Platinum (Implats) has asked its subsidiary, Zimbabwe Platinum (Zimplat), to lodge an objection to President Robert Mugabe’s planned compulsory acquisition of its land, the JSE-listed miner confirmed on Friday.

According to Reuters, the Zimbabwean government published a notice earlier this month, saying it planned to take away land belonging to Zimplats.

The Zimbabwean government said this move curtail mining companies from holding onto land claims for speculative reasons.

“Implats confirms that its subsidiary, (Zimplats) lodged an objection on 27 March 2013 to the preliminary notice with regard to the President’s intention to acquire compulsorily 27,948 hectares of land held by Zimplats,” Implats said in a statement.

Reuters reported that the official protest meant the government could not randomly grab the mining claims without agreeing with Zimplats.

If the Zimbabwean government insisted on repossessing the land, Zimplats could contact the local administrative court to stop the government, the global news wire reported.

Implats is the world’s second-largest platinum producer, which in January decided to sell a majority stake in Zimplats to local black investors for $971 million.

This was aimed at meeting black ownership targets set by President Mugabe.