LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - URU announced on Friday that the application for a mining right submitted by its South African subsidiary, Lesego Platinum Uitloop (LPU), over the three prospecting rights that form the Zebediela Project, has been accepted by the South African Department of Mineral Resources.
The AIM-traded firm confirmed LPU is the holder of the prospecting rights that form the Zebediela Project.

It said the application was submitted over various portions of the farms Uitloop 3 KS, Amatava 41 KS, Bloemhof 4 KS, and Piet Potgietersrust Town and Townlands 44 KS, in the Mogalakwena local and Waterberg district municipalities of the Limpopo Province of South Africa.

The Department of Mineral Resources would now process the application, with the company saying it "looked forward" to receiving the mining right in due course subject to the satisfactory completion of all regulatory requirements.

LPU was now required to embark on a public consultation process, and consult with the Department of Land Affairs for any state-owned land and check for land claims and land restitution claims.

It would also need to submit, by no later than 4 October, signed shareholder agreements, share certificates and shareholder registers, articles and memorandum of association of the company, provide detail in relation to the theoretical full funding of the mine, and "any other agreement or document" relating to the agreement.

The company would also need to begin environmental studies in order to obtain the requisite environmental authorisations that accompanies the mining right.

URU said the mining right would grant LPU the right to mine nickel and platinum group minerals, chromite, cobalt, copper, gold, iron ore and vanadium for a period of 30 years.

""he acceptance of the mining right application by the Department of Minerals Resources significantly moves the project forward in three ways," said URU chief executive officer John Zorbas.

He said those consisted of the consolidation of the three prospecting rights that made up the Zebediela Project into one right, the securing of the mineral tenure of the project for a further 30 years, and the advancement of the project "one step closer" towards development.

"We remain extremely excited by the highly prospective Zebediela Project, and the acceptance of the mining right application grants us the flexibility to develop the existing nickel resource into a mine, and to continue developing the newly discovered Ni-PGE resource found adjacent to and in the footwall of the existing nickel resource."

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