In today’s litigious South Africa, the Ministry of Mineral Resources and its Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) are coming in for legal stick over big-picture legal issues. But this might not be the end of the legal story. The DMR’s irrational refusal to grant prospecting licences could also come up to haunt it. For many, mineral application failure has resulted in more tears than has South Africa’s failed bid to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup and Bafana Bafana’s failure to qualify for next year’s Soccer World Cup. The DMR’s failure to grant mineral rights has halted economic stimulation and denied jobs to jobless people, which may also have its day in court, if the DMR’s recalcitrance persists.