Van der Schyff, E.Erasmus, Lourens Johannes.2013-02-042013-02-042011http://hdl.handle.net/10394/8096Thesis (LLM (Environmental Law and Governance))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.Since the enactment of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002 (MPRDA) a fundamental conflict arose between the rights of a holder of either a prospecting or a mining right, and that of a landowner. On the one hand this can be explained by having regard to the impact the granting of a prospecting or a mining right may have on the rights of the landowner to whose land such a right relates. On the other hand, section 25 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Constitution), provides for the protection of property to a certain extent. The protection that the Constitution affords to a landowner, together with the rights granted to the holder of a prospecting or a mining right by the MPRDA, is the cause of such a fundamental conflict. It is against this background that this study seeks to determine to what extent the MPRDA provides for the protection of a landowner's rights, having regard to the rights granted to the holder of a prospecting or a mining right, which is considered against the protection of property as afforded by the Constitution.DeprivationExpropriationProspecting rightMining rightLandownerConstitutionalityProtectionThesis