Implats said Royal Bafokeng Resources Holdings (RBR), representing the country's Royal Bafokeng tribe, will purchase a 49 per cent stake in Impala Refining Services for around 3,4 billion rand which will give the group an effective nine percent stake in Implats.

RBR already holds a 1,35 per cent stake in Implats.

The platinum producer will facilitate the sale of a three percent stake in the group to staff worth around 1,786 billion rand, it said.

Implats will establish a trust and make a capital contribution to fund the staff acquisition of 2,05 million shares in the platinum miner.The transactions are in line with South Africa's government-backed black economic empowerment (BEE) drive, a massive affirmative action programme aimed at giving the black majority a bigger slice of the economy, 11 years after the demise of apartheid.

South Africa's 300 000-strong Royal Bafokeng tribe earns royalties from Impala Platinum from the platinum under its land in the North West province.

Some 500 million rand a year in income are channelled into the Royal Bafokeng Resources Holdings, one of the country's richest black-owned mining investment firms.

Implats said it believed the BEE transactions and a previous deal selling its stake in smaller platinum producer Lonmin to form black-owned Incwala Platinum, will satisfy ownership requirements under an industry-agreed Mining Charter.Under South Africa's Mining Charter passed last year, mining firms must ensure that their domestic assets are 15 per cent owned by blacks within five years and 26 per cent within 10 years.

-Nampa-Reuters

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