Investor for Lily Mine 'imminent'

Rob Devereux of business rescue company Sturns says finding an investor forLily Mine is "imminent".

"If it's a yea, then the money will flow," he said.

A plan to recover the buried container - which is lying in a precarious position on unstable ground - has been developed by international geotechnical experts, but so far no investor has been prepared to foot the R130-million bill.

Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane has halted mining until the container and three bodies are recovered.

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Mike McChesney, CEO of Vantage Goldfields, which owns Lily Mine, said its future was in the hands of Sturns.

"People want their jobs back now ... the employees of Lily are not earning anything."

Mine management had also not been paid since the incident. " We were promised money from the IDC [Industrial Development Corporation], but it wasn't forthcoming. It would have been nice to get support from state-owned entities, which have the capacity to help," McChesney said.

Zwane said this week that Lily Mine needed special focus and his deputy, Godfrey Oliphant, was attending to the matter. Oliphant's spokesman, Solomon Phetla, said on Friday that the deputy minister was in Namibia and would not be available until next week.

The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union did not respond to queries, while the Department of Mineral Resources said the investigation into the accident would be converted into an inquiry.

This week, the department appeared before parliament's portfolio committee on mineral resources to give an update on the progress made to recover the container. It said it was "greatly concerned about the prolonged business rescue process".

However, at the time of going to press, the department had not answered specific questions from the Sunday Times regarding Lily Mine.