Aurora’s old Orkney mine faces another liquidation
The move to close down China African Precious Metals, which bought the Orkney assets in 2011, comes from its empowerment partners BEK Holdings
The Orkney gold mine — once owned by the former president’s nephew, Khulubuse Zuma and his partners at the notorious Aurora Empowerment Systems — is facing a liquidation yet again. The move to close down China African Precious Metals (CAPM), which bought the Orkney assets in 2011, comes from its empowerment partners BEK Holdings, which claim the majority shareholder, China-based Golden Haven, has, for years, deliberately starved the company of capital in order to hijack it. The impasse between the shareholders peaked this year when BEK director Elias Khumalo, who is seen as close to former president Jacob Zuma, was demoted and stripped of decision-making powers. Although operational, the mine owes an environmental liability of R123m to the department of mineral resources and so is insolvent and on the verge of having its licence revoked, according to BEK. Manchadi Kekana, CAPM’s lawyer, said the application is without merit and “an abuse of the court process geared to destabilise th...
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