However, Eddy de la Pierre, Gilboa's chairman, said at the weekend that when the company first announced it was going into mining, it used the word "diversify" and did not say it was going to leave the property industry totally.

"It's not a return to property. I don't believe we've ever left," he said.

Gilboa late last week reported the acquisition of 100 percent of property holding company Waterkloof from Elizabeth de Beer, a director of Gilboa, for R3.67 million. The purchase price had been determined through an independent property valuation and R2 million was to be settled in shares, with the R1.67 million balance in cash.

Waterkloof holds a 4 672m2 stand, with a house Gilboa rents for its head office. The company intended to acquire the property, subdivide it into four stands and co-develop these properties for resale. This followed a recent surge in the property development in the area.

"The rationale for the acquisition is to restore the group to a solvent position, to generate profit for the Gilboa group and to ensure that it continues to meet the requirements for its listing on the JSE Securities Exchange," it said.

The acquisition is subject to shareholder approval.

De la Pierre said Gilboa needed to put assets into the company while it was waiting for its diamond ventures to materialise.

Gilboa had sold Gilboa House and the JSE said that if it sold its last property the company technically then was no longer a property firm and its prelisting statement was null and void. It would have to issue a new prelisting statement.

"We're not quite ready for that and decided to buy one or two properties so there are more assets in the company, but we're definitely concentrating on diamonds," de la Pierre said.

Gilboa said in June it had changed tack and planned to start immediately with a new trading division that would buy and market polished gem diamonds. This would enable the company to create instant direct new assets by using its unissued share capital for the purchase of the diamonds.

It planned to acquire the diamonds monthly from June in batches of R2 million each. The company has 600 million unissued shares that were intended for empowerment group Ifa Lesizwe, which proposed to acquire a controlling interest in Gilboa for R50 million. This transaction floundered in April.

De la Pierre said the company could acquire a lot of diamonds on consignment but with its share price at 2c a share, it was not worthwhile.

"We need to activate the share price. The purpose of a listing, after all, is to use the shares to raise money, to make profit and pay dividends."