A MINING company at loggerheads with another over rights to eight gold mining claims in Rushinga has won its initial battle in the High Court to have the newcomer stopped from mining on the claims, and to have equipment already there moved out until the whole matter of claim ownership is resolved.
Seldo Mining (Pvt) Ltd and G&W Industrial Minerals are locked in a bitter legal wrangle over control of the eight gold-rich mining claims in Rushinga, but in October last year, Seldo, which could produce documents that it is the registered holder of the claims, went to the High Court seeking to stop G&W Industrial Minerals from carrying out mining on the claims and to be evicted from these claims.
In support of its case, Seldo produced copies of certificates of registration regarding the claims at the centre of the dispute, dated July 1, 2009, whose authenticity G&W Industrial Minerals could not dispute, but instead argued about their validity.
In its counter-argument during the hearing before Justice Tawanda Chitapi, G&W Industrial Minerals submitted that the disputed titles to the claims were in the hands of the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development and so wanted the High Court to stay proceedings pending the decision of a dispute committee set up by the Ministry.
However, in a judgment delivered last month, Justice Chitapi granted an interdict against G&W Industrial Minerals prohibiting the firm from carrying out any mining activities, including processing its ore from Seldo mining blocks.
He ruled that by virtue of being a holder of the registered blocks in this dispute, Seldo enjoyed exclusive rights of mining the claims without hindrance from any other miner and so was entitled to seek the eviction of G&W.
It was not in dispute that G&W Industrial Minerals had equipment within the block and Justice Chitapi ordered the company to be ejected together with its machinery from the block.
The court also noted that G&W Industrial Minerals did not recognise the validity of Seldo’s titles and contended were irregularly obtained and such attitude, said Justice Chitapi, was sufficient to raise on Seldo a reasonable apprehension of irreparable harm to its interests considered widely as a mining business concern.