THE High Court of Zimbabwe has granted urgent interim relief to TN Gold Arcturus Mine (Pvt) Ltd owned by Tawanda Nyambirai, suspending a stop-work order and penalty issued by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) after what the court described as a potentially ruinous disruption of the mine’s operations.
Acturus Mine owner, Tawanda Nyambirai
In a judgment delivered in Harare on 25 February 2026, Justice Maxwell Takuva ruled that the actions taken by an EMA inspector threatened the structural stability of the mine’s Ceylone Open Pit and the viability of its production, saying the consequences of inaction would be “immediate and potentially irreversible.”
The dispute stems from a 26 September 2025 inspection during which Miriam Katupa issued a stop order and penalty against the mining company, alleging that it was unlawfully discharging water into a natural waterway during de-watering operations.
The company insisted the water was clean underground water “comparable to borehole water,” noting that neighbouring Jongwe Farm had even used some of it for irrigation. It further argued that its Environmental Impact Assessment Licence, issued in 2024 and valid until July 2026, authorised its ongoing mining activities.
Takuva accepted that the mine had shown a prima facie right requiring judicial protection. He highlighted that the stop order had effectively shut down the company’s principal ore-producing site, which contributes about 70% of its gold ore.
“The potential accumulation of water in an open pit mine, with the attendant risk of wall collapse and operational paralysis, presents consequences that are immediate and potentially irreversible,” he said, adding that the urgency of the application was neither self-created nor exaggerated.
The court dismissed arguments that TN Gold should first exhaust internal remedies before approaching the High Court. Takuva noted that although the company had already filed an appeal with the EMA Director General’s Office, the Environmental Management Act provides no mechanism for suspending enforcement orders pending an appeal and no timeframe for deciding those appeals.
“In circumstances where internal remedies cannot provide the interim protection sought and could result in irreparable harm if awaited, the doctrine of exhaustion does not bar the Applicant,” he wrote.
Weighing the risks, the judge found that the balance of convenience overwhelmingly favoured the mining company. He observed that allowing operations to resume would not hinder EMA’s regulatory powers, which remained fully intact, but preventing de-watering could inflict catastrophic damage on the mine’s infrastructure.
“The prejudice to the Applicant outweighs any temporary inconvenience to the Respondents,” he ruled.
The court, therefore, suspended both the stop order and the penalty pending the determination of the company’s appeal, and ordered the respondents represented by Dube Manikai & Hwacha to pay costs. TN Gold, represented by Mtetwa & Nyambirai, is now permitted to resume operations at Ceylone Open Pit and continue de-watering.
The High Court concluded that “the interests of justice require that the status quo be preserved pending determination of the internal appeal,” a ruling likely to resonate across Zimbabwe’s mining sector as it navigates rising regulatory scrutiny.
