South African platinum miner in trouble

Wesizwe Platinum faces removal from the JSE for failing to submit its annual report on time.

The exchange informed the market on Friday, 2 May 2025, that Wesizwe failed to submit its annual report within the four-month period stipulated in the JSE’s Listings Requirements.

Accordingly, it said the company’s listing on the JSE trading system has been annotated with a “RE” to indicate that it has failed to submit its annual report on time.

It added that the listing of the company’s securities is also under threat of suspension and possible removal.

“If the above-mentioned company still fails to submit its annual report on or before 31 May 2025, then its listing may be suspended,” the exchange warned.

Wesizwe is a South African company that aims to enter into Platinum Group Metals (PGM) mining in the country.

The company’s website explains that it plans to use this as the launch pad for growing into a significant multi-commodity mining company that sets new benchmarks for sustainable mining practices.

Wesizwe’s core project is the Bakubung Platinum Mine (BPM), formerly known as the Frischgewaagd-Ledig project. 

BPM is located approximately 40 km north-west of Rustenburg, and directly south of the Pilanesberg Alkaline Complex on the Western Limb of the Bushveld Complex. 

The mine is within the jurisdiction of the Bojanala Platinum District Municipality, as well as the Rustenburg and Moses Kotane Local Municipalities. 

The company focuses on high-value PGM and strategic metals that will have long-term demand and enable the group to grow into a sustainable mid-tier mining house. 

Its website explains that the company’s Chinese consortium shareholder, Jinchuan Mining and China-Africa Development Fund, and the experienced Chinese mining professionals on its board are highly influential in developing Wesizwe’s strategy.

The company has been listed on the JSE for around two decades and has consistently published its financial statements as required by the exchange’s Listing Requirements.

However, this changed in October 2024, when the company announced a delay in the publication of its interim results.

Auditors, cyber attacks and delays

On 1 October 2024, Wesizwe acknowledged via SENS that its interim financial results for the six months ended 30 June 2024 were not published before 30 September 2024, as expected.

It said this was due to a delay in finalising the interim review and that these results are expected to be published on or before 14 October 2024. The company met this deadline with no further delays.

On the same day, 14 October, Wesizwe published another announcement explaining that its auditor, SizweNtsalubaGobodo Grant Thornton, expressed a disclaimer of review conclusion.

In other words, the auditor did not have enough reliable information to form a professional judgment on whether the financial information is fairly presented or reliable.

This was because the company’s directors could not provide the auditor with certain agreements from a major Wesizwe shareholder who had committed funding for the foreseeable future.

“As a result, the Auditor is not able to confirm or dispel whether the preparation of the financial statements using the going concern basis of accounting is appropriate and accordingly does not express a conclusion on the Interim Results,” it said.

Wesizwe explained that the board’s inability to produce the agreement was due to a delay in approving the letter of support over and above the current approved funding cap of $1.52 billion (R27.95 billion).

It said approval beyond the current cap limit requires approval from the China National Development and Reform Committee, which is ongoing and expected to be completed before the end of December 2024.

However, the company assured shareholders that there are reasonable grounds to believe that it will successfully obtain the required funding and have sufficient funds to meet its obligations.

The company did not provide any further updates until 10 December 2024, when it informed the market that its information management systems had been compromised. 

At the time, the company was still determining the extent of this breach, but said the potentially impacted data may relate to Wesizwe’s Legal, Finance, Procurement and Human Resources functions.

It added that this data may include personal information relating to natural and juristic persons.

“We would like to assure stakeholders that Wesizwe is taking the necessary measures to ensure that this situation is contained and remediated in order to restore the reliability of its information systems,” it said.

Updates

It was only on 8 January 2025 that the company provided an update on the auditing matter announced in October 2024.

Wesizwe announced via SENS that the approval process for the letter of support beyond the current funding cap is still ongoing. 

The company said it is actively working with Jinchuan HK and Jinchuan Group to finalise the updated funding application report for the Bakubung Project and anticipates completing this process by the end of June 2025.

It again reassured shareholders that the majority shareholder is committed to the project and providing financial support.

In addition, it added that the majority shareholder has since made loan advances of $90.75 million to Wesizwe for the Bakubung Project, in line with their commitment to support the company financially.

The company said it is confident that Wesizwe will secure the required funding to meet its financial obligations and achieve the operational completion of the Bakubung Project.

Two months later, on 20 March 2025, Wesizwe informed shareholders of a delay in the publication of its annual financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024.

It also announced delays in publishing its Integrated Annual Report and the notice of its Annual General Meeting.

The company attributed this to the sophisticated cyber-attack it experienced in December 2024, which resulted in unauthorised access to its computer systems.

“The cyber-attack had a significant impact on the availability of the company’s financial reporting systems, which necessitated the implementation of alternative manual processes and controls,” it said.

This attack meant the company needed additional time to obtain and verify financial information for an audit. Wesizwe did not provide another date for the publication of these results.

It should be noted that companies can miss the deadline for publishing their financial statements if they meet specific requirements, including informing shareholders and the JSE in a timely manner.

More updates

On 10 April 2025, Wesizwe updated shareholders on several matters in one announcement.

Firstly, following the cyber incident, Wesizwe initiated a rigorous exercise of impact analysis and disaster recovery to assess the damage.

The company initiated recovery and restoration efforts to reinstate all essential systems and data necessary for returning to its normal operations. 

It said data recovery experts are making significant progress in this regard and added that the company has also implemented more stringent cybersecurity and access control measures.

Secondly, Wesizwe told shareholders that it continues to work diligently with its auditors and remains firmly committed to publishing its outstanding financial statements as soon as possible.

Lastly, the company addressed the auditing and funding matter, saying the approval process for the letter of support beyond the current funding cap is ongoing. 

It did not provide any new information, but confirmed that the application process for the funding should still be completed by the end of June 2025.

The next update came from the JSE, which informed shareholders on 15 April 2025 that Wesizwe has failed to submit its annual financial statements within the three-month period stipulated in the JSE’s Listings Requirements.

“If the above-mentioned issuer still fails to submit its annual financial statements on or before

2 May 2025, then its listing may be suspended,” the exchange warned.

Wesizwe indirectly acknowledged the JSE’s announcement in a SENS update a few days later, on 23 April 2025.

The company said it is working diligently with its auditors and is committed to publishing the financial statements on or before 31 July 2025.

It added that its Integrated Annual Report and the Notice of its Annual General Meeting will be published by 31 August 2025. 

However, the JSE stuck to its 2 May deadline and announced on the day that if Wesizwe still fails to submit its annual report on or before 31 May 2025, its listing may be suspended.

Daily Investor reached out to Wesizwe, who referred the publication to previous SENS announcements.