The emerging mining guru says he is taking legal action against those who let him down.
Emerging mining business leader Fred Arendse is crying foul at his failed attempts to own the embattled Lily gold mine in Barberton.
He said he is taking legal action against all those who sabotaged the purchase.
The mine will now be given to another company called Real Win Investments after Arendse’s Siyakhula Sonke Empowerment Flaming Silver was thwarted by a court ruling from owning the mine.
The disagreement between the owners of the mine at Vantage Goldfields and Siyakhula Sonke began when it was discovered that Arendse didn’t really have the money to reopen the mine.
He and owners of the Vantage Goldfields had entered into an agreement in November 2017 for his Siyakhula Sonke to buy a 74% stake in Vantage Goldfields.
Vantage owns the closed Lily and Barbrook mines in the Mpumalanga area.
But then the deal was cancelled, with the sellers accusing Siyakhula of failing to comply with the funding arrangement that would see the mine opened again and jobs created.
Arendse’s Siyakhula had until 31 January 2018 to comply with the funding arrangement, else the deal is cancelled.
In May 2019, Arendse rushed to court after Vantage Goldfields cancelled the transfer of the 74% to his company. Arendse’s company is actually called Siyakhula Sonke Empowerment Corporation Silver and together with its subsidiary Flaming Silver Trading 373 are collectively known as the SSC Group.
The judgement, in favour of Vantage Goldfields, was made by the Mpumalanga High Court on 17 July 2019 and saw the deal cancelled.
This week Arendse accused owners of Vantage of using the Australian company to sabotage the government approval that was going to see him as Lily Mine owner.
He told City Press that all “responsible persons” will get the taste of their own salt as he is considering going to court over the matter.
He said any sale of the mine will be complicated because of an “ongoing” legal battle between himself and owners of Vantage Goldfields.
Vantage Goldfields owner Mike McChesney said they expected Siyakhula to fulfil the funding requirements.
He said they never in fact sabotaged owners of Siyakhula but instead they dealt “with our assets as we see fit”.
“And we have now brought a new investor who has the money to open the mines and pay all the creditors,” McChesney said.
(edited by ZK)
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