South Africa police standoff with illegal gold miners escalates
The police sealed off access to the Buffelsfontein gold mine in Stilfontein several weeks ago to deny the miners access to food and other essentials.
N. Murray Edwards watches the Calgary Flames from the owner’s box in the Scotiabank Saddledome, 2011.
Oil sands tycoon N. Murray Edwards, one of Canada’s most prominent billionaires, has agreed to lend Imperial Metals (TSE:III) $25 million (Cdn$30m) as the company had to delay the start of its Red Chris gold and copper project in British Columbia.
The Canadian miner, whose Mount Polley mine tailings pond failed catastrophically last summer, said in a statement that it also plans an Cdn$80 million rights offering to repay the loan and fund the development of Red Chris and the restart of Mount Polley.
This is not the first time that Edwards, Imperial’s largest shareholder, gives the Vancouver-based firm a much-needed helping hand. After the major spill at the company’s Mount Polley mine last summer, he backed a Cdn$100 million bond sale to help fund the clean-up.
Edwards, chairman of Canadian Natural Resources (TSX:CNQ) — Canada’s largest heavy oil producer— and co-owner of the hockey team Calgary Flames, is also Edco Capital Corp., which is acting as the official lender.
Shares in Imperial Metals were down almost 4% this morning to $12.30 at 10:00 am ET.
2 Comments
Zulugroove
Goodwin couldn’t keep rambling on ..had to go catch his 3 eyed fish supper at the discharge outlet at the tar sands ….yumm!!
Chickenman
The greatest catstrophe involved is to the mining industry who will now have to overcome the bad press and resultant tightening of regulations after such events. No one single event is a catastrophe, perhaps, but cumulative effect of safety, pollution, and corruption make things interesting.