Mining And Energy E-Alert - June 2012

BREAKING NEWS: SUPREME COURT OF APPEAL FINDS THAT THE MPRDA DID NOT BRING ABOUT AN EXPROPRIATION OF OLD ORDER MINERAL RIGHTS.

In a far-reaching and unanimous judgment delivered on Thursday 31 May 2012, in Minister of Minerals and Energy v Agri South Africa [2012] ZASCA 93, the Supreme Court of Appeal ("the Court") held that the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002 ("the MPRDA") did not bring about a general expropriation of mineral rights in South Africa. In doing so, the Court upheld an appeal by the Minister of Minerals and Energy ("the Minister") and rejected the reasoning of the North Gauteng High Court that the MPRDA had extinguished all unused old order rights existing under the previous minerals regime and vested the substance of those rights in the state, thus expropriating them and requiring compensation under section 25(2) of the Constitution.