JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – JSE-listed Miranda Minerals on Tuesday said it had now been granted a prospecting right over the Rozynenbosch 104 farm.
This followed an appeal over a 2006 decision by the former Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) not to approve the conversion of an old-order to a new-order prospecting right.
In November 2011, Miranda informed shareholders that it did not own a prospecting right for the Rozynenbosch lead/silver/zinc project, noting that the company had only learned of this a short while before.
At the time, the company explained that the original application for the conversion of the old-order prospecting right was submitted to the former DME on April 28, 2005.
The Department of Mineral Resources, in October 2011, informed Miranda that the application had been refused in July 2006.
Miranda, which had undergone ownership and management changes, said it was unclear why the correspondence informing the company of this decision had not been made available to the company’s new board or the new executive management team.
The Rozynenbosch project is located in the Kenhardt district of the Northern Cape. Extensive exploration by Gold Fields and Phelps Dodge in the 1970s and 1980s has resulted in a clearly defined orebody of about 14-million tonnes, which carries South African Code for the Reporting of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves indicated resource status.
Meanwhile, Miranda noted that the company’s executive management was reviewing the valuation model that was used to value the project at R284-million.
It would inform shareholders of this review in due course.
The R284-million value was determined in February 2006, based on a royalty payment linked to discounted revenue participation, forecast commodity prices and exchange rates over the life of the mine.