Thursday, 28 Jul 2011
Reuters reported that elite South African police investigating possible fraudulent mining permits on Wednesday raided the mines department and a company linked to a dispute between one of the world's biggest mining companies and steel giant ArcelorMittal.
Mr Macintosh Polela, spokesman for the police Hawks unit, said the raids centered on the government's mining department in Pretoria and its regional offices in Kimberly, which oversees minerals rights in Northern Cape province.
He told “The allegations are that they were involved in the fraudulent issuing of prospecting rights.”
Police also hit the offices of Imperial Crown Trading, a little-known company with no experience in mining which has become a household name in South African financial circles after becoming embroiled in a dispute between the local unit of global steel giant ArcelorMittal and Kumba Iron Ore, a subsidiary of mining giant Anglo American .
The spat started when ArcelorMittal's mining rights at Kumba's giant Sishen iron ore mine in the Northern Cape lapsed in 2009 and ICT was awarded prospecting rights to the same piece of land even though mining has been going on there for years.
ArcelorMittal said in August in would buy ICT for 800 million rand, effectively to gain control once again of its lost slice of the mine.
The deal sparked furious allegations of corruption in the mining ministry because it also involved the transfer of a quarter the steel-maker's shares to black investors, including ICT and an investment group led by the son of President Mr Jacob Zuma.
(sourced from Reuters)
Reuters reported that elite South African police investigating possible fraudulent mining permits on Wednesday raided the mines department and a company linked to a dispute between one of the world's biggest mining companies and steel giant ArcelorMittal.
Mr Macintosh Polela, spokesman for the police Hawks unit, said the raids centered on the government's mining department in Pretoria and its regional offices in Kimberly, which oversees minerals rights in Northern Cape province.
He told “The allegations are that they were involved in the fraudulent issuing of prospecting rights.”
Police also hit the offices of Imperial Crown Trading, a little-known company with no experience in mining which has become a household name in South African financial circles after becoming embroiled in a dispute between the local unit of global steel giant ArcelorMittal and Kumba Iron Ore, a subsidiary of mining giant Anglo American .
The spat started when ArcelorMittal's mining rights at Kumba's giant Sishen iron ore mine in the Northern Cape lapsed in 2009 and ICT was awarded prospecting rights to the same piece of land even though mining has been going on there for years.
ArcelorMittal said in August in would buy ICT for 800 million rand, effectively to gain control once again of its lost slice of the mine.
The deal sparked furious allegations of corruption in the mining ministry because it also involved the transfer of a quarter the steel-maker's shares to black investors, including ICT and an investment group led by the son of President Mr Jacob Zuma.
(sourced from Reuters)
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