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(TALKZIMBABWE) ACR diamond mining licence cancelled

ACR diamond mining licence cancelled
By: TH-tzg
Posted: Saturday, March 27, 2010 12:28 pm

THE Government of Zimbabwe has finally cancelled African Consolidated Resources’ Chiadzwa diamonds mining licence after an unsuccessful appeal by the London Stock Exchange listed company.

The news comes as Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu denied having any relations with Mbada Holdings, one of the investors mining in the Marange diamond fields, as had been speculated in certain sections of the media.

Government had, through Secretary for Mines and Mining Development, Mr Thankful Musukutwa, served ACR with a notice to cancel its claims last month arguing that they were pegged in an area reserved against prospecting.

It was Mr Musukutwa’s intention to cancel the licence on March 10, 2010 for this reason. It was also believed that ACR's diamond licence was obtained fraudulently.

President Mugabe this month revealed at a meeting with journalists that ACR had obtained its licence after the flight of DeBeers, who were illegally extracting and exporting diamonds from the Chiadzwa district for 15 years without the knowledge of government.

DeBeers had misinformed government that they were prospecting for the precious mineral, when they were infact mining and exporting it.

"ACR just inherited the claims from DeBeers where they (DeBeers) managed to hide from us information regarding the Chiadzwa diamonds for more than 15 years," said President Mugabe.

“DeBeers was telling us that they were just testing to evaluate whether they were diamonds or not, ivo vachitokumba madiamonds edu kuenda nawo kuSouth Africa (whilst looting those diamonds and taken them to South Africa).

"When we discovered what was happening, DeBeers ran away and ACR inherited the claims.

ACR appealed against the decision by Mr Musukutwa to the minies minister in accordance with the Mines and Minerals Act.

After considering ACR’s grounds for appeal, Mpofu on Wednesday cancelled ACR’s title to Marange, reiterating that its claims were pegged in a reserved area.

"I hereby, in accordance with the provisions of Section 50 (4) and (5) of the Act give directions to you and the Secretary that the Certificates of Registration are to be cancelled. In cancelling the Certificates of Registration, no concession is made that the ACR certificates of registration were ever valid," he said.

Mpofu said he was satisfied that Mr Musukutwa had exercised his discretion fairly, reasonably and correctly when he invoked Section 50 of the Mines and Minerals Act.

"The pegging of claims in a reserved area is simply a matter that the Secretary, vested as he is with the duty of overseeing the administration of the ministry, cannot ignore.

"I am satisfied that the grounds detailed in the notice of appeal do not warrant me exercising my discretion in favour of the ACR group in general and the ACR subsidiaries in particular in relation to the certificates of Registration," he said.

Mpofu said ACR had also acquired its claims fraudulently.

"On 19 February 2004 the area more fully described in Reservation Notice number 1518 was declared a Reservation Area with effect 0600hrs on 20 February 2004 . . . The Certificates of Registration are all dated subsequent to the date upon which the Reservation Notice became effective.

"At the time the Certificates of Registration were purportedly registered, the ACR subsidiaries were non existent, and according to the Chief Mining Commissioner, fraudulent misrepresentations were made to the Assistant Mining Commissioner that the ACR subsidiaries were in existence," Mpofu said.

The ACR subsidiaries are Dashaloo Investment, Possession Investments, Olebile Investment and Heavy Stuff Investment.

According to Mpofu, Dashaloo was incorporated on or about 29 June 2006, whereas from the records kept in the Mining Commissioner’s Registry, it appears that Dashaloo registered its claims on 4 April 2006 and 1 June 2006.

Possession was incorporated on or about 29 June 2006, whereas from the records kept in the Mining Commissioner’s Registry it appears that Possession registered its claims on 4 April 2006 and 1 June 2006.

Mpofu says Heavy Stuff was incorporated on or about 14 July 2006 yet from records kept in the Mining Commissioner’s Registry, it appears that Heavy Stuff registered its claims on 19 April 2006 and 1 June 2006.

Olebile was incorporated on or about 29 June 2006 whereas from records at the Mining Commissioner’s registry, it appears Olebile registered its claims on 10 April 2006.

Mpofu said this constituted a breach of the provisions of the Mines and Minerals Act.

"Section 20 of the Act provides that only a ‘person’ can be granted a prospecting licence. A person in this context refers to a juristic person, so constituted by the act of incorporation or a natural person. At the time of the purported issue of Certificates of Registration, there was no ‘person’ to whom such certificates could be granted," he said.

Mpofu added: "More importantly, Section 61 of the Act provides that every company holding mining rights shall at the time of the registration of the rights, register the name of an accredited agent with the Mining Commissioner.

"If, therefore, the ACR subsidiaries were non existent at the time of the cancellation, they could not have complied with the necessary requirements of the Act, and to the extent that they purport to have complied with the Act, they misrepresented to the Mining Commissioner and the Mining Commissioner acted on that misrepresentation to his prejudice."

Mpofu denied that he had become a party to the disputes saying it was ACR that instituted proceedings against him and that he was forced to defend himself.

He accused ACR of denigrating and vilifying his office and the Government in court proceedings and in various publications across the media around the world.

"It is, in fact, the ACR group which has maliciously circulated the false and misleading reports that I have been instrumental in granting Reclam mining rights over the disputed Marange diamond area.

- Maliciously claimed that I have a relationship with Reclam dating from the time when I served as Minister of Industry and International Trade.

- That I have had personal financial benefit from that relationship, I deny all the allegations relating to bias, specifically, I deny any alleged bias relating to my alleged association with Reclam at Zisco," Mpofu said.

"I have never had any association with Reclam other than in its capacity as a shareholder of Grandwell Holdings Limited, which is, in turn, a shareholder of Mbada Diamonds (Pvt) Ltd. It is common cause that Reclam’s association with Zisco started in the 1990s while I only became a minister in 2005," he added.

Mpofu said all actions by his office were in the national interest adding: "I cannot, and do not have direct or personal interest in this dispute."

He said the onus was on ACR to make valid and founded allegations and to substantiate them by producing cogent proof.

The minister said ACR’s contention of bias in its notice of appeal was without merit.

"I consequently decline to recuse myself," he said.

On Tuesday, Mr Musukutwa wrote to ACR notifying it of the cancellations of its Certificates of Registration by Mpofu.

"As a consequence of my aforesaid cancellation of the Certificates of Registration, the relevant Mining Commissioners shall post upon their respective notice boards a notice giving particulars of the cancellations. The particulars of these cancellations shall be published in the Government Gazette and a newspaper circulating in the relevant mining districts," he said.

ACR boss fears arrest

Meanwhile, ACR boss Mr Andrew Cranswick is currently out of the country on business and is afraid he will be arrested on his return.

The application was filed on Monday and is related to charges stemming from Cranswick’s alleged illegal acquisition of diamonds, including 129 000 carats recovered from the company in 2007.

Cranswick was once arrested over this issue but the Attorney-General declined prosecution pending determination of a wrangle over ownership of the gems.

The 129 000 carats of diamonds are currently kept by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe as per a Supreme Court order.

Labels: AFRICAN CONSOLIDATED RESOURCES PLC, ANDREW CRANSWICK, CHIADZWA, DIAMONDS, INVESTMENT LICENSES

posted by MrK @ 3:18 PM