Xolco's BEE deal

I could be grasping at straws, but there's something interesting I came across in MRC's last quarterly report on their website... Not sure if they have addressed the issue, but if they haven't it may prove bad faith toward the community - especially as we know there hasn't been full consultation, nor negotiation:

Xolco is paying $18mil for their 26% share issue... for the privilege of having their ancestral lands mined... but what is that issue price based on? MRC very glaringly omit that info from the report, but have kindly included the Tormin Mineral Sands Project rationale that for their 50% stake Marodi will pay the subscription price of R5,531,636, which represents 50% of the value expended to date on the Project by MSR plus R2,000,000.

It's anyone's guess what "value expended to date" really means, but it's reasonable to assume that it was for prospecting, scoping and administrative costs . . . Financing of equipment and infrastructure will presumably be a shared responsibility of the shareholders as and when the license is obtained... unless value expended to date includes a few lorries and shovels to move the paydirt to Anglo's mineral separation plant down the road.

Xolco, on the other hand, are paying R126 million for a mere 26% shareholding in their own fortune (so to speak, and leaving aside the disputatious status of that corporate entity for the time being) - but I'm uncertain how that figure is derived. It's impossible that such a large number could be derived as a percentage of the value expended to date; and it would be a glaring double standard - if BEE ideals were to be taken seriously - if the price were based on projected returns over any period of time whatsoever... And so the only fair and rational explanation I can imagine is that the subscription price is based on projected infrastructure setup costs. That should be the basis of most equitable and ethical business partnerships, surely? more especially for an alleged empowerment transaction.

If so, has the issue price been renegotiated since TEM removed the smelter from the EIA?

????

I can't find anything substantial concerning the issue price, apart from TEM having to reimburse MRC $400,000 for prospecting and associated costs. TEM selling a 26% share for such a large amount is questionable in the extreme, I believe, especially since the community should be charging for access to their area. Viz. The Richest Tribe in Africa... the Bafokeng.