The latest photos of the controversial KROPZ/Elandsfontein phosphate mine near Hopefield clearly show the vast area that has been cleared and transformed into a barren strip mining landscape – all set for the word go.
What boggles the mind is that KROPZ seems to be unperturbed by the fact that the most crucial necessity – a water use licence – has not even been approved and that the entire West Coast region – like the rest of the drought-stricken country – has been placed under water restrictions.
Mine boss Mike Nunn also seems undisturbed by the pending High Court case due in mid 2017 to dispute the legality of the processes followed by the Department of Mineral Resources in granting the mining rights. Kropz was confident to have the approval for the water use license by October. The delay may have been caused by an investigation following an intensified outcry against the immoral and illegal operations of the DMR during the past few years.
The chaos in SA’s mining industry was highlighted yesterday when mining companies warned of “dire consequences” if a revised mining charter is implemented next month as planned, deepening a long-running spat with the government. (* article underneath)
Meanwhile, affected and concerned parties along the West Coast have no idea what to expect anymore as mining rights seem to be handed out like candy to any applicant who offers the DMR a lucrative deal, irrespective of environmental or socio-economic impact.
The Centre for Environmental Rights warned against this bulldozing technique of the DMR last year already:
“(The Elandsfontein/KROPZ phosphate mine) is only one example of a broader problem of inappropriate and irrational granting of prospecting and mining rights by the DMR. The department increasingly fails to take considerations of environmental, cultural, historical or tourism value into account when granting rights. This is evidenced by numerous grants of prospecting and mining rights in and near sensitive and protected areas in recent years.
“Enormous resources are expended in challenging mining rights that should not properly have been granted in the first place. The DMR routinely grants rights despite sub-standard environmental studies, flawed public participation processes and inadequate proof of the applicant’s technical expertise and financial resources. The Department appears impervious to expert assessments commissioned by interested and affected parties that describe in meticulous detail the often obvious flaws and inconsistencies in the information submitted by rights applicants. Granting rights under these circumstances is a breach of the law, but challenging the grant embroils objectors in years of legal battles that are drawn out endlessly by the Department’s resolute failure to answer correspondence and decide internal appeals, and its frequent failure to file papers in court proceedings and comply with court orders.
“Civil society and even the mining industry itself have repeatedly called for the Ministers of Mineral Resources to exercise the power in terms of section 49 of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act to declare “no go areas” for mining. This would mean that the DMR would not be allowed even to accept an application for prospecting or mining in these areas, preventing the costly and damaging battles that are so often necessitated by the DMR’s failure to properly apply the law in its assessment of rights applications.
“However, these calls have so far gone unheeded, and as a result concerned and affected citizens and communities with extremely limited resources are forced into mega-battles against the State.”
More photos on our FB page: https://www.facebook.com/weskus123/
Full stories here:
http://cer.org.za/…/mining-coming-to-a-protected-area-near-…
http://mg.co.za/…/2016-11-17-mining-companies-spat-with-gov…