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Written by Enviroadmin
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Monday, 24 May 2010 22:46 |
27 October 2005
Dear Global Response,
RE: SAVE SOUTH AFRICA'S COASTLINE
South Africa's coastline is under threat from dune mining industry and smelting projects. This means that the potential for the country to develop its eco-tourism industry will be seriously jeopardized. From Richards Bay, to Xolobeni along the Wild Coast, Wavecrest, East London, Port Elizabeth (Coega) and Tormin Sands eco-systems under threat include the following:
East London
In East London, nature reserves have been declared protected sites in Gonubie, Nahoon Point and Nahoon Estuary. Nahoon Point is a valuable prehistoric site - famous for the 200 000-year-old footprints that were discovered in the 1960s - and the Dassie Trail is a sanctuary for these small mammals and birds. Plans include educational workshops, eco-trails and displays of fauna and flora. The project would also help eliminate alien vegetation and benefit indigenous plants, trees, grass and flowers. The reserve also includes an area where mangrove trees grow on the edges of the Nahoon dam. The Nahoon Estuary Nature Reserve is home to many dassies. Small buck and porcupine used to live in the reserve but have vanished - poached by hunters. The municipality is planning to return the two reserves to their former state.
East London has been targeted as one of two locations for a smelter required to convert heavy minerals mined in Pondoland into titanium and ilmenite. If Australian mining company, Minerals Commodities Limited (MRC) is granted mining rights later this year, the smelter will be located either in Coega, 680km away from the Xolobeni Mineral Sands Project, or here, 410km away. The Buffalo City municipality does not have a “clean air” policy in place to regulate the air pollution the smelter is expected to produce.
“If the smelter were to come here, we would put in policies to regulate the level of pollution to protect the people,” said Buffalo City spokesperson Darby Gounden.
The city is governed by national acts pertaining to air pollution, but Gounden said the municipality was looking at implementing a municipal bylaw tailoring the national policy to local conditions.
A Special Assignment programme on SABC3 television showed that workers in the steel industry have been poisoned on the job. Workers claimed they were poisoned by manganese dust at the Samancor Manganese plant in Meyerton, Gauteng. Another 300 former workers from Sebokeng were also demanding compensation from the company, saying they were dying from manganese-related diseases.
Thirty-three year old Stefanus Glaus became ill in October last year after working at the plant for seven years. Medical reports confirm that he suffered permanent brain damage because of exposure to manganese dust. Peet Kaalsen worked for nine months as a fitter at the plant before contracting the disease. A labour lawyer said: “In South Africa we have literally thousands of ex-mine and steel workers who are suffering from chronic illness. The overwhelming number of cases are never identified and never come into the official accident statistics.”
Despite this, the Wild Life and Environmental Society for South Africa (WESSA) representative in East London was asked to participate in the Environmental Impact Assessment for the MRC smelter.
The Eastern Cape Government have also given IHM Heavy Minerals permission to examine the feasibility of mining heavy minerals in the Cetane-Wavecrest area of the Wild Coast that may affect the estuary and indigenous forests in the area. The Nxaxo estuary and Sandy Point indigenous forests in the vicinity of the Wavecrest Hotel have been identified as protected areas. This would effectively reduce potentially mineable deposits of heavy minerals known to exist in the area by about 30 per cent.
Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Rejoice Mabudafhasi launched the East London Wio-Lab programme, designed to determine the extent of pollution of coastal waters due to sewage, industrial effluent and river run-off. She says East London has a long-standing problem of sewage and other toxic effluent being deposited in the sea regularly and “this problem cannot be left to persist unabated”.
Port Elizabeth
In Port Elizabeth, environmentalists and scientists protested against the Coega Industrial Zone Development for four years, explaining that people in the area could only expect mortality rates from cancers to increase.
Yet the government and the Coega Development Corporation have welcomed as “highly positive” an announcement by Alcan Incorporated that it has decided to conduct a new feasibility study for the construction of a proposed multi-billion rand aluminium smelter at Coega. The new study was to be completed by the second quarter of 2005 and construction would begin at the end of 2005.
Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa said he was pleased with the progress being made on the project and Eastern Cape Economic Affairs MEC Andre de Wet also welcomed the announcement as “good news”.
