Fight for Okavango Minerals: Minister Moagi Interdicted

The Maun High Court has interdicted the Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, Lefoko Moagi, through the Department of Mines or any other government department from receiving, considering or assessing the renewal applications for prospecting licences issued to Gcwihaba Resources in the Okavango Delta area. Says a court order issued on 27 September: “The 1st Respondent (Moagi) [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type="show" ihc_mb_who="1,2,3,4" ihc_mb_template="3" ] is hereby interdicted and restrained, through the Department of Mines or any other department from receiving, considering or assessing the renewal applications in relation to prospecting licences PL 021 - 024/2018 as will be submitted by the applicant in due course pending the delivery of the judgment in the applicant's review application.” Further: “The 1st Respondent is hereby interdicted and restrained from in anyway dealing with prospecting licences PL 021 - 024/2018 be it in relation to the applicant or anybody else pending the delivery of the judgment in the applicant's review application.” UNESCO guidelines The case pivots around whether or not the licence sought encroaches into the buffer zone of the Okavango Delta and whether UNESCO guidelines for World Heritage Sites have the force of precluding mining in such ecologically-sensitive places. The case was brought by Tsodilo Resources through its subsidiary, Gcwihaba Resources, which argues that its licence does not encroach into the buffer zone. Renewing the prospecting licence near the Okavango Delta is at the centre of a bitter battle involving Tsodilo Resources and Minister Moagi with the latter insisting that the company’s license cannot be renewed because it encroaches into the delta. Commenting on the court ruling, the Chairman and CEO of Tsodilo Resources, James Bruchs, stated: “The issue is relatively straightforward. Pursuant to Section 19 of the Mines and Minerals Act (Act), contiguous prospecting licences covering the same period and the same mineral or minerals, the minister shall, for the purposes of the elimination (reduction) of part of any of the areas thereof, permit the areas covered thereby to be deemed to be one area, the subject of one such prospecting licence. Re-align licences “The Xaudum Iron Formation (XIF) project extends for a known length of some 40 kilometers and traverses most, if not all, of the licences set forth below.” “The effect of granting some of the PLs at one time and not all of the contiguous licences that form the project effectively diminishes the value or potential of the project as it impacts the evaluation and exploration activities.” “We believe the Act makes it clear that it is the discretion of the licence-holder to determine which areas to retain and which areas to relinquish as it protects the licence-holder from instances where one would be required to relinquish the prospective area and keep the non-prospective area. “Given that one of our prayers for relief in our PL020/2018 review application is to re-align the five licences so that their durations remain coherent with one another, we felt it timely that any actions with respect to PLs 021-024/2018 be stayed as the date for the renewal applications was imminent.” [/ihc-hide-content]

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Fight for Okavango Minerals: Minister Moagi Interdicted

Court bars minister from handling renewal applications for prospecting licences

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Fight for Okavango Minerals: Minister Moagi Interdicted

Court bars minister from handling renewal applications for prospecting licences

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