R600m lawsuit for Kego

LIBERTY COAL: FIRM ILLEGALLY EXTRACTED COAL FROM OUR PROPERTY

- Ciaran Ryan

Liberty Coal, recently taken out of business rescue, is claiming damages of more than R600 million from Kego Mining for illegally extracting about 900,000 tons of coal from its property.

Kego Mining has fired back, saying it was conducting mining operations with the lawful owner of the mining rights, Woestalleen Holdings, now in business rescue. Woestalleen's mining rights later passed to Balmoral.

Kego says the area it was mining falls outside a preservation order granted in favour of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in March last year.

This fact is fortified by the granting of the mining right to Balmoral by the department of mineral resources and energy (DMRE).

All its mining activities were conducted in full view of the DMRE, the former court-appointed curator and Liberty Coal itself.

Optimum Coal Mine Liberty Coal has assumed control of the old Gupta-owned Optimum Coal Mine and recently started exporting through the Richards Bay Coal Terminal.