Miranda gets disputed rights back

Miranda successfully appealed against the decision and has secured a new-order prospecting right.

Miranda started the appeal process in July 2006. It de-recognised the prospect in 2011‚ taking it off its balance sheet and reducing Miranda's net asset value by about R284m.

The matter had become complicated‚ Miranda said in its 2011 annual report‚ pointing out that a third party had been granted a prospecting right over the property despite a decision over Miranda's application for a similar right being undecided.

Miranda will now review the lead‚ silver‚ zinc and copper deposit in the Northern Cape.

In February 2006‚ the value of the project to Miranda was R284m based on a royalty payment linked to discounted revenue participation.

This model included commodity prices and exchange rates forecast for the life of the mine.

Those price and exchange rate assumptions will have to be updated‚ as the market has changed dramatically in the past seven years with the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008.

There is a code-compliant resource at the project and there are an estimated 14m tons of mineral-bearing material.

"The executive management is currently reviewing the valuation model and shareholders will be informed of the outcome in due course‚" Miranda said.

Miranda's managing director‚ Mick Cook‚ was unavailable for comment.