cash-strapped entity, it is consid...
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