Six years after Impala Platinum secured an 83 per cent share in the failing platinum company Barplats - for R4.50 a share - the original owner Loucas Pourolis looks set to reassume ownership, for less than half the amount paid by Implats.

Mineweb, after speaking to two senior insiders at Implats and Pourolis's private interest Salene Mining, has reported that a deal could be announced within the next few weeks.

Implats finance director David Brown made no comment on the speculation but said a decision would be made on Barplats by the end of the month: 'We've said in the past that we'll close it or sell it, that's in the public domain', he said.

Salene MD David Salter revealed in August that the company was bidding for Barplats with a black empowerment partner, but had nothing to say about the likelihood of the overture being successful.

Mr Pourolis would be given a second chance to develop Barplats' Crocodile River deposit, which, due to cost overruns and 'difficult geology', failed to achieve success prior to the Implats takeover in 1997.

With the mine still failing to reach targets, and margins struggling because of the strong rand, Implats wants to offload Barplats, which currently trades for around R2.20 a share.

Implats chief executive Keith Rumble - who is also chief executive of Barplats - has predicted that the company will have drawn around R200 million of debt by June next year.