Premier African Minerals Limited (LON:PREM) has welcomed changes to the indigenisation legislation in Zimbabwe, which potentially pave the way for its holding in tungsten mine RHA to be restructured.
George Roach, Premier’s chief executive, said: "The ratification of the amendments to the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act strongly reaffirms that Zimbabwe is open for business.
“A major procedural hurdle in the ongoing discussions with our joint venture partner NIEEF has now been removed.”
Premier has a 49% interest and is the operator at RHA and is in discussions with the country's indigenisation authority NIEFF over a debt-for-equity swap that will take its stake potentially up to 90%.
On Monday, it was reported that Zimbabwe had changed its empowerment law to limit majority ownership by state entities to only diamond and platinum mines and not the entire mining sector.
Corporate adviser Brandon Hill has been appointed to help with the funding and development of the RHA, Premier added.