TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Ivanhoe Mines on Wednesday hit back at a media report by Bloomberg that, among other accusations, alleged the company had rigged representative elections to a community trust that was set up as part of a broad-based black economic-empowerment (BBBEE) deal that gave 20 local communities a 26% interest in the $1.7-billion Platreef platinum group elements project, in South Africa.

The Africa-focused explorer said the allegations did not accurately and fairly represent circumstances concerning the support by representatives of an overwhelming majority of the communities in the Mokopane area for developing the planned Platreef platinum/palladium/nickel/copper/gold/rhodium project, located on the northern limb of the Bushveld Complex.

Ivanhoe early in September announced that it had concluded a BBBEE deal that conformed to South Africa's mining laws and the transformation objectives enshrined in the Mining Charter.

The media report gave prominence to allegations by three local activists regarding the process that gave residents a significant ownership stake in the planned mine. Ivanhoe pointed out that the media agency failed to report that despite the company having encountered organised, aggressive obstructions by activists, 15 of the 20 benefiting communities did participate in electing representatives to the trust advisory council, which, in turn, appointed trustees to the new community trust, which would be responsible for distributing all the money received by the trust.

Ivanhoe alleged that a tiny minority of individuals led by activists, some of who had convicted criminal backgrounds, pursuing their own self-serving agendas, were demanding unwarranted preferential treatment and had demonstrated that they would use all possible means to further their claims.

Coinciding with the publication of the Bloomberg story on Wednesday, representatives of activist group the Kopano Committee appeared at the Joburg Indaba mining conference, in Johannesburg, to continue their disinformation campaign against the Platreef project.

“It appears that Bloomberg did not challenge the inaccuracy of many of the critics' allegations or note their apparent hypocrisy inherent in influencing some communities to withdraw from negotiations over the formation of the community trust and then complaining that not all residents had an opportunity to be part of the process,” Ivanhoe said.

The BBBEE deal paved the way for the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) to formalise and execute the mining right granted to Ivanhoe in May. However, an analyst cited in the offending story speculated that the issues raised by the activists might be subject to investigation by the DMR, which could delay the permit execution.

Upon execution of the mining right, a community trust for the 20 host communities would receive a yearly fixed contribution of R11-million (about C$1.1-million) while the mine was being developed.