The High Court of Namibia has interdicted and restrained Sperrgebiet Diamond Mining from removing any assets, machinery or equipment from the Elizabeth Bay Mine and taking them to Zimbabwe.
Lewcor Holdings and Lewcor Plant Hire Oranjemund dragged its Zimbabwean equity investor, RZ Murowa Holdings, to court, accusing the company of stripping the Elizabeth Bay Mine.
Judge Thomas Masuku ordered Sperrgebiet to pay the cost of the application.
Namdeb Holdings, a joint venture between the Government of the Republic of Namibia and De Beers Group, sold the mine to Sperrgebiet Diamond Mining (Pty) Ltd.
Sperrgebiet Diamond Mining (Pty) Ltd was established by Lewcor Holdings (Pty) Ltd. Lewcor was the majority shareholder (75%), alongside two local shareholders (MSF Commercials and David Sheehama). A 5% share was allocated to an Employee trust.
When the Sperrgebiet Diamond Mining bought the mine, it was under care and maintenance.
In 2020, Sperrgebiet Diamond Mining brought in RZ Murowa, a Global Emerging Markets Group member, as an equity investor to restart the Elizabeth Bay Mine.
The deal was finalised on May 20, 2022, with the Global Emerging Markets Group subsidiary obtaining 78% of the shareholding and Namibian shareholders retaining 22%, including an employee trust of 2%.
The plan was to start operations in the 4th quarter of 2022 and double production by mid-2023.
The mine started operating in September 2022 and stopped in March 2023. On December 14 2023, Lewcor filed for liquidation.
High Court papers show that the Elizabeth Bay Mine produced about 692,000 tonnes when it restarted operations.
Sperrgebiet Diamond Mining incurred a loss of N$118 million in February 2023 and another loss of
N$205 million because the production was 83% below the target of 96,618 carats.
Additionally, NamPower had disconnected the power supply by May 2023.
Lewcor’s chief operating officer, Thiaan Lewis, charged that RZ Murowa intends to strip the mine of all its movable assets without first paying off the debts, which stood at N$122m as of May 2023.
Sperrgebiet Diamond Mining’s acting CEO, Abraham Grobler, said the assets were sold to RZ Murowa in June 2023 because of an existing contractual obligation.
Grobler added that the assets in question include redundant, obsolete, or used items sold as part of Sperrgebiet Diamond Mining’s revised strategy to operate more profitably.
