Waterpan Mining Consortium, one of the early owners of the Ezulwini mine, and Russia’s Renova Group have made a bid for the mine from embattled First Uranium.

The bid was made to counter the initial  $70m offer from Gold One which some shareholders in First Uranium termed “too low”.

Neal Froneman, CEO of Gold One confirmed the development but added no further details other than that they were spending the weekend reviewing the proposal.

According to Froneman, Gold One has “a very solid offer, which is legally binding”.

First Uranium,  which has spent $400m on refurbishing the mine’s shaft and building a new plant, has received separate cash offers for its operating assets from AngloGold Ashanti and Gold One totalling $405m, money it needs to pay down debt falling due soon.

AngloGold, a 19.8% shareholder in First Uranium, had bid $335, while Gold One bid $70m for the gold and uranium Ezulwini mine and treatment plant, which are contiguous to its Cooke operations.

The Renova and Waterpan offer is understood to be highly conditional and subject to a due diligence study, which will leave little room for manoeuvre by First Uranium, which is facing the repayment of C$150m in convertible debentures by the end of June.

According to a founding director of Waterpan, Chopper van der Bijl, Ezulwini has huge value compared to what is being offered for it. He opined that after lenghty discussions with Renova, Waterpan, which used to own 10% of Ezulwini, has decided to make a bid with Renova’s backing.

However, Mr van der Bijl declined giving details on the arrangement between Waterpan and Renova or on the offer to First Uranium, stating over-sensitivity as a reason.