The South African Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has approved the mining right application submitted by Aim-listed URU Metals’ Lesego Platinum Uitloop (LPU) subsidiary.

LPU is the holder of three prospecting rights that form the Zebediela project, in the Limpopo province.

The mining right grants LPU the right to mine nickel, platinum group minerals (PGMs), chromite, cobalt, copper, gold, iron-ore and vanadium from the project area for a period of 30 years.

The DMRE will now process the application and the company anticipates receiving the mining right in due course subject to it fulfilling the satisfactory completion of all regulatory requirements.

LPU is now required to embark on a public consultation process; and to consult with the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development to see if this will impact on any State-owned land and to check if there are any land claims or land restitution claims pending over the project area.

Moreover, it must submit to the DMRE, by no later than October 4, signed shareholder agreements; share certificates and shareholder registers; articles and memorandum of association of the company; provide detail in relation to the theoretical full funding of the mine; and any other agreement or document relating to the agreement.

Lastly, it must begin with environmental studies to obtain the requisite environmental authorisations that accompany the mining right.

“The acceptance of the mining right application by the DMR significantly moves the project forward in three ways: by consolidating the three prospecting rights that made up the Zebediela project into one right; securing the mineral tenure of the project for a further 30 years and, lastly, advancing the project one step closer towards development,” URU CEO John Zorbas commented in a statement on Friday.

He added that the acceptance of the mining right application granted URU the flexibility to develop the existing nickel resource into a mine, and to continue developing the newly discovered nickel/platinum group element resource found adjacent to and in the footwall of the existing nickel resource.