BAHVEST Resources Bhd’s subsidiary, Wullersdorf Resources Sdn Bhd, has gained approval from the Mineral and Geoscience Department (JMG) for its gold mining operations in Tawau, Sabah, under the Mineral Development Act 1994 (MDA).
“With the above approval, Wullersdorf is now operating under both the MDA, in addition to the previous approval from the Sabah state government under Section 18(d) of the Sabah Mining Ordinance 1960,” the group said in a bourse filing on Friday.
JMG is part of the Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Ministry, which oversees mineral development and mining regulations in Malaysia.
Meanwhile, Wullersdorf is Bahvest’s primary subsidiary, driving the company’s revenue entirely from mining operations in the previous fiscal year.
The operation had gone without a mining permit after it was not issued with a new one since November last year.
This comes as an ongoing legal battle ensued between landowner Southsea Gold Sdn Bhd and Bahvest Resources following a hostile takeover within Bahvest in 2023. Southsea was the initial mining license holder of the mining operation.
It still owns the land.
Southsea is owned by Datuk Lo Fui Ming and currently locked in a legal battle over unpaid lease of the land with the current Bahvest Management. Lo was Bahvest founder and former managing director.
A couple of Sabah politicians had initially questioned the Sabah government on why it had not ordered the mining operation to be stopped after it failed to secure a new mining license from JMG.
However, Wullesdorf had apparently obtained a permit under the Sabah Mining Ordinance 1960 that allows the Sabah Land and Survey Department director the authority as the chief mining inspector for Sabah.
In a related development, a geologist had recently been fined RM32,000 by the Kota Kinabalu magistrates’ court after benefitting RM800,000 from the illicit smuggling of gold concentrate residue with the help of an insider from the mine to a goldsmith in Pahang on March 29.
Meanwhile, the trial of the said insider, an assistant manager of the mining company, continues. The court was told that the smuggling occurred in four instances between early 2020 until December 2020.
In February this year, several individuals were arrested with 110kg of gold by customs at the Tawau airport. They were bound for Kuala Lumpur.
But customs later released them as they were found to have not broken any law. It could not be ascertained how much gold had been illegally smuggled out from Sabah. – The Vibes, April 13, 2024
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