A LETTER FROM THE OFFICE OF THE LAND CLAIMS COMMISSION IS PART OF THE GROWING BODY OF EVIDENCE THAT IT (ANGLO PLATINUM SA ) WAS CONSTANTLY IN CONTACT WITH THE COMMISSION AND ENJOYED A PRIVILEGED RELATIONSHIP.
The letter provides a causal link between the importance which Anglo assigned to obtaining land ownership in conjunction with securing the mining rights over the selfsame land.
It also shows how much sway Anglo and other miners have at key government organisations, being able to have regular meetings on non-mining issues when communities get told to wait for months to make an appointment. Since when does a body such as Land Claims have the authority to send an unsigned letter to a public company regarding a third party´s claim?
Unfortunately, the Groot Dwars River valley where the major projects are located has a handful of indigenous clans who can trace their origins back several centuries and who had already claimed for the return of their surface rights ( on which Anglo/Northam/Xstrata and Aquarius are mining) as early as 1997 when the RLR Act came into effect.
Recent developments on the South African labour front (unions flexing muscles), combined with evaporating margins are forcing platinum producers to rethink their business models.
Just as Anglo is emerging from the contentious issues of executive pay and bonuses, another battle with indigenous HDSA`s whose land Anglo has earmarked as a major revenue driver, is the last thing which Anglo would want to draw international attention to especially in the form of a challenge to the validity of their key Der Brochen and Helena projects - indications are that it is just a matter of time.
One can only deduce that coercion must have been exerted on the Commissioner to deny the existence of any Land Claim on certain valuable properties (such as Booysendal 43 JT ) a former Anglo property which was snatched from it in 2007 by the Mvela Group after it had first engineered a takeout of the initial 50 % empowered group, much to their dissatisfaction (see: Paseka Nchola loses arbitration hearing http://www.miningweekly.com/article/mvelakhumama-arbitration-set-to-delay-mvelas-unbundling-2010-03-09)
The question which the market appears to be asking is when will Anglo American Platinum finally admit to the Barry Davison era wrongdoings and make good the damages it has caused.
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