The Coega Smelter Project would produce up to 660 kilotons of aluminium each year. Putting together the energy infrastructure – with a contract worth R180-million – is Alstom SA. The process has involved major adjustment on the Coega main switching sub-station that will supply power to the IDZ directly from Eskom.
Lionel October, deputy director general at the department of trade and industry in South Africa stated that: “South Africa has a competitive advantage of cheap, abundant and uninterrupted electricity”.
Yet many rural areas have no access to electricity. Of all South Africa's metropolitan centres, the city of Port Elizabeth has the highest recorded share of poor populations, with the worst levels of poverty occurring in the city's informal shack settlements. The Coega Port and Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) is 25km north of the city and may cause enormous damage to local eco-tourism, fishing, agriculture and public health. In terms of eco-tourism and recreation, the Addo National Park, beaches, estuaries, islands and whales would all be adversely affected by the Coega IDZ and harbour development. The development would also disrupt the fishing industry in Algoa Bay. Air-polluting emissions from heavy industries at Coega threaten the valuable Eastern Cape citrus industry, as well as vegetable production and local animal products.
A feasible, multiple-use alternative strategy for Coega's space and environment was put forward prior to development. The alternative agro-tourism strategy for Coega included a new casino, recreation and hotel complex, mariculture (abalone and oyster aquaculture), a salt works, and an expanded zone of irrigated agriculture.
Serious threats to public health include air pollution from sulphur dioxide and heavy metals from the IDZ and Harbour. Sulphur dioxide is also widely acknowledged as a respirator irritant and a broncho-constrictor, whose effects seem to be particularly acute for asthmatics. No cumulative assessment of air pollution impacts from an IDZ of this magnitude has been undertaken. So there is no information regarding the total levels of pollution that will result from the proposed industries.
Contaminants will accumulate in the local environment. Heavy metals - are persistent in the environment - they will not biodegrade, nor can they easily be cleaned up – and many of the contaminants in question are proven carcinogens.
Algoa Bay is a rich ecological area, in particular the St Croix island group marine reserve. The harbour threatens the last stronghold of the African Penguin. The IDZ's own specialist consultant has said that the development “may well deal the species the fatal blow.” The Algoa Bay islands are the last Southern African habitats of the Roseate Tern, whose continued existence in the sub-continent is therefore critically threatened. The harbour would seriously impact on the endangered Humpback Dolphin, and adversely affect the habitat of the Southern Right Whale. The IDZ would also affect the development of the Greater Addo National Park.
The Coega IDZ is also keen to manufacture the nuclear components required for the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR). According to Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa, “The need for new and increased sources of energy is becoming more urgent.
Ecological costs to the area will include the closure of important commercial fishing grounds as a result of increased commercial shipping in the area, increased pollution in Algoa Bay and the effects of dredging on currents in Algoa Bay.
Environmental costs to neighboring citrus, vegetable and animal industries have not been fully investigated and include fluoride and other emissions into the air and wastes into subterranean water reserves from heavy industries.
Public costs will include Coega’s use of water and electricity. In some parts of the Eastern Cape, including the Algoa Bay, a decision to devote water resources to one project may well preclude another.
Port Elizabeth, especially in times of drought, supplements water supplies from across the catchment into the Orange River system. That system has also shown signs of stress, and it has been impossible since mid-1993 for Port Elizabeth citrus farmers to acquire increased water rights.
Ironically, it is in Port Elizabeth that the 21st annual conference of the Society for Conservation Biology will be held in 2007. The conference will attract about 2 000 delegates. The right to host the conference was won by NMMU's Terrestrial Ecology Research Unit, (Teru) headed by director, Prof Graham Kerley. Kerley said the contribution of Africa to conservation science - the application of science to prevent extinction of species - would be important. The metro's plant and animal diversity and the easy access to big five nature reserves for delegates were two of the points that probably caught the judges' attention in the Teru bid, he said. The challenges of land ownership patterns and environmental threats, plus the attraction of a marine and land environment also probably played a part.
So far, the East Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) has put aside 2.5 billion to invest in the toll road along the Wild Coast and over R1 billion is invested in the two industrial zones of Coega and East London every year.
Minerals and Energy Minister Lindiwe Hendricks said beneficiation of minerals in SA had huge potential, and the minerals and energy affairs and trade and industry departments were working to ensure input costs in manufacturing were brought to a level that would increase local production and make the country competitive.
