Mupane bidders in settlement talks after CoA clash?
Mbongeni Mguni - Oarabile Mosikare | Monday December 8, 2025 06:00
The battle to takeover Mupane has raged since at least June when the liquidator, Kopanang Thekiso, closed the period for offers to be submitted. Nova Africa, with an offer of $21 million got the greenlight from creditors in August, but another joint venture, Ulsan Botswana, has challenged the decision, claiming several technical irregularities.
Ulsan subsequently won a High Court decision interdicting the award to Nova, but the latter equally secured leave to appeal that decision to the Court of Appeal. On Monday, the two parties, including the liquidator, met at the Court of Appeal where judgment was reserved for December 9.
Ahead of that however, Mmegi is informed that the major parties in the matter met this week with a view to hammering out a solution and withdrawing the case before the CoA.
“There is uncertainty about which party will win in court and the lawyers also feel that the process may drag on for a minimum of one year,” an insider close to the latest developments told Mmegi. “There’s no deal on the table yet, but Ulsan is reportedly looking at a share of the mine, perhaps via equity in Nova.”
Other insiders privy to the settlement talks told Mmegi that Ulsan negotiators said the bidder needed a month to come up with proposals.
While by law, the parties can negotiate a settlement and drop their case at the CoA, they would still be required to secure the approval of creditors for the deal.
A settlement would work in favour of the creditors, who have complained that the legal battle was dragging on while their collective dues of more than P300 million go unpaid. The Mupane estate is also running on empty as care and maintenance costs are about P130,000 per month, while the legal bills associated with the ongoing dispute may reach P4.9 million.
Meanwhile, Botswana Mineworkers Union (BMWU which is owed P49 million in workers’ unpaid dues and benefits, has slammed the extended legal battle over Mupane, describing it as a “cat and mouse game” that is jeopardising workers’ livelihoods.
A recent meeting of creditors discussed options such as contributing to the ongoing legal action as well as how to continue funding the care and maintenance activities required to keep Mupane secure and ready to be reopened by the winning bidder. Creditors also reportedly discussed registering their own company and taking over the mine themselves, whilst others suggested the entire sales process be restarted.
Some also suggested facilitating a direct auction between Ulsan and Nova Africa.
The move towards a settlement also appears to be influenced by a recently uncovered precedent judgement at the CoA which may render the arguments made on Monday irrelevant. On Monday, Ulsan’s lawyer had argued against the liquidator’s application for an expedited appeal, saying whilst Thekiso had received leave to appeal from the High Court, he had failed to meet the filing requirements of the CoA.
However, subsequently, a December 2021 CoA judgement was uncovered in which Justice Isaac Lesetedi rule on the very same subject involve the leave to appeal.
The settlement also appears influenced by fears from all sides that the currently elevated gold prices could soften or significantly retreat in the estimated 12 months that the “lawfare” and court wrangle continues.
Documents publicised by auctioneers in June indicated that Mupane’s various deposits, as at February, held measured resources of approximately 83,500 ounces of gold. Indicated and inferred resources across the different deposits at Mupane added up to about 455,000 ounces, according to the auctioneers’ documents, a size that again is small, in terms of global guidelines.
More importantly however, the auctioneers’ document estimated that the tailings dumps at Mupane could hold 103,160 troy ounces of gold, an amount that in turn could yield nearly $432.2 million at current gold prices. At the current exchange rate, this could be comfortably worth more than P5.8 billion.
The tailings figures provided by the auctioneers’ documents are unconfirmed by other sources, but even if incorrect, they suggest there is strong value in the dumps around Mupane.