Sibanye Gold announced on Tuesday that the South African Reserve Bank had approved its proposed $2.2bn deal to acquire US-based mining group Stillwater.
The JSE-listed gold and platinum producer said it expected the deal to close in the second half of this year, although some conditions still needed to be met.
The acquisition is still subject to shareholder approval from both Sibanye and Stillwater, which mines palladium and platinum.
The transaction further requires approval from the committee on foreign investment in the US, and some other regulatory conditions must be met.
Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman said Sibanye was "pleased to have received another important regulatory approval" and that "management remained focused on ensuring that the remaining conditions are met".
Stillwater is the only US miner of platinum group metals and the largest primary producer of these outside SA and Russia, while Sibanye is the fifth-largest producer of platinum group metals (PGM) worldwide.
This followed last week’s announcement that Sibanye had secured a loan, backed by Citibank and HSBC, that would help pay the proposed $2.2bn price tag on Stillwater.
Sibanye has said the deal would help it add two low-cost and low-risk PGM mines, and would provide security with added reserves and add short and long run growth.
© Business Day
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