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GroundUp reports on the application of the Mining Forum of SA (MFSA) to the North West High Court to have the mining licences suspended of Lonmin, as well as Eastern Platinum and Western Platinum (both controlled by Lonmin).
According to the Forum, a not-for-profit organisation that seeks regulatory compliance in the mining industry, Lonmin has shirked its Social and Labour Plan (SLP) obligations. Adv. Chris Loxton, for Lonmin, told the court in Mahikeng on Friday that the application was incompetent, vexatious and must fail. He said the case against the mining companies was so deficient, the court should grant a cost order against the two applicants, the Forum and its president, Blessings Ramoba. The MFSA argued that the three companies had failed to honour their SLPs spanning a period of five years, and that the minister was obliged under law to suspend their mining licenses. The Minister of Mineral Resources is also a respondent in the case. The MFSA is seeking to stop the proposed R5bn takeover of Lonmin by Sibanye-Stillwater on the grounds that this would erode the group’s SLP commitments to the community. The MFSA argued that conditions for mine workers and the surrounding communities were atrocious, with many miners living in informal settlements. It claimed Lonmin had failed in its promise to provide schools, health facilities and other infrastructure in terms of its 2014 SLP. Lonmin argued that while it had not spent the full amount outlined in the original SLP, this was due to radically deteriorating economic conditions. Both Lonmin and the Minister argued that the SLP obligations were not cast in stone, and were subject to review as economic conditions dictated. The judge said she would have a problem granting an order to suspend operations while at the same time obliging the companies to fulfil their SLPs. The court’s ruling was deferred.
Read this report by Ciaran Ryan in full at GroundUp
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