South Africa: Move to Allow Mining of Xolobeni Sands Under Fire
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Business Day (Johannesburg)
6 August 2008
Posted to the web 6 August 2008
Charlotte Mathews
Johannesburg
CONCERNED nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and local residents plan to lodge strenuous objections to the minerals and energy department's decision to permit mining on about a third of the controversial Xolobeni heavy mineral sands project on the Wild Coast.
If their objection failed, they would take the issue to court, Sustaining the Wild Coast campaign spokesman John Clarke said yesterday.
I-Net Bridge reported yesterday that the Democratic Alliance (DA) had also voiced its disappointment over the granting of the permit.
Xolobeni covers 22km of spectacular coastline stretching from the Wild Coast Sun to the Mkambati Nature Reserve, but the area is poor, with an unemployment rate of about 71%.
Mineral Commodities, which is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, said this week its South African subsidiary, Transworld Energy and Mineral Resources, had been notified by the department that a mining licence would be granted over the Kwanyana block.
It would hold a prospecting licence valid until 2010 over the other portions of Xolobeni.
Mineral Commodities planned to fast-track development of Kwanyana, it said. Kwanyana is one of five blocks making up the Xolobeni project area, which in total contains a measured resource of 346-million tons of mineral-bearing sands, sufficient for 22 years of mining.
Kwanyana itself holds about 139-million tons of the total resource.
Sustaining the Wild Coast, a coalition of NGOs and individuals opposed to the Mineral Commodities mining plan and the siting of the proposed N2 toll road, has been campaigning against this project for more than a year.
The lobby does not believe it complies with the notion of sustainable development and argues the public participation process was seriously flawed.
Complaints of flaws in the consultation process were taken to the Human Rights Commission, which earlier this year subpoenaed the land affairs minister, and the departments of minerals and energy and environmental affairs, for more information on the process.
Commission spokesman Vincent Moaga said yesterday the report was still being prepared.
Xolobeni lies within a valuable botanical site, and the Wild Coast has been identified by the government as a conservation area of regional and national importance. The effects of mining made it likely it would have a negative effect on tourism in the area, the campaign said.
Clarke said the campaign was unhappy that Mineral Commodities' Australian shareholders were informed of this decision before the department informed the local communities.
The controversy has also highlighted differences between the minerals and energy department and the environmental affairs and tourism department.
According to a report from the latter department, quoted on the campaign website, it concluded mining was a short-term activity with negative long-term effects, whereas ecotourism had an unlimited life span. The departmental report on the project, though, was only submitted to the minerals and energy department after the December 21 deadline. This was ascribed to an "administrative error".
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DA environment spokesman Gareth Morgan said it was a pity enviromental affairs and tourism had bungled its opportunity to participate in the process.
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