1) Whether the minerals which are subject to a prospecting right renewal application, in terms of section 18 of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, Act 28 of 2002, are sterilised and/or unavailable for other applicants while the applicant awaits the processing and/or return, grant, refusal of the renewal application; if not, why not;
2) What total number of outstanding prospecting right renewal applications have been received which have not yet been processed, returned, granted, refused (a) within 60 working days from date of receipt and (b) within 12 months and (c) for a period of more than 3 years from the date of receipt;
3) Whether the renewal applications that are received after the expiry date of the relevant prospecting right were refused; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, is the date of expiry of the prospecting right calculated from the date of the granting of the right according to the judgment in Mawetse SA Mining Corporation (Pty) Ltd v Minister of Mineral Resources and Others or from the date of the execution of the prospecting right? NW211E