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Emperor to sell its Fijian mining assets

THE beleaguered Emperor Mines has announced that it has offered the sale of its Fijian gold mine and other Fijian assets to a private Australian company, Westech International Ltd.
Following board discussions in South Africa, the company said: “Emperor proposes to sell 100% of the shares in the Australian companies which hold its Fijian interests.
“The intention is that all assets and liabilities of the Fijian operation will be transferred to Westech with immediate effect.”
Sale of the Fiji’s Vatukoula mine will leave Emperor with its 20% stake in the Porgera gold mine and its fully-owned Tolukuma gold mine, which is currently the centre of a controversy regarding possible lead poisoning involving streams in the area.
The Emperor statement said the sale of the Fijian assets would allow it to proceed with restructuring plans that had been announced earlier.
Emperor has been in discussions with Westech and the interim government in Fiji to provide joint social and environmental assistance to the community at Vatukoula and to lessen any impact from the cessation of mining last December.
Emperor, which closed steady at A$0.092 last Friday, said the Fijian government had agreed to support the sale process.