Moagi, Tsodilo Resources Face Off In Court in Okavango Licence Saga

Minister Moagi says the licence area sought encroaches into the Okavango Delta Tsodilo says nothing prohibits prospecting in the buffer zone of the Okavango Delta The case in which an international diamond and metals exploration company, Tsodilo Resources, has taken the Minister of Minerals and Energy, Lefoko Moagi, to the High Court for refusing to renew its prospecting licence near the Okavango Delta is set for April 18. Obtaining a 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 lincence cannot be renewed because it encroaches into the delta. This claim has been denied by Tsodilo Resources. [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type="show" ihc_mb_who="1,2,3,4" ihc_mb_template="3" ] In its heads of argument filed recently before the Maun High Court, Tsodilo Services, through its subsidiary Gcwihaba, says Moagi has been and continues to operate under the false impression that prospecting activities are prohibited in the buffer zone (of the Okavango Delta). “There is nothing both at international law or domestic law which prohibits prospecting or mining in the buffer zone,” the company says. It says the UNESCO Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention WHC. 13/01 July 2013, which seek to facilitate implementation of the Convention concerning protection of the world cultural and natural heritage, ought to be guiding on this issue. “It will be seen that nowhere in the Operation Guidelines is it stated that 'prospecting and mining activities are prohibited within the buffer zone of the Okavango Delta World I Heritage Site, and if permitted, they are to be subjected to the stringent Environmental Impact Assessment Measures in accordance with the Environmental Assessment Act and Environmental Regulations' as has been misconstrued by the Respondent (Moagi),” the company argues. In view of this, Tsodilo Resources argues further that Moagi had misdirected himself with regard to prospecting in the buffer zone and such misdirection has in turn resulted in his unreasonableness. Tsodilo Resources says in its prospecting it has discovered a tonnage of 441Mt of inferred iron resource within the prospecting area with a current value approximated to be worth $27 billion USD, of which 164Mt worth $6.8 billion USO is located within the buffer zone. “A further study indicates that the resource in the buffer zone has a Net Present Value of some $87M USD,” say the company. “It is yet again a relevant factor which the First Respondent (Moagi) has neglected to consider leading up to this cause.” It submits that the benefit of renewing Gcwihaba's prospecting licence far outweighs the opposite decision not to renew the licence. The company says it was not in default and further that its proposed programme of prospecting is more than adequate. “This is a fact that has not been denied by the Respondents (Moagi and the Attorney General),” the company says. “It therefore follows that the fact that the Respondent (Moagi) has failed, refused and or neglected to give the Applicant (Gcwihaba) its renewal (a renewal as of right).” Therefore, Tsodilo Resources has submitted that the action of Moagi to not renew Gcwihaba's Prospecting License No. 020/ 20 is unlawful and therefore an illegality. In his answering affidavit, Minister Moagi acknowledges that renewal of Prospecting License No. 020/2018 has been a subject of contentions between the Ministry of Minerals and Energy, the Department of Mines and Gcwihaba Resources. “The contentious issue has been that the Prospecting Licence boundary encroaches into the Okavango Delta Heritage Site buffer zone, which is against the government’s deliberate decision to restrict prospecting and mining activities within the core and buffer zones of the delta for protection of the World Heritage Site against adverse impact on the outstanding universal value of the property,” says Moagi. The minister says the Department of Mines and the ministry's position is that in line with Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, prospecting and mining activities are prohibited within the buffer zone of the Okavango Delta World Heritage Site, and if permitted, they are to be subjected to the stringent Environmental Impact Assessment Measures in accordance with the Environmental Assessment Act and Environmental Regulations. “Further, the Environmental Assessment Act and Environmental Regulations stipulate that extractive and associated industries, which includes prospecting and mining, must undertake (an) Environmental Impact Assessment, especially when considering undertaking such activity in areas with wet lands, or containing rare or endangered flora and fauna,” the minister argues. Moagi says afer the declaration of the Okavango Delta as a World Heritage Site, it was noted that some mineral concessions which were already granted fell within the buffer of the World Heritage Site. Because of that, he says, the ministry’s Department of Mines started engagements with companies that held mineral concessions within the Okavango World Heritage Site and/or its buffer zone, including Gcwihaba Resources. “The engagements were aimed at getting the companies holding Mineral Concessions to agree to voluntarily relinquish portions of the licence areas that fell within the Okavango World Heritage Site and/or its buffer zone,” he says. [/ihc-hide-content]

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Moagi, Tsodilo Resources Face Off In Court in Okavango Licence Saga

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