Kevin Crowley
THE Gupta family, which has close links to President Jacob Zuma, plans to raise at least R800 million for a uranium mining company with assets in the North West.
Shares of Oakbay Resources & Energy, which owns 74 percent of Shiva Uranium, would begin trading on the JSE on Friday, the company said last week.
South Africa is planning to produce as many as 9 600 megawatts, about a quarter of installed capacity now, using nuclear power by 2030.
“In anticipation of the expected increase in demand for uranium, the company is in the process of commissioning a definitive feasibility study on its mineral deposits with a view to raising additional capital,” Oakbay said.
The money will be raised from local and foreign investors in the 12 months after listing. The Guptas’s Oakbay Investments company holds 79.99 percent of the shares in Oakbay Resources, according to the company.
Shiva Uranium, which owns the Dominion and Rietkuil mines, was previously a unit of Uranium One, formerly run by Neal Froneman, Sibanye Gold’s current chief executive.
Froneman spun SXR Uranium One off Aflease Gold in 2005 in a merger with a Canadian company and three years later resigned after prices collapsed and production stalled.
Oakbay’s chairman is Atul Gupta and its executive director for operations is his nephew Varun Gupta.
In the past, the family has hired one of Zuma’s sons, Duduzane, to serve as a director on the boards of its Sahara Computer and Shiva Uranium businesses, while one of Zuma’s wives has worked for its JIC Mining Services business.
Last year, the Guptas issued a public apology after an Airbus carrying guests for a wedding of one of their relatives landed at the high-security Waterkloof Air Force base near Pretoria.
Zuma denied authorising the landing and blamed lower-level officials. – Bloomberg