Mike Nunn’s Elandsfontein/KROPZ phosphate mining company has high goals and questionable intentions to set a “new worldwide standard” for responsible green phosphate mining: “As a company we’re dedicated to ensuring a sustainable future for agricultural food production in an increasingly populated world, where farmable land is becoming more scarce”, it says on their website.
The sad part is that none of the Elandsfontein/KROPZ company members has any direct experience of phosphate mining and it is “phosphate rich farmable land” along the West Coast that is being destroyed in a very risky “experimental quest” to supply the rest of the world with phosphate, since 70 % or more of the Elandsfontein phosphate will be exported to Asia and other countries.
The “networking” session that the West Coast Business Chamber organised with two representatives of KROPZ and a Sanpark representative turned out to be more of a one-sided marketing campaign for KROPZ than a networking session. Firstly, the original public session was changed at the last minute to include only Chamber members and secondly, the representative of Sanpark, Jaco Nel, could not attend.
Chairperson Wilhelm Herbst (left) kept a tight rein and forbade attendees to ask questions other than written ones, which had to be scribbled down quickly after the “presentation” by KROPZ operational manager Mark Maynard (middle). Some of the questions were then read and answered by Mark and Philip Le Roux, senior KROPZ geologist (bottom).
Mark gave an impressive presentation – high-ligting all the technical scientific studies and precautionary measures that have been done and taken to mitigate possible environmental impacts and to ensure land restoration.
In theory, and graphically presented, it looks impressive, but one cannot help wondering why similar sedimentary phosphate mining projects across the globe have never had the emerald green outcome that KROPZ projects?
Is a rookie phosphate mining team from SA truly going to achieve what no other mining company ever could? Every precaution seems to be built on a lot of IF’S and theoretical projections. . . and WHO is going to monitor all these precautionary measures constantly over a period of 15 years? Nature has proven to be too unpredictable to allow human interference without severe comebacks . . .
The financial benefits were obviously accentuated : “Kropz is currently investing R1,35 billion into the South African economy through the development of its Elandsfontein Phosphate Project. Approximately 95% is being spent within South Africa. Every effort has been made to maximise benefit directly to local businesses in the Saldanha Bay Municipality. To date, R95,544,589 has been spent directly in the SBM (excluding salaries and benefits paid to local employees).”
Another impressive carrot . . . at what cost? How many local people will be among the projected 430 permanent staff, seeing that the majority of experts are recruited from elsewhere in the country? How will the 6 trucks (now projected to be only 4) per hour carrying phosphate to the Saldanha harbour affect locals and traffic? Where does sub-Sahara Africa – and particularly South Africa – comes in if most of the phosphate fertilizer is meant for overseas export?
“Our mission is to set a new standard in the green mining of fertilizer feed minerals and to develop a world class plant nutrient fertilizer production and distribution capacity that will meaningfully contribute towards feeding sub-Saharan Africa for generations to come.”
One of the questions raised was: What will happen if the outstanding water licence that KROPZ was so sure to have by now, is NOT granted following the national investigation into political fraud regarding the granting of mining rights?
To which Martin replied: “If we do not get a water licence, we can not and will not mine – it’s as simple as that.”
And the question remains: Should the procurement of a water licence in a drought-stricken country not be the very first step before a multi-million rand infrastructure is built? Especially in the light of a pending Supreme Court Case . . . ?
* Read more about KROPZ on their website – which has been upgraded recently. http://www.kropz.com/