Local investment group sues mining firm for $20 million

Asa Resources is being sued for $20 million by a group of local investors, Zindico Consortium, for refusing to acknowledge a share purchase agreement signed in 2013 with the mining group, then known as Mwana Africa Plc.

The signed agreement gave Zindico Consortium the right to acquire 26 percent of Freda Rebecca, the local gold mining unit of the Alternative Investment Market listed mining group, which has assets in Zimbabwe, South Africa and DRC. The Chinese shareholders last year approved a change of name from Mwana Africa to Asa Resources.

In the botched Freda Rebecca transaction, Zindico Consortium signed a sale and purchase agreement with Mwana Africa for the acquisition of 26 percent stake in Freda Rebecca, but upon taking over Asa executive chairman, Yat Hoi Ning, however professed ignorance of the agreement saying he had never heard of Zindico Consortium which prompted the indigenous partners to sue the Chinese shareholders.