Wild Coast
MRC mining plans to mine a 22km stretch of the coastline at Xolobeni. They could be awarded mining rights by the end of 2005. This would allow them to begin mining in 2007.
Environmentalists say eco-tourism would create far more jobs in the long run. Geoffrey Davies, the chairman of the Anglican Church's Environment Network, said: “Eco-tourism is a far more sustainable option that could create 10 000 jobs. In 20 to 50 years, the Wild Coast could be a tourist's paradise.”
Davies said since the mining site covered five river estuaries these could be destroyed as fish breeding sites.
For MRC, the development of the new N2 toll road linking Durban and East London is essential for the Xolobeni Mineral Sands Project.
Although Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk has declared his intention to protect the Pondoland National Park region, the boundaries are as yet uncertain.
The Pondoland centre of biological diversity and endemism is of international ecological importance, and was recently added to the list of 26 global floristic hotspots. The park offers beaches, marine and estuarine escapes and African cultural heritage, in addition to wildlife viewing.
“We have seen, in some areas, serious degradation over the past few years as a result of unplanned and inappropriate development, resource overuse and invasive species,” Van Schalkwyk said.
According to Eastern Cape Premier Nosimo Balindlela, the ecotourism potential of the Wild Coast is a key part of the province's 10-year growth and development plan.
A Wild Coast project-commissioned survey has shown that tourism would have a much more positive long-term effect than mining in Xolobeni. The Grant Thornton survey was presented to the Wilderness Foundation. Thornton's brief was to conduct a financial and socio-economic assessment for a period of 22 years, from 2006 to 2028, in order for it to be compared with the lifetime of the proposed mining operation.
The assessment was done in terms of national plans to develop a “bioregional planning framework for the large-scale implementation of a conservation and sustainable development programme across the Wild Coast between the Mtamvuma and Kei rivers”.
This would include areas from the northern point of the Mkambathi nature reserve to Mtamvuma just south of Port Edward on the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal border. MEC Andre de Wet said that developers were very keen to get projects started. He added that the Development Bank of South Africa had established a special unit to look at projects along the Wild Coast and that R500m had been put aside for this.
The capital cost of all the projects in the six areas identified in the assessment is estimated at R288m, with more than two-thirds of this in the Mzamba area (R193m), followed by R31,6m for each project at Mnyameni and Sikombe, R16,6m at Mphlana right down to R3,1m at Mtentu. The cost includes infrastructure such as water, roads, electricity and sanitation.
The proposed tourism projects include a 60-bed three-star hotel and 50 residential units at Mzamba, 20 timber-framed chalets at Mphalana with a similar operation at Mnyameni, a tented camp added to existing facilities at Kwanyana, 20 timber chalets at Sikombe, a tented adventure camp at Mtentu and an upgrade of the existing facilities there by
Wilderness Safaris. The projected income from each project would be about R28m. The gross operating profit from the projects is estimated at R6,4m in the first year, rising to R12,4m at the end of the projected 22-year time frame. Income from related activities like hiking, abseiling or river rafting has not been included.
The initial phases would provide more than 4000 jobs across the area, dropping to about 450 once the projects got off the ground. This means that proposed tourism investments would have significant financial, economic and socio-economic impact benefits for the area that would remain long after the 22-year lifespan of the mining operation.
Tormin Sands
MRC also plans to mine at Tormin Sands, 400 km north of Cape Town. The Tormin Feasibility Study is currently undergoing a final technical review and assessment with the Company hopeful that the results can be released in due course to the market.
Richards Bay
The goal of Richards Bay Minerals was, and is, to mine and beneficiate the vast mineral-rich sands in the coastal dunes that extend 17km in a 2km wide strip north of Richards Bay.
The mining and smelter developments have adversely affected residents. In a public notice the company advised: “asthmatics and others with respiratory problems, who have a low tolerance to smoke and dust, to remain indoors”. This was while they conducted a 72 hour bypass of their Fume Treatment Centre (FMT) to affect repairs on the 5th October 2004.
