Nyota Minerals Regulatory News (NYO)

26 Jul 2006 10:46

Dwyka Diamonds Limited26 July 2006 26 July 2006 Dwyka Diamonds Limited Dwyka moves to 70% ownership of De Beers Tailings Joint Venture as part of BEE restructure Dwyka Diamonds Limited ("Dwyka" or "the Company"), the AIM and ASX quoteddiamond developer and producer, announced today that it will move to 70%ownership of the De Beers Tailings joint venture, under the terms of a letteragreement with Kolong Investment Holdings (Pty) Ltd ("Kolong"), the Company'spreferred South African black economic empowerment ("BEE") partner. Therestructure of Dwyka's South African investments will result in Kolongcontrolling a 30% interest in each of the Company's underground mines, theNooitgedacht Alluvial Mine, the Industrial Division and the Tailings jointventure, with Dwyka controlling the remaining 70%. The restructure will resultin Dwyka being fully compliant with the South African BEE legislation. The key terms of the letter agreement, which is being documented more fully in aformal share sale agreement, are: • Kolong's existing 60% interest in the De Beers Tailings re-treatment project will be reduced to 30%; • the existing 30% BEE interest in each of the Bosele Exploration Project and the Kimberley-based bricks business operated by Dwyka's subsidiary Biz Afrika 546 (Pty) Ltd, will be unchanged; • Kolong will acquire a 30% interest in each of the Kimberley-based cement business operated by Dwyka's wholly-owned subsidiary Supermix Mining (Pty) Ltd, the Nooitgedacht Alluvial Mine and the Blaauwbosch, Newlands and New Elands underground diamond mines; and • Kolong will be paid a once-off cash payment of R2,000,000. The restructure will be effected through the creation of a South Africansubsidiary company which will be owned 70% by Dwyka and 30% by Kolong. Alloperations will then be owned 100% by this entity. Speaking today in relation to the restructure, Adrian Griffin, Dwyka's CEO,said: "The signing of this letter agreement is an important step in Dwyka'splans for its South African operations. The formalisation of our partnershipwith Kolong and the BEE empowerment of each of our assets will not only benefitDwyka in terms of the continued development of our existing projects, but willalso provide us with a strong platform to take advantage of future opportunitiesin South Africa." For further information please contact: In Australia In United KingdomAdrian Griffin/ Melissa Sturgess Laurence Read/ Leesa PetersDwyka Diamonds Limited Conduit PR(+618) 9324 2955 (+44) 20 7429 6605/ (+44) 7979 955 923 Or visit http://www.dwykadiamonds.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange