The High Court has granted Buffalo Coal an application for urgent relief, setting aside an August Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) decision to withdraw its Aviemore anthracite mine’s mining right.
Following the application being heard on Tuesday and, pending a final determination of the application for the review and setting aside of the ministerial decision, the court had granted an order stipulating that the ministerial decision was of no force or effect, the minister was interdicted from awarding Mining Right 301 (MR301) to any other party and the company could continue to mine in terms of MR301.
Buffalo Coal is the area’s largest employer.

Fears were that the withdrawal of the rights would virtually close down the operation and the spin-off effects from this would be disastrous from an area already hard hit by a string of big business closures dating back from the shutting down of Royal Beechnut, Alucab, Consol, various mines and the railway junction in Glencoe.
Buffalo now had 30 days within which to launch the review application to obtain final relief in the form of an order setting aside the ministerial decision.
The company advised that its legal team, including senior counsel, had indicated a strong likelihood that the review application would be successful. The South Africa-focused coal miner’s 2013 MR301, as well as the approval for the environmental management plan for its KwaZulu-Natal-based colliery was retracted on the back of “procedural issues” relating to an earlier objection by Avemore Trust over the award process
For more: https://www.miningweekly.com/article/sa-court-sets-aside-ministerial-decision-to-suspend-buffalos-aviemore-mining-right-2015-09-18