The Minister took Office in 2018, almost 11 years after the Free State High Court pronounced that his department cannot exercise jurisdiction under the MPRDA in relation to the tailings dumps in question. Given the lapse of time and considering that the ruling prompted the legislature to consider amending the MPRDA to remedy the legislative lacuna as far back as 2013 when it adopted the MPRDA Amendment Bill of 2013, there are at this stage no prospects of successfully appealing the judgment.