Anglo American group platinum miner Anglo Platinum is taking legal action against soon-to-be-listed precious metals junior Platfields as well as the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) in yet another prospecting rights dispute.

Platfields CEO Bongani Mbindwane tells Mining Weekly Online that the dispute centres on the awarding of new-order prospecting rights to Platfields on a portion of a farm where Anglo Platinum has old-order rights.

Platfields is due to list on the main board of the JSE on December 14, but the area in question has been excluded from the listing.

“The Tigerpoort right is not part of our listing document, and we’re looking to resolving the matter with Anglo Platinum as calmly as possible,” Mbindwane tells Mining Weekly Online.

Anglo Platinum CEO Neville Nicolau, who is in London, confirms through spokesperson Thabisile Phumo that the company is legally contesting the DMR award of the of prospecting rights to Platfields.

In an emailed response, Anglo Platinum says that the prospecting right on the farm Tigerpoort 426KS was granted to Platfields to prospect for all minerals, chrome-ore, cobalt, copper-ore, iron-ore, lead, nickel-ore and platinum-group metals (PGMs).

Anglo Platinum says that it appealed against the decision to grant a prospecting right to Platfields over Tigerpoort in June and then instituted legal proceedings under the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA) owing to the timeframes dictated under the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA).

“We have also been engaging with Platfields on the matter. In our last meeting with them, we outlined our position and are currently awaiting their response,” Anglo Platinum tells Mining Weekly Online.

PAJA demands that aggrieved parties should bring their review applications to court within 180 days.

Mbindwane says that he is sure that Anglo Platinum, "as a good corporate citizen", will not stand in the way of the transformation that the South African mining industry requires.

“This is a very small piece of ground, some 170 ha of land, far away from any of their operations. If they are even interested in it, it will take them a minimum of 50 years to get into it. I think their transformation strengths will come to the core and that this matter will be resolved very easily,” Mbindwane adds.

Anglo Platinum took issue following Platfields’ application to the DMR - as required under the MPRDA – for all PGM minerals on the Tigerpoort farm.

The idea is that Tigerpoort will form part of the Platfields Liger project. However, for listing purposes, Liger will comprise only Leeuwkop.

Platfields’ exploration drilling is targeting between 1,2-million and 10,71-million ounces across both the Merensky and upper group two reefs.

Mbindwane says in a letter to shareholders posted on the Platfields’ website that Anglo Platinum alleges that the granting of the portion of Tigerpoort to Platfields negatively affects Anglo Platinum’s rights.

“When we first heard that Anglo Platinum had taken issue with the granting of this prospecting right to Platfields, we immediately engaged with senior management at Anglo Platinum to explore the background and reasons for the dispute as well as to seek a solution acceptable to both parties.

“As part of this engagement, Platfields was invited to propose terms for a commercial settlement with Anglo Platinum. We were surprised when formal court papers were served on us, because the applicable legislation allows for a very clear process of appeal.

“Anglo Platinum’s pre-emptive High Court action against the Minister of Mineral Resources and Platfields is unnecessary, requires significant legal and other costs as well as management time, and could have been resolved in a more co-operative and mutually beneficial manner,” Mbindwana adds.

Platfields is listing in order to raise R200-million for its three exploration projects, the key one being the shallow Liger project, which has an inferred resource of 1,5 million ounces of platinum group metals.

The company intends using the funding to fast-track the “open pittable” Liger project, as it has the potential to be brought into production relatively quickly.

Mbindwane says that two contiguous new-order prospecting rights have been secured over the 1 100 ha Liger area on the eastern limb of the Bushveld Complex.

The most advanced project, the 7 000 ha Berg project, has one-million ounces of indicated resource and 600 000 oz of inferred resource.

No resource statistics are provided for the Grootfonteinberg gold deposit on 300 ha in Mpumalanga province, which is said to be relatively shallow and for which the company reportedly holds new-order prospecting rights.

“The pronounced recovery in the platinum and palladium markets particularly and gold’s historical performance, means that this is an optimal time to list,” says Mbindwane.

Platfields expects to list at between R1,60 a share and R1,80 a share, placing the company’s market capitalisation at between R1,2-billion and R1,5-billion.

The company’s share capital at the time of listing will be made up of two billion ordinary shares each of one thousandth of a cent (R0,00001) and an equivalent par value for the 789 597 005 issued ordinary shares, providing a share premium of R236-million net of share issue expenses.