Unravelling the mare's nest? The Constitutional Court interprets the duty to exhaust internal remedies in the mining setting : case notes

• Author: Robert Krause,Tracy Humby
• DOI: 10.10520/EJC197693
• Published date: 01 January 2015
• Date: 01 January 2015
• Pages: 302-316

Unravelling the mare’s nest? The

Constitutional Court interprets the duty to

exhaust internal remedies in the mining

setting

Dengetenge Holdings (Pty) Ltd v Southern Sphere Mining and

Development Co Ltd 2014 5 SA 138 (CC)

Abstract

This Constitutional Court case involved an application by Dengetenge Holdings (Pty) (Ltd)

(a junior mining company) for leave to appeal against a decision of the Gauteng North High

Court setting aside the award of a prospecting right to Dengetenge, and the decision of the

Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) refusing to condone the company’s late filing of its heads

of argument in its appeal against the High Court’s decision.

1 History of the legal dispute between Dengetenge

and its competitors

A complex litigation history preceded the Constitutional Court’s consideration of

Dengetenge’s application. At th e centre of a protracted dispute between

Dengetenge and mining competitors Rhodium Reefs Ltd (Rhodium) and

1 2

Southern Sphere Mining and Development Co Ltd (Southern Sphere), were two

properties situated in the Limpopo province on the eastern limb of South Africa’s

platinum belt, namely Boschkloof 331 KT (B oschkloof) and Mooimeisjesfontein

363 KT (Mooimeisjesfontein). Under the apartheid dispensation, the properties in

question fell within the self-governing territory of Lebowa and the mineral rights

Note that Abrina was also a party to this dispute, but the fight was essentially between newcomer

1

Dengetenge and Southern Sphere and Rhodium as the senior, more established, mining companies.

Rhodium Reefs Ltd (Rhodium) is currently a subsidiary of Eastplats Limited, a Ca nadian-based

2

company specialising in Platinum Group Metals; see file:///C:/Users/a0032217/Downloads

/rhodraft_eia_submitted_withfigures_sm all_part1.pdf; http://eastplats.com/ about_us/corporate

_profile/ (accessed 2015-01-09).