The North West High Court has ordered a group of business owners and community members in Khuma, near Stilfontein, not to extract gold deposits and bricks from a mine on the outskirts of the township.
This came after Kopano Brickworks, a company in business rescue approached the court, requesting an interdict and restricting order to prevent the businesspeople from accessing the remainder of a portion of Hartebeesfontein farm, including but not limited to the Kopano mine dump.
According to the report, several residents in the area previously used the bricks left behind by Kopano Brickworks after the company went out of business.
The bricks were allegedly sold to members of the community by the businesses who are the respondents in the case. Greater Stilfontein Socio-economic Empowerment, a non-profit company, is the first respondent, followed by Arise Health Laboratories, Nicolor, and The Unknown Persons of Khuma Township Stilfontein.
The court heard that Kopano Bricks initiated business rescue proceedings on June 15, 2022. As a result, most of its assets were liquidated through an approved business rescue plan.
The court also heard that essentially, what remains is the farm, which has a gold mine dump and remnant bricks from past brick-making operations. The court heard that this operation was discontinued during the business recovery process. The court also heard that the mine dumps were precious and could be treated and sold.
“On average, it contains about two grams of gold per tonne. The respondents are engaging in unlawful conduct, value for the benefit of creditors,” Judge Andrew Reddy said.
Reddy said the argument that the group had concluded a memorandum of agreement in which Village Main Reef (VMR) sold Buffelsfontein Gold Mine and Hartebeesfontein to Greater Stilfontein Socio-Economic Empowerment, was misplaced.
Reddy ruled that moreover, no evidence was given confirming such acquisition or compliance with legislative requirements, including section 11 approvals under the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002.
“Notwithstanding the absence of the latter, the gold mine dump can only be accessed with the consent of the applicant. The applicant contended that the farm being the sole asset of the applicant, the respondents’ actions posed immediate and irreparable harm which depleted the remaining assets of the company, caused environmental liabilities that the applicant as the landowner would have to bear, and undermined the orderly execution of the business rescue plan,” Reddy said.
The group argued that with the steady decline in mining operations in the Greater Stilfontein area and the socio-economic evils that follow, entities like Kopano Brickworks signalled new hope for residents.
They said this proved to be a false dawn as Kopano Brickwords fell under business rescue resulting in the retrenchment of Kopano’s workforce.
In 2021, the Greater Stilfontein Socio-Economic Empowerment was formed as a community foundation to resuscitate the economy within the Greater Stilfontein area.
The court heard that Greater Stilfontein Socio-economic Empowerment was also engaged in the purchase of Buffelsfontein Gold Mine shares as well as the Hartebeesfontein Gold Mine shares through a partnership it has with Zambezi Gold as well as Lifelong Resources.
The seller of these shares is VMR, which holds ownership of those companies. . VMR in May 2019, undertook to donate these gold-bearing rock dumps to and for the benefit of Greater Stilfontein.
Judge Reddy ruled that, given the time frame that led to the creation of these mine dumps, they remain largely unregulated; therefore, ownership of them remains with the company or individual that created them.