Mr Skosana, spokesperson for environmental justice group Vuka Environment Dot Com, based in Richards Bay said: “allowing Hillside to go ahead with this bypass operation without proper consultation, without putting in place emergency plans and without forcing Hillside to look at alternative, less harmful ways of continuing their operations is a breach of one of the fundamental principles of our democracy - environmental justice.”
A Richards Bay Ratepayers’ Association spokesperson stated: “To the best of my knowledge, the public was never informed that they would be subjected to uncontrolled emissions from Hillside. Hillside has been allowed to develop, and expand, on the community's doorstep and the associated risks were never made public.”
Ardiel Soeker spokesperson for Groundwork, an environmental justice advocacy group said that communities like Richards Bay had fought a long and tiring battle to ensure that the government put environmental legislation into place to protect people’s health.
Global warming conference 2005
The deputy president of South Africa, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka has said that we have compromised our planet and now have to adopt desperate measures to deal with what have become desperate times.
At the 2005 conference on global warming, he said: “Scientists and environmentalists have been sounding warnings for years about the need for sustainable development and for an end to destructive waste and toxic emissions. We cannot blame lack of information or ignorance, especially those of us who are policy-makers ... leaders and ... responsible members of our community. The consequences we are facing are affecting our strategies to develop our communities because we have to face - at the same time - the challenges of having to deal with our under-development and having to ensure that we halt the negative impact of climate change.”
This and future generations faced a world in which there was a greater incidence in floods, droughts, hurricanes and crop failures.
“These global challenges require global responses ... that no one nation can handle and no nation must ignore,” Mlambo-Ngcuka said.
“I'm assured by the minister (of Environmental Affairs, Marthinus van Schalkwyk) that this is not just an academic exercise, but a process of national consultation and dialogue that must assist us to respond and put on the table a South African programme that we all can follow.”
Although South Africa, as a developing country, did not have as many responsibilities under the Kyoto Protocol as large, industrialized countries had, this should not be seen as a reason for the country to abdicate its responsibilities and not do “the best we can”.
TO SUPPORT THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST DUNE MINING AND SMELTERS ALONG THE SOUTH AFRICAN COASTLINE, PLEASE CONTACT THE FOLLOWING:
The president’s office:
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or
Department of Trade and Industry
Website:
www.thedti.gov.za
E-mail:
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Mail:
Private Bag X84, PRETORIA, 0001
Street:
The dti Campus, Block A, 3rd Floor, 77 cnr Meintjies and Esselen Streets, Sunnyside, PRETORIA
Tel:
(012) 394 3075
Fax:
(012) 394 0323
Director-General
Mr Tshediso Matona (Acting)
Mail:
Private Bag X84, PRETORIA, 0001
Street:
The dti Campus, Block A, 3rd Floor, 77 cnr Meintjies and Esselen Streets, Sunnyside, PRETORIA
Tel:
(012) 394 3075
Fax:
(012) 394 0323
Director: Marketing Communication
Ms Pamela Moeng
Mail:
Private Bag X84, PRETORIA, 0001
Street:
The dti Campus, Block A, 3rd Floor, 77 cnr Meintjies and Esselen Streets, Sunnyside, PRETORIA
Tel:
(012) 394 1649
Fax:
(012) 394 2649
Cell:
076 190 8747
E-mail:
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Information Officer
Mr Tshediso Matona (Acting)
Mail:
Private Bag X84, PRETORIA, 0001
Street:
The dti Campus, Block A, 3rd Floor, 77 cnr Meintjies and Esselen Streets, Sunnyside, PRETORIA
Tel:
(012) 394 3075
Fax:
(012) 394 0323
Chief Information Officer
Mr Alroy Dirks
Mail:
Private Bag X84, PRETORIA, 0001
Street:
The dti Campus, Block A, 3rd Floor, 77 cnr Meintjies and Esselen Streets, Sunnyside, PRETORIA
Tel:
(012) 394 5740
Fax:
(012) 394 6740
E-mail:
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Department of Minerals and Energy
Website:
www.dme.gov.za
Mail:
Private Bag X59, PRETORIA, 0001
Street:
Mineralia Centre, 234 Visagie Street, PRETORIA
Tel:
(012) 317 8000
Fax:
(012) 322 3416
Director-General
Adv Sandile Nogxina
Mail:
Private Bag X59, PRETORIA, 0001
Street:
Mineralia Centre, 234 Visagie Street, PRETORIA
Tel:
(012) 317 8134
Fax:
(012) 320 5807
E-mail:
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Chief Director: Communications
Ms Yvonne Mfolo
Mail:
Private Bag X59, PRETORIA, 0001
Street:
Mineralia Centre, 234 Visagie Street, PRETORIA
Tel:
(012) 317 8380
Fax:
(012) 322 4954
Cell:
082 459 6862
E-mail:
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Information Officer
Adv Sandile Nogxina
Mail:
Private Bag X59, PRETORIA, 0001
Street:
Mineralia Centre, 234 Visagie Street, PRETORIA
Tel:
(012) 317 8134
Fax:
(012) 320 5807
E-mail:
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Thank you for your help.
