Judgment in controversial copper EPL case delayed

A High Court verdict on whether a decision by mines and energy minister Tom Alweendo not to renew Haib Minerals’ mining licence was justified has been postponed to February 2023.Judge Kobus Miller was expected to make the ruling last Friday, but announced that it was not ready yet.Haib Minerals dragged Alweendo to court last year after the minister refused to renew its exclusive prospecting licence (EPL), which expired in June 2021.EPL3140, which covers an area near Noordoewer, is believed to have good deposits of copper.Alweendo refused the renewal after Haib Minerals failed to carry out substantial exploration work and failed to complete a pre-feasibility study, as proposed at a previous renewal in April 2019.However, according to Deep-South Resources, the holding company of Haib Minerals, Alweendo was ill advised by his then technical advisor Ralph Muyamba and former mining commissioner Erasmus Shivolo with the alleged intention of awarding the licence to another company.With Orange River Mining, a company owned by Muyamba’s cousin Peter Shifwaku, having applied for the EPL in question, Deep-South Resources CEO Pierre Léveillé argued that the reasons given by Alweendo were not fair.Orange River Mining applied for EPL3140 on 12 November 2020, about six months before Haib Minerals’ licence expired, which Léveillé said “stinks of corruption”.He further questioned Alweendo’s fairness for overlooking over N$80 million the company has spent so far, and for giving the EPL to an entity [Orange River Mining] which, he argued, lacks funds and expertise.Shifwaku recently told Namibian Sun that there was no wrongdoing, saying he applied for an EPL that was about to expire and that his cousin had no influence in the matter.kenya@namibiansun.com

Judgment in controversial copper EPL case delayed

Comments

Namibian Sun 2026-05-15

Please login to leave a comment

Judgment in controversial copper EPL case delayed

Comments

Namibian Sun 2026-05-15

Please login to leave a comment

Subscription Required to Access Content ×

Login

Subscription Required to Access Content