Ian Dearing manoeuvres to cling on to Asa Resource's gold and diamond assets

摘要

With the nickel, gold and diamonds firm in administration, Ian Dearing, the last man standing on the Asa Resource board, is fighting a rearguard action to regain a semblance of control and to hang on to some potentially very lucrative company assets in the DRC. On 25 March, a London court approved the application submitted by the joint administrators of the British mining company Asa Resource Group (formerly Mwana Africa) which should clear the way to finalising the administration proceedings of this firm, which started nearly three years ago. The administrators have identified a buyer, Landela Investments, which is willing to pay £23m (around $30m) for Asa's two principal assets in Zimbabwe: the Bindura nickel mine and the Freda Rebecca gold mine (Africa Intelligence, 10/12/19). This should cover the firm's debts in full and guarantee that creditors will be reimbursed. However, an action launched recently by Ian Dearing may yet delay the winding up of the process. The businessman is seeking permission from the British courts to appoint additional directors to the Asa board, on which he is currently the last man standing - several board members have resigned and one has died since the administration got under way. He is also asking the court to afford these future board members a certain latitude in overseeing the operations of the firm and its subsidiaries pending the conclusion of the administration process. Normally it is only on completion of the process that the control of a company is handed back to its board.