Trans Hex in another Angolan diamond mining feud

Trans Hex said that the expansion of its sole operating diamond mine in Angola, Somiluana, is heavily compromised as none of the shareholders was willing to contribute own funds to advance production at the mine.
Company chief executive Llewellyn Delport was quoted by Miningmx as saying that its 33 percent-owned Somiluana mine would now be looking at third party finance to take the asset forward.
He, however, said that third-party finance was difficult to get in South Africa and even more difficult in Angola.
Delport said that the mine’s entire production of 42,000 carats during Trans Hex’s 2012 financial year was mined with pilot production equipment.
“The latest contract [between the partners] said we’ll do funding equal [to each one’s shareholding],” said Delport.
“They don’t see their way clear, so we don’t see our way clear It’s not that the partners don’t have money. They have deep pockets but very short arms.”
The impasse over Somiluana comes at a time Trans Hex continues to try to exit from two discontinued assets in Angola, Luarica and Fucauma.
The Angolan state revoked the mining rights for these operations in October 2011, as no mining activities had been performed there since 2009.
The parties had been negotiating over the termination of the mining agreements since 2009, with the remaining issues seemingly evolving around each party’s share for the assumption of liabilities.

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished