Namibian tycoon Quinton van Rooyen-linked Meya Mining receives $150 million to scale up production

Meya Mining, a Sierra Leone-based diamond mining firm linked to Namibian tycoon Quinton van Rooyen, has received $150 million from an unnamed first-tier global diamond producer to revamp its production capacity to 1 million carats per annum over the next three years.

Additionally, the offer includes a proposed equity transaction that will see the investor acquire a 55-percent stake in Meya Mining at an undisclosed price subject to further negotiations.

According to the information gathered by Billionaires.Africa, the agreement is most likely to be sealed in the first quarter of next year.

As a result, shareholders are required to exercise caution when dealing in the firm’s securities until further announcement is made regarding the transaction.

Meya Mining is majorly owned by Trustco Resources (65 percent) in partnership with its Sierra Leonean counterpart, Germinate SL Limited (35 percent).

Trustco Resources is a subsidiary of TrustCo Group Holdings Limited (TGH), a firm founded by Nambian multimillionaire Quinton van Rooyen in 1992.

TGH is a well-diversified financial services company based in Windhoek, Namibia. It offers banking and non-banking services. As of press time, Dec. 28, the tycoon owns a majority stake of about 1 billion shares in the company.

Meanwhile, Meya Mining is registered in Mauritius and holds and operates a diamond mine within the eastern province of Sierra Leone.

In 2017, it discovered one of the world’s top-30 largest diamonds ever: a 476.89-carat prosperity diamond, which it later sold for $16.5 million.

The company had earlier projected a production capacity of about 120,000 carats per annum (translating to 10,000 carats per month) in Q1, 2022, with the prospect of further expanding its capacity to 360,000 carats per annum.