Pamodzi Gold Ltd. received a 200 million rand ($20.7 million) offer from Virgile Mining for its President Steyn gold mine, in South Africa’s Free State province, Virgile’s chief executive officer said.

“We made the offer to them several months ago and it is still standing,” Hettie Fourie, chief executive officer of Welkom, South Africa-based Virgile, said in a telephone interview today.

Pamodzi, which bought the mine from Thistle Mining Inc. in 2007 for 240 million rand, has a funding shortfall and is currently seeking a “complete solution to the funding issues.” The company ended a 10-day strike at its Free State mines on March 13 after paying February wages.

Pamodzi will not comment on the offer, Bongi Radebe, a company spokeswoman, said by telephone today.

The company, which employs 5,014 workers in South Africa, gave Virgile the “green-light” to carry out due diligence, Fourie said. “We will get it done before the end of March,” she said, adding that her organization wants to save the mine for the benefit of the local community.

“Everything is in place and we have a social development plan for the area,” Fourie said.

Pamodzi has slumped 57 percent this year in Johannesburg trading, and was 7.7 percent lower at 60 cents at 12:35 p.m., giving the company a value of 56 million rand.

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