[Ferro-Alloys.com] Bushveld Minerals Ltd on Tuesday said it had received approval for the acquisition of minority interests in the Vametco vanadium mine and production facility.

Further to announcement on October 30, the vanadium producer headquartered in South Africa confirmed that it had met all preconditions for the transaction, and received final approval from the South African Reserve Bank.

Bushveld has now acquired the 26% minority interest from the Black Economic Empowerment consortium in return for issuing 232.8 million shares of one pence each, representing 13% of the company's issued shared capital. This increases Bushveld's ownership of Vametco to 100%, granting it full operational and financial control, along with "complete control over Vametco's cash flows previously restricted by the minority interest."

Bushveld said that this move "is immediately value accretive to Bushveld shareholders and is expected to enhance earnings per share going forward."

Application has been made for the 232.8 million new shares to be admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange, expected to take effect by December 20.

Chief Executive Officer Craig Coltman said: "The approval of this important transaction by SARB strengthens and confirms the direction of our company strategy. This allows us to consolidate the ownership of a valuable vanadium-producing asset, solely under one entity - Bushveld Minerals."

Bushveld Minerals was last quoted at 2.25 pence per share on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday morning.

• [Editor:tianyawei]