Canadian mineral resources exploration and development company Tsodilo Resources has withdrawn its contempt motion, which sought to hold Botswana Minerals and Energy Minister Lefoko Moagi to account for his failure to comply with an earlier High Court judgment, handed down on December 15, in relation to prospecting licences 020/2018 to 024/2018 held by Tsodilo’s Botswana-based wholly owned subsidiary Gcwihaba Resources.

Tsodilo on March 5 said the matter had been resolved, with the five licences in question having been renewed for their first two-year renewal, which will start on April 1.

Mining Weekly reported on January 24 that Tsodilo had filed an interlocutory application in the Botswana High Court, calling on Moagi to explain why he should not be held in contempt of court.

In the preceding December 15 judgment, the High Court ruled that Moagi’s decision to reject the application for the renewal of Tsodilo’s prospecting licence 020/2018 was illegal, unreasonable and irrational.

He was ordered to renew the licence within 14 days and to align the effective dates of contiguous prospecting licences 021/2018 to 024/2018 with that of the renewed licence – both of which he had failed to do, the company said in a January 23 statement.

As such, Tsodilo’s application – which has now been withdrawn – sought to have the High Court declare Moagi in contempt of court and that he be fined for every day that the judgment remained unsatisfied.

Tsodilo adopted the International Finance Corporation's (IFC’s) environmental, health and safety guidelines for mining when the IFC became a shareholder more than a decade ago, advancing the Xaudum Iron Formation (XIF) project within those guidelines. 

The XIF project is part of Tsodilo’s Gcwihaba project area consisting of five base, precious and platinum group metals, as well as rare earth element, prospecting licences.

Preliminary investigations for the XIF project have established a Canadian Institute of Mining-compliant inferred mineral resource estimate for Block 1 magnetite XIF, totalling 441-million tonnes. The average composition includes 29.4% iron, 41% silicon dioxide, 6.1% aluminium oxide and 0.3% phosphorus.

Tsodilo has also become a member of the ResponsibleSteel organisation, which aims to promote sustainable steel production through cooperation and mutual commitment from companies at all levels of the steel supply chain, representatives of civil society and other stakeholders.