Ann: Sale of Northern and Southern Region Assets , page-6

re: Ann: Sale of Northern and Southern Region...
New twist in Kagara deal

Nick Evans, The West AustralianJuly 1, 2013, 7:48 am

The mystery buyer of Kagara's remaining North Queensland mining assets is a Queensland horse trainer who was once sentenced to four years jail for his part in a gold-stealing ring.

Administrators FTI Consulting announced a conditional $71 million deal on Friday for the sale of its northern and southern assets - its Mungana underground base metals and gold projects and its Thalanga operations - to $2 shelf company Lucky Metals Pty Ltd.

Lucky Metals, which was registered as a company only on June 20, is wholly owned by Leendert Cornelius Van der Sluys. In mid-2000 Mr Van der Sluys was one of three men convicted in the Perth District Court over a gold-stealing scam at Fraser's gold mine near Southern Cross. Mr Van der Sluys was sentenced to jail for his role in laundering gold worth an estimated $350,000 at the time, stolen from a visible gold vein at the mine by a group of underground miners including his brother, Frits Alexander Van der Sluys.

Mr Van der Sluys moved to Queensland to run a horse training stable. Sources say he has kept a low profile, but has successfully backed a number of high-flying junior mining companies, and they have little doubt about his ability to find the cash necessary to close the purchase of the Kagara assets.

Lucky Mining is due to pay $6 million in deposits to Kagara's administrators by Wednesday, with the sale expected to close by September if conditions are satisfied.

Before then, Mr Van der Sluys must convince Kagara secured lenders Investec Bank to back the deal, along with shareholders of ASX-listed Mungana Gold Mines, which still holds the gold rights over their namesake tenements.

Should the deal come off, it will take the PCF Capital-managed asset sale process to $111 million, after last year's $40 million deal with Hong Kong's Snow Peak Mining for the sale of Kagara's central North Queensland assets, including the Mt Garnet processing plant, the Balcooma and Baal Gammon mining areas and the Einasleigh and Maitland exploration projects.

It is still unclear how much Kagara creditors can expect to be paid. The company is estimated to have owed $148 million when it collapsed in April last year. With secured creditors first in line, and little visibility on the costs of the administration, Kagara creditors still face an uncertain wait.

Mr Van der Sluys could not be contacted for comment yesterday. Origins 1981 Kagara founded to explore for gemstones and tantalite in Forrestania-Southern Cross Greenstone Belt Source: Kagara

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/business/a/-/wa/17816003/new-twist-in-kagara-deal/