Antares buys share in Rappa Holdings

Canadian junior Antares Mining & Exploration (TSE) has agreed to buy a 50% equity interest in Rappa Holdings, a South African-based gold producer.

Antares will pay $5 million for the interest in Rappa, which recovers gold from underground gold-bearing ores, surface dumps and mining byproducts through two subsidiaries. Antares will also invest another $1.5 million in the form of a subordinate debenture.

Rappa, which also recovers gold, silver and platinum from electronic scrap, expects to recover more than 33,000 oz. gold for the year ending Feb. 29, 1996, compared with 14,022 oz. the previous year. The company expects gold recovery to increase to 48,000 oz. in 1997.

The companies anticipate high profits for the coming year as a result of Rappa’s fluid bed roasting and heavy media separation technologies, through which gold is recovered from low-grade ores and complex gold-bearing materials.

Antares also expects this technology to enhance mill recoveries at its Lady Lina mine in Zimbabwe, where production is to begin in March.