Chrome mining · Mooihoek, Limpopo · 2004 to Oct 2026
Sail Group
How a chrome trader took over a listed shell company and a mine coming out of business rescue, grew past R1.4bn in revenue, and then fell back into business rescue and liquidation, with each company in the group following a different path.
R1.42bnPeak revenue, year to Feb 2021, still at a loss
R922mCurrent liabilities above current assets, Aug 2021
R663.9mOwed by Sail Minerals to creditors when its rescue began
18 Jul 2022Listed shares suspended; still suspended in Oct 2026
Critical points
Two turning points
2016 is when Sail became a mining group. July 2021 is when that group came apart. Events tied to either are marked "turning point" throughout the page.
Turning point 1
2016
Sail stops being a trader and becomes a mining group
It gets its mine. Term sheet with the IDC in January, deal documents in June. On 21 June the practitioner running the mine company appoints Sail Minerals as mine contractor. Before that, Sail Minerals owned no mineral or mining assets.
It gets its listing. The 24 August agreements set up the reverse takeover of Chrometco, Sail's route onto the JSE.
It sets up its corporate shell. Sail Holdings, later the ultimate holding company, is registered. Palm Chrome's prospecting right is granted in February.
The mine starts producing. Production begins on 1 October, and the Section 11 consent application is filed on 13 October.
Agreed in 2016, final in 2018
Chrometco shareholders approved the takeover in July 2017. Sail only legally got its 64% of the mine company in February 2018, when Section 11 consent came through. Until then the mine was still in business rescue and partly run by the IDC.
The later collapse was set up here
The deal took on a R110m loan and R100m of preference shares owed to the IDC on top of R100m in cash. It also tied the companies together, with one mining, one contracting and one processing, which is why they fell together in 2021.
Turning point 2
Jul 2021
The 2016 setup comes apart
4 Jul: the mine goes on care and maintenance. It had been producing 80–90 kt of ore a month.
5 Jul: Sail Contracting, which employed most of the staff, goes into provisional liquidation. About 1,400 workers are affected.
5–7 Jul: Sail Minerals' board votes for business rescue while creditors file to wind it up.
Within a year: every operating company is in liquidation or business rescue, and Chrometco's shares are suspended (18 Jul 2022).
Group structure over time
Five eras
Pick an era to see which companies existed, who owned them and what state they were in. Percentages are shareholdings.
Owner / holdingListed companyOperatingBusiness rescue or care and maintenanceLiquidation, suspension or closureOutside party
The asset everything depends on
Who controlled the mining right
The Mooihoek chrome mining right (DMR ref. LP 30/5/1/2/2/90 MR) is the group's one core asset, and it is valid until 2033. For most of its life, the company holding it has been run by a business rescue practitioner rather than its own board.
Practitioners in control of the right. Piers Marsden was appointed business rescue practitioner of Umnotho weSizwe Resources on 1 February 2013. On 21 June 2016 the company's practitioner signed the management agreement that brought Sail Minerals in as mine contractor. The 2017 circular doesn't name who held the post by then. Since 9 June 2022 Phahlani Mkhombo has controlled the same company, now Black Chrome Mine. He chose new contractors (MJM Minerals, then Stevridge/S&B) instead of Sail Minerals and is carrying out the approved "Mine Restart and Trade Out Plan".
Revenue, losses and money moved
The numbers
Chrometco's published group results, in rand millions. The last annual results published cover the year to February 2021. None have been published since.
Revenue and loss
Financial years end in February. Revenue for the six months to August 2021 fell 43.6% (no rand figure found).
Working-capital hole
How far current liabilities exceeded current assets.
Money in, out and owed
Every dated event
Timeline
Filter by type. Open an event for detail and its source. Points marked "alleged" come from Sail Holdings' 2023 court papers and were disputed by the other side.
Who owns what
Group structure
How the Sail companies, Chrometco and their subsidiaries hold each other, with shareholdings. Companies shaded as in business rescue or liquidation follow the key at the bottom of the chart.
Names in the record
People
Practitioners, liquidators, directors and owners named in the filings and announcements. No CEO is named for most group companies.
Where this comes from
Sources
The court file is the 252-page application in case 2023-043683 (Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg), which includes the Sail Minerals and Black Chrome Mine business rescue plans. I couldn't find the court's ruling on that application. Sail Minerals' own business rescue page posted a notice ending the business rescue on 28 Nov 2023 and now calls the company "in liquidation". The figures are as reported and have not been independently audited.