Nkwe Platinum: South Africa Court Pulls Prospecting Rights

Nkwe Platinum Ltd. (NKW.AU) said Wednesday it is confident it will hold on to its interests in two areas of land for which South Africa's Constitutional Court has set aside prospecting rights.

The court set aside the right to explore for platinum group metals on Nooitverwacht and Eerste Geluk, two of the three farms that make up Nkwe's Tubatse project in a platinum-rich area of the country, on a number of technical and administrative grounds, the company said.

Johannesburg's Business Day newspaper, citing the judgment, reported the court Tuesday stripped the rights from Nkwe's Genorah Resources subsidiary because a community that owns the land hadn't been properly consulted.

Nkwe in a statement to the Australian stock exchange said it has begun talks with the Department for Mineral Resources and the local communities and remained confident it can preserve its 64% interest in the two farms.

"Importantly, the court issued no directions to the DMR and it did not direct the DMR to award the prospecting right to an alternative applicant," Nkwe said.

Further, it said the court decision has no impact on its Garatau project, where a bankable feasibility study is nearing completion. It said an update on the study will be made in the next week.

Swiss mining company Xstrata PLC (XTA.LN) has an option to buy a 50% stake in five of Nkwe's and Genorah's PGM properties on the eastern limb of South Africa's Bushveld complex, subject to the completion of bankable feasibility studies. In a 2008 statement, Xstrata said the properties have the potential to produce 1 million PGM ounces a year.

-By Robb M. Stewart, Dow Jones Newswires; +27 11 783 7848; robb.stewart@dowjones.com

Nkwe Platinum (ASX:NKP)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2024 to Jun 2024