Minister Seeks to Meet Billionaire Friedland Over Mine Spat
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South African Mineral Resources Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi has asked to meet Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. Executive Chairman Robert Friedland to resolve issues relating to the government’s approval for a $1.6 billion platinum mine.
People living in the Mokopane area in the northern Limpopo province, one of the country’s poorest regions, are lobbying the government to delay the mining license of Ivanhoe’s local unit, Ivanplats. They’re unhappy because the company sold the community a 20 percent stake in the Platreef project to fulfill the state’s demands for black shareholding without all of the residents being part of the talks over the deal’s terms.