High Court rescinds interim interdict in favour of mining company

Date: 23 June 2018 By: Andries van Zyl

MC Mining, formerly known as Coal of Africa Limited, has welcomed the High Court judgement setting aside an interim interdict preventing them from undertaking activities pertaining to their Makhado Project’s construction and mining.

The interdict was originally granted in favour of the Vhembe Mineral Stakeholders Forum (and others) in December 2014 against MC Mining and the Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism.

The High Court judgement has, however, now rescinded the interim interdict against MC Mining’s Environmental Authorisation (EA) for their Makhado hard-coking and thermal-coal project situated in the Nzhelele valley near Mudemeli Village. During July 2016, the EA was transferred to MC Mining’s subsidiary, Baobab Mining and Exploration (Pty) Ltd, the owner and developer of the Makhado Project. According to MC Mining, this transfer was completed in compliance with the National Environmental Management Act (107 of 1998) and, as previously announced, MC Mining did not anticipate that the interim interdict would delay the development of the project.

In a press release issued on Monday, MC Mining said they had undertaken various initiatives to address the interim interdict and the judgement granted two orders, namely discharging the interim interdict against the mining company, including an award against the applicants for appropriate costs, including those of two legal counsel; and dismissal of a further application by the applicants to extend the interim interdict to Baobab. Again, this dismissal included a costs award against the applicants.

“The favourable High Court judgement reaffirms the company’s approach in the development of Makhado, endorses government’s support for the project and is a significant victory for the mining industry. The applicants are a narrow-interest group and, despite numerous interactions to address concerns, they have utilised unreasonable litigation approaches in an attempt to halt Makhado, together with the associated socio-economic transformation of local communities. The High Court echoed this sentiment in the judgement,” said MC Mining’s CEO, Mr David Brown, in the press release.

Brown added that the Makhado Project had all the legal approvals to commence construction and the judgement vindicated MC Mining’s strategy, confirming compliance with the required regulatory requirements. “Prior to the commencement of construction, the company requires access to two properties that form part of the Makhado Project. These properties are subject to a legislated land claims process by Makhado’s host communities, who are also shareholders in the Makhado Project. In parallel, however, the company will embark on a process of enforcing its access rights under our mining right. Furthermore, good progress has been made on the Makhado Project marketing and financing arrangements,” said Brown.

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

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