[miningmx.com] — THE only time Imperial Crown Trading 289 (ICT) could have gained access to Kumba’s application for the 21.4% mineral right of Sishen – which had belonged to ArcelorMittal until April 2009 – was during the weekend of April 30 to May 4 2009.
“The department of mineral resources (DMR), including the provincial office in Kimberley (where Kumba’s application was kept), was closed over this weekend,” said director general of mineral resources Sandile Nogxina about testimony that the documents in Kumba’s application were forged by ICT for use in the latter’s competing application.
Nogxina’s statement came in response to allegations made by Kumba in the iron ore giant’s court bid to have the prospecting rights awarded to ICT overturned.
The statement formed part of the DMR’s reply, submitted to the North Gauteng High Court on Friday.
The allegations that Kumba’s application had been used and falsified were spurious and unfounded, Nogxina said. He argued that the denial to Kumba of a prospecting right to 21.4% in Sishen that it had announced last Monday – and the acceptance of ICT’s application for mining rights in December – made Kumba’s court application contesting the award of a prospecting right to ICT of mere “academic interest”.
Questions about the alleged fraud would probably be answered further when ICT submits its responses to Kumba’s statements.
Nogxina also said a mining consultant hired by Kumba, Godfrey Mfetoane, allegedly submitted Kumba’s application to the Kimberley office on April 30 and persuaded the clerk who received it to change the date stamp of receipt to May 1 2009 – a public holiday.
This alteration was a principal reason for the department’s refusal of Kumba’s bid last week, maintaining that the application had been misleading and irregular.
Nogxina’s testimony also contained the supply contract concluded between Kumba and ArcelorMittal SA (Amsa) – the then Iscor – in October 2001 for the delivery of 6.25 million tonnes of iron ore a year to Amsa at a price of cost plus 3%.
Sishen’s mineral rights were divided between Kumba and Amsa on the basis of this agreement.
The agreement had so far been kept strictly secret, but Nogxina disclosed that it provided for a process in terms of which Iscor, now Amsa, could sell its Sishen stake to a third party or even to Kumba.
The provisions were inconsistent with Kumba’s argument that it was impossible for ICT to conduct prospecting work without disrupting Kumba’s mining operations, Nogxina said in his statement.
Kumba had previously claimed it would be impossible to do prospecting at the mine.
The supply agreement provides precisely for that, said Nogxina.
– Sake24
