Wesizwe Platinum, a privately held platinum exploration company, might list on the JSE Securities Exchange in the next 15 months, Michael Solomon, Wesizwe's chief executive, said at the weekend.
Wesizwe was given a boost last month when the Bakubung-ba-Ratheo tribe from near Sun City in the platinum-rich North West decided to use Wesizwe as its investment vehicle for any ventures it might embark on.
At least half of the mineral rights the Bakubung hold are adjacent to the successful and lucrative mineral rights held by the Royal Bafokeng Nation, on the prospective western limb of the Bushveld Complex.
Wesizwe had appointed merchant bankers Morgan Stanley to advise it on its listing and Solomon said the company would be following the advice of its bankers as to when the best time would be to take the company to the market.
"Once we have established that there is or maybe sooner we will go to the market," Solomon said.
He explained that initially the company would not be looking for additional funding from its listing but rather it wanted to create a platform to secure future funding.
He said the first listing would definitely be in Johannesburg with the possibility of secondary listing on the Alternative Investment Market in London.
The Bakubung hold 33 percent of Wesizwe and are the largest shareholder in the company. The total black empowerment shareholding of the company is 52 percent.
Solomon said the other large shareholder was Cape Town-based hedge fund Abante Capital, which holds 20 percent.
He said what differentiated Wesizwe from other exploration companies was that it had its exploration programmes fully funded until at least the middle of next year.
The company has about R115 million to boost its fledgling drilling programmes. Solomon explained that the company had only really started exploration in earnest in November last year.
"Geological exploration is in phase one and results to date are encouraging, while the intention is to proceed into phase two to upgrade the resource base to an inferred category," Solomon said.
A trust has been created with a budget of R10 million directed toward creating awareness in the tribe about the economics of exploring and mining platinum.
It would also allow the Bakubung to participate meaningfully in the operation of Wesizwe.
Solomon said this was "to manage the expectations" of the Bakubung and also to create a pool of skills to tap into if and when the company found an economic deposit.