Nkwe Platinum regains Eerste Geluk

Allan Seccombe, writing in Business Day, reports on the results of a legal battle between a community and an Australian platinum mining company:

Australia’s Nkwe Platinum has won back its critically important stake in the Eerste Geluk platinum property after a protracted legal battle with a community that resulted in the Constitutional Court setting aside the prospecting rights over the property.

The court ruled in December that the Bengwenyama community had not been given a hearing by the Department of Mineral Resources when it awarded a prospecting right to Genorah Resources for the Eerste Geluk and Nooitverwacht farms in Limpopo . Both properties have a resource of 20-million ounces of platinum group metals . The court set aside the prospecting rights .

Nkwe said yesterday that the department had granted a prospecting right over Eerste Geluk to the Rocka Phasha community, with Genorah Resources as its economic partner. Genorah is a majority shareholder in Nkwe, resulting in Nkwe having a 64% interest in the property.