ANGLO BUYS STAKE IN ORION

ANGLO American’s Sefa (small enterprise finance agency) Mining Fund (AASMF) is set to own a stake in Orion Minerals, via its subsidiary, the listed exploration company said yesterday. This was following an agreement to convert preference shares held by Repli Trading No 27, a 73.33 percent-owned subsidiary of Orion, into shares to AASMF. The value of the shares to be issued by Orion would be between R23.98 million to R24.99m. AASMF subscribed for 15.75 million redeemable preference shares in Repli in November 2015 as part of a seed capital investment with the previous owners of the Prieska Zinc-Copper Project. Orion’s managing director and chief executive, Errol Smart, said: “AASMF’s original seed capital investment into Orion’s Repli subsidiary in 2015 was pivotal in helping to fund the early engineering work and to drill the first holes that demonstrated the huge potential of the Prieska deposit. This assisted Orion in securing substantial foreign investment that has allowed us to advance the Prieska Project to the point where we have recently published a scoping study and updated Mineral Resource and are poised to deliver a comprehensive bankable feasibility study in the second quarter 2019.” Launched in 2003, the AASMF is a joint initiative between Anglo American Zimele and Sefa, a government-owned entity that promotes small- and medium-enterprise development.