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Fidelis Munyoro Chief Court Reporter
The High Court has rejected a chrome mining company’s claim for more than US$8 million against two other companies it accused of illegally extracting more than 88.839 tonnes of alluvial chrome from its mining sites.
Monachrome (Pvt) Ltd had instituted a delictual claim for damages against Labenmon Investments (Pvt) Ltd and Kehrai Investments (Pvt)Ltd, arguing that the two companies were vicariously liable for the financial loss suffered as a result of the illegal mining at its claims.
However, the company failed to prove that the two companies carried out illegal mining activities at its claims along the Great Dyke and the High Court dismissed the claim.
The five claims at the centre of dispute are located in Guruve North Dyke and are all owned by Monachrome, which claimed to have suffered loss amounting to US$8 173 188 due to Labenmon and its co-defendant’s illegal mining activities.
However, Labenmon argued that it entered into a mining agreement with Kehrai to mine alluvial chrome at the claims in question while Kehrai would mine nickel.
In this case, Labenmon argued that they were both authorised to mine at the same sites, hence it could not be liable for the damages which were being claimed by Monachrome.
After a fully contested civil fact-finding trial, Justice Webster Chinamora dismissed the claim after Monachrome failed to establish its case on a balance of probabilities.
Monachrome never showed in its claim an amount it perceived to be the profit that would have been realised from the sale of the chrome, and failed to state for how long these alleged illegal activities went on.
A key Monachrome witness who confirmed that there were no mining activities or developmental work ever conducted by the company at the claims in dispute.
On that basis, Justice Chinamora found no basis had been laid by Monachrome for the claim of US$8 173 188, as there was no historical evidence placed before the judge of any quantities previously mined on the claims and their value.
“I am, therefore, unable to tell from the geological survey on its own how the plaintiff could have reasonably made a possible profit of that magnitude,” he said.
After Monachrome failed to prove that Labenmon carried out mining activities at a time that it had no authority to do so, and failed to prove the amount of loss that it alleges to have suffered, Justice Chinamora could not award damages against Kehrai despite its default in appearing for the trial.
The Monachrome claim stood in the law of delict, also known as an aquilian action. This is a general delictual action used to claim damages for financial loss.
Upon appropriate proof, damages suffered by a party must be borne by the wrongdoer. But, to succeed in a claim of this nature there are three factual points to be proved: that the defendant committed a wrongful act; that there was a quantifiable financial loss stemming from the defendant’s conduct; and thirdly, there should be a causal link between the defendant’s conduct and the ensuing loss.
In this case, Monachrome failed to provide evidence to sustain any of the three points of fact, hence the court had to reject the suit.
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