arm confronts nkwe over platinum rights

by Brendan Ryan




[miningmx.com] -- AFRICAN Rainbow Minerals (ARM) and Anglo Platinum (AngloPlat) are taking direct legal action against Australian junior Nkwe Platinum to settle a dispute over ownership of mineral rights.
Confirming this at the ARM interim results presentation held in Sandton on Monday, ARM CEO Andr? Wilkens told Miningmx: "We have tried to settle this out of court because the department of mineral resources (DMR) was keen that it should not end up in court, but we have failed.
?We are taking a firm stand on this and are now going to get a ruling from a judge on who owns these prospecting rights.
?We at ARM are not prepared to give anything away. This action is being brought by both ourselves and AngloPlat because we are 50/50 joint venture partners in Modikwa but, if AngloPlat wants to give up some of their 50% stake, that?s their decision.?
Wilkens' statement opposes the one made by Nkwe director Peter Landau on January 13, in which he claimed the matter had been settled.
The ground in dispute forms what is known as the Modikwa Deeps - the deep-level, down-dip extensions to the platinum bearing reefs being mined at the Modikwa Platinum mine which is jointly owned by ARM and AngloPlat.
The five farms in question - Nooitverwacht 324KT, Eerstegeluk 327KT, Hoepakrantz 291KT, Garatouw 282KT and De Kom 252KT ? are contiguous with Modikwa.
These farms make up Nkwe?s Tubatse and Garatau projects on the eastern limb of the platinum-bearing Bushveld geological complex.
Trading in Nkwe shares on the Australian Stock Exchange has been suspended at the request of the company since December 7, when the Constitutional Court set aside the award of prospecting rights to Genorah Resources for the farms Nooitverwacht and Eerstegeluk.
Genorah is the major shareholder in Nkwe. The ruling by the Constitutional Court followed legal action by a local tribe ? the Bengwenyama-ye-Maswasi community ? acting in collaboration with Bengwenyama Minerals.
According to an Nkwe statement released on January 13, the matter of the five farms ?was settled in February 2008 with an agreement made between Anglo Platinum, African Rainbow Minerals, Genorah Resources, Nkwe Platinum and the DMR.
?Further, from Nkwe?s perspective, the DMR and the Administrative Justice Act action instigated by Anglo Platinum and the Modikwa JV respectively have been utilised to reserve Anglo?s rights and potentially look at other remedies available from the DMR outside of challenging the original award of the five farms to Genorah, given the settlement agreement reached in February 2008.?
An ARM source told Miningmx that this ?settlement? was a verbal agreement between a senior AngloPlat executive, the DMR and Genorah which was made without consulting ARM.
?They had no right to do that, given that Modikwa is a 50/50 JV between ourselves and AngloPlat,? the source said.