International diamond and metals exploration company Tsodilo Resources has advised that its litigation against the Botswana government is progressing well, having filed its latest documents in court on March 10, and with the court date set for April 18.

The matter relates to a delayed prospecting licence.  

Tsodilo in October 2022 initiated litigation against the Botswana Ministry of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security, related to the licence renewal process for the Xaudum iron formation (XIF) project.

The company believes the conduct of the Ministry left no recourse other than to seek resolution through the courts.

In June 2021, Tsodilo’s wholly-owned subsidiary Gcwihaba Resources, based in Botswana, submitted prospecting renewal licence applications for the XIF project; however, of the seven licences initially granted, two were relinquished in their entirety, and five were submitted for renewal.

Collectively, half of the combined licence area in the seven licences was relinquished, pursuant to Sections 17 and 19 of Botswana’s Mines and Minerals Act.

Four of the five licences that contain the bulk of the exploration target at XIF were renewed as submitted, effective January 1, 2022, while the fifth licence continued in renewal.

Tsodilo, despite periodic inquiries into the status of the licence renewal, only received a possible reason for the delay on April 26, 2022, when the Minerals and Energy Minister informed Gcwihaba that the part of the area included in the fifth licence is in the buffer zone surrounding the Okavango Delta and that any prospecting activities in that area would be subject to environmental assessment measures.

Gcwihaba promptly responded on April 27 by reminding the Minister that the licence in question had existed in its present form since 2008, six years before the buffer zone was established.

Prior to the establishment of the buffer zone in 2014, significant exploration had already been conducted in that area.

Gcwihaba also explained at the time that the buffer zone encroached on a portion of the company’s identified mineral resource and that the prospecting licence in question had been renewed multiple times without any controversy.

Besides, Gcwihaba also expressed complete agreement that prospecting and mining activities in the area would be subject to various environmental standards and practices and that the company was committed to meeting all these requirements.

The Ministry, however, advised on June 15, 2022, that the licence would not be renewed if it included any areas located within the buffer zone. The company then filed a revised renewal application reducing the buffer zone area of the licence block. To date, Gcwihaba had not received a response to the revised licence application and therefore resorted to legal efforts.

Preliminary work on the XIF project has defined an inferred mineral resource of 441-million tonnes, with an average grade of 29.4% iron, 41% silicon dioxide, 6.1% aluminium oxide and 0.3% phosphor, for Block 1, which is a fraction of the potential total magnetite resource.