JOHANNESBURG, Aug 1 (Reuters) - South African miner Harmony Gold
said on Friday an agreement to sell its Mount Magnet operations to Australian
junior miner Monarch Gold had been terminated.
Harmony said in a statement Monarch had been placed in voluntary
administration and would not press ahead with the A$65 million ($61.90 million)
purchase.
Harmony received a deposit of A$5 million from Monarch, of which A$2.5
million is refundable, it said.
The Mount Magnet operations include Hill 50, Great Fingall, St George,
Star and Big Bell mines, which comprises a resource inventory of 2.7 million
ounces of gold, tenements covering about 62,000 hectares and 166 exploration
licence blocks, along with a 2.7 million tonnes a year capacity plant.
Harmony, which is selling some assets after reviewing its operations, had
previously said the sale of Mount Magnet would be the last of those operations
to be sold. It would then focus on developing and operating larger, longer-life
mines.
Shares in Harmony fell 2.79 percent to 78.01 rand, against a 3.11 percent
fall in the sector index <.JGLDX>.
(Reporting by Johannesburg newsroom; Editing by Paul Bolding) (For full
Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit:
http://africa.reuters.com) Keywords: HARMONY MONARCH/
TFN.newsdesk@thomsonreuters.com
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