Parly orders mine closure

By Neo Kolane

Parliament’s natural resources, tourism and land portfolio committee has ordered the immediate closure of Reskol Diamond Mining, a limited liability company operating at Kolo in Mafeteng district.

The committee adopted this heavy-handed stance after ministry of natural resources officers failed to provided required documents pertaining to Reskol’s operations and its perennial fighting with the Ha Mapetla community, which they were supposed to present before the portfolio committee this week.

The officers who appeared before the committee empty-handed were acting commissioner of mines Mohato Moima, chief legal officer Mathalea Lerotholi and the deputy principal secretary Lisema Lekhooana.

The ministry was summoned by the community after the Ha Mapetla community raised eyebrows when the company resumed operations at Kolo Mine four months ago without their knowledge.

theReporter has learnt that Reskol stopped operations in 2021 after its mining lease expired and the company went to court seeking for its renewal.

The company was also fighting with the community over unmet obligations and the villagers made it clear they did not want it to continue with its operations.

The irate villagers accused the mine of reneging on its promises to implement infrastructure developments such as road construction and relocation of houses damaged by blasting activities.

Now, the community this week told the portfolio committee that they were taken aback when Reskol resumed operations without showing any courtesy of announcing its return to the area.

The chairperson of the Kolo Mine-community liaison committee, ‘Mamahlape Hlapane, told parliament that the company is working illegally as legal processes were not followed, like it had happened when the mine was closed in the first place.

Hlapane recalled that the community had unambiguously expressed their misgivings about Reskol, resulting in the ministry of mines suspending the company’s mining license.

“We are concerned that the same company is back operating in our backyard when our grievances have not been addressed.

“We also want to know if due tendering processes were followed to identify a company to operate the mine. The ministry owes us an explanation. Lastly, we want to see an audit report on Reskol Diamond Mining after it stopped operating,” Hlapane insisted.

Chief Mosiuoa Petlane told theReporter this week that they petitioned the portfolio committee on February 29 this year and were told last week to appear before the committee on Tuesday this week.

Petlane was hopeful that, now that the ministry has been instructed to put a moratorium on operations at the mine, this would help solve their issues with Reskol.

“The department of mine and the management of Reskol Diamond Mining will shed light on the terms under which mining operations have resumed,” he noted.

On February 19, 2024 Petlane on behalf of the community wrote a letter to Reskol, inviting it to a public gathering to come and explain why the company was back at Ha Mapetla without their knowledge but it never showed up.

In his defense, Moima swore that the portfolio committee had not provided the list of documents it required pertaining to the appointment of Reskol and its activities.  

“The only information I can provide is the contents of the petition we received from the community,” he said.

An evidently unimpressed and annoyed chairperson of the committee, Moeketsi Motṥoane, told the sitting that the commissioner knew exactly why he had been summoned to appear before it.

Motṥoane accused Moima of ‘playing hide and seek’, citing the email sent to the ministry ‘outlined everything, including documents’ Moima should have brought.

Reskol Diamond Mining, a limited liability company, took over the mining rights at Kolo Mine in 2011 from Angel Diamond which faced liquidation.

The former entered into a joint venture with the government of Lesotho on the Kolo Mine, which is about 35km south-west of Maseru. The government owns 10 percent of the company, which had a 10-year lease from the mining ministry. The lease expired in 2021.

After the lease deadline, Reskol applied for renewal but the application was turned down by the mining ministry on the basis that the company had breached some of its obligations as enshrined in the Mining and Minerals Act of 2005 and the issued mining lease.

In a letter dated June 11 2021, then minister of mining Serialong Qoo showed that Reskol had not complied with the prescribed production timelines and quantities, thus affecting efficiency of operations and contributing to wasteful mining practices.

The letter also indicated that the company had not complied with the requirements for renewal of a mining lease.

It also noted that the application was default due to not meeting the maintenance of mining operations in the year of renewal.

The company is also said to have not complied with provisions governing the suspension of operations as it stalled operations without authorisation.

Upon non-renewal of the lease, Reskol filed an urgent court application in which the ministry of mines, the principal secretary, the secretary of mining board and the attorney general were cited as the respondents in the case.

In its papers, Reskol sought an interdiction and restriction on the respondents from awarding any mining lease to anyone in respect of Kolo and Sekameng kimberlites.

It also sought an order interdicting and restraining respondents from interfering with its mining operations in any manner whatsoever except by due process of the law, pending finalisation of the court case and the arbitration proceedings. The public relations officer of the department of mining, ‘Makanelo Motseko, confirmed that the them minister, Serialong Qoo, had called a public gathering to inform the community that he had closed down the mine.