Aurora Empowerment Systems, which yesterday expected a judgment of final liquidation, was saved by the bell as the North Gauteng High Court postponed the matter to Friday.
The court was due to decide whether it would allow a Chinese-owned state company, which has agreed to provide funding for Aurora, more time to get approval for $100 million (R695m) in funds from Chinese government departments.
Yesterday the company had to produce funding guarantees to buy the Grootvlei and Orkney mines from financially stricken Pamodzi Gold.
Pamodzi liquidator Enver Motala said yesterday that the board of the Chinese state-owned mining company had confirmed in a letter to Aurora last week that it would produce the funding guarantee.
However, the company needed to get approval from “certain government departments in China before it can go ahead with the deal”, he said.
“Certain developments have taken place in court. Aurora produced a letter from the Chinese state-owned mining company in which it confirmed that its board approved the deal but was waiting for state departments to also approve the deal. The company has asked for more time to get the approval from state departments… The court must decide whether or not to give the company more time to get the approval.”
It is not the first time the case has been postponed. In December the court gave the politically connected company – which is headed by President Jacob Zuma’s nephew, Khulubuse Zuma and former president Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Zondwa Mandela – more time to raise funds for the deal. Aurora made a bid to buy the mines in October 2009, but production has ground to a halt due to non-payment of workers and the cancellation of deals.
Trade unions have not given up on retrieving millions of rands in salaries. National Union of Mineworkers general secretary Frans Baleni said: “We have heard the story about the Chinese mining company so many times, we are struggling to believe Aurora… Our anger is at boiling point… The liquidators, Aurora and the courts know the pain of being without a salary. (Aurora) has destroyed families, members’ homes have been repossessed.”
Solidarity deputy general secretary Gideon du Plessis said the union had yesterday lodged a second notice for the company to pay up R1.5m in salaries to members. “Aurora must do the honourable thing of paying employees,” he said.
The identity of the Chinese state-owned mining company that is set to buy a 65 percent stake in Aurora will be kept a secret until the deal has been finalised. It is to be listed on both the Shanghai and Beijing stock exchanges and owns 100 companies and 22 old mines in mainland China. - Business Report