(1) On 29 November 2006 the SCA upheld this appeal against a judgment of the Pretoria High Court. The respondent in the matter, Sandhurst Estates Ltd, is the owner of a farm near Bethal in the Mpumalanga Province. The appellant, Anglo Operations Ltd, holds all the rights to coal on the farm. The dispute between them arose when Anglo Operations decided to conduct its mining operations on the farm by way of open cast mining and to divert a stream on the farm for the purposes of these operations.

(2) The grant of mineral rights in favour of Anglo Operations did not refer, either expressly or tacitly, to open cast mining. Following the model of English law, the Pretoria High Court decided that, unless open cast mining is specifically authorised by the grant, the mineral rights holder is limited in law to underground mining operations. The SCA held, however, that because of conceptual differences between Roman Dutch law and English law in this regard, the end result in our law is the exact opposite. Accordingly, so the court held, the position in our law is that, absent any provision to the contrary in the grant, the mineral rights holders is entitled to conduct open cast mining if it is reasonably necessary to remove the minerals, provided that it is done in a manner least injurious to the interests of the owner in the surface of the property. On the facts of the matter the SCA decided that Anglo Operations had satisfied both these requirements and that the order sought should therefore have been granted in the court a quo.