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Written by Enviroadmin
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Monday, 24 May 2010 22:45 |
 Minister slams divisive whites
By Fred Kockott
Rich whites are to blame for dividing people in the Wild Coast area, where an Australian company wants to mine for heavy titanium minerals, says Minister of Minerals and Energy Buyelwa Sonjica.
Talking in Xhosa to an audience of several thousand in Xolobeni on the Wild Coast on Friday, Sonjica dismissed opposition to the mining as the work of "rich whites" who were only interested in enjoying South Africa's pristine wilderness areas.
She laid into human rights attorney Richard Spoor for challenging plans to mine the Wild Coast.
"There is a man called Richard Spoor who has divided the community," said Sonjica.
"He is a white person. Today Spoor says he is fighting for people's rights, but where was he when Joe Slovo (former South African Communist Party leader) was fighting for people's rights and was imprisoned for that?
"I ask myself: 'How much does he get for dividing our community? What is his agenda for not wanting progress in our community?'"
Spoor, who could not be contacted for comment, is widely respected as a fighter for human rights and in the 1980s helped the National Union of Mineworkers develop into a force to be reckoned with by the then apartheid government.
Despite strong environmental objections and an ongoing inquiry by the South African Human Rights Commission, Sonjica has awarded provisional mining rights to Mineral Resource Commodities and its South African subsidiary, Transworld Energy and Minerals (TEM).
In his reaction, Human Rights commissioner Jody Kollapen criticised Sonjica for playing the race card in an attempt to dismiss objections to the mining.
Kollapen said he had met members from the affected communities who felt that the government was running roughshod over their traditional land rights.
"The fact that white people might be involved in providing assistance, information and legal advice should not detract from the problem we have to deal with - that they maintain they have not been adequately consulted about the impact of the mining and decisions to allow it."
Sonjica said the greater St Lucia area - now part of a World Heritage site - had been "lost to tourism".
"We lost St Lucia - us, as the government. We gave it up, but what is happening in St Lucia today?" she asked.
"It has been declared an exclusive area, and only rich, white people go there."
The same should not happen in Xolobeni, she said, where people were sitting on one of the biggest titanium deposits in the world. Sonjica said this asset belonged to all the people of South Africa.
"Why do we need permission to mine natural resources? Why do we have to wait for people to teach us about nature? They come here to play, while we are hungry."
In her speech, Sonjica did not mention that the another government department - environmental affairs and tourism - had officially lodged objections to the mining operations. The plans are to excavate 346 million tons of heavy minerals from a 22km stretch of coastline of international ecological significance.
The provisional licence covers the Kwanyana block of the Xolobeni Mineral Sands Project - about 30% of the total area being prospected.
After declining media interviews this week, Sonjica, her director-general, Sandile Nogxina, and other senior representatives of the department headed for Xolobeni for what turned out to be a government jamboree of sorts to celebrate the granting of the licence.
Sonjica told SABC TV she had arrived to hear the people's concerns, but the meeting's agenda made no provision for this. Only after a group of about 100 protesters - including residents of the area to be mined - disrupted proceedings did organisers agree to give them a brief audience with Sonjica after the day's pomp and ceremony.
Sonjica said, "If anything goes wrong at Xolobeni, the government will have to answer for it", adding safeguards had been put in place to ensure the mining company would "take care of the environment".
"We are going to mine in this area at Kwanyana. I will give you a chance to ask questions but, one thing is sure, we are going to mine."
Published on the web by Sunday Tribune on August 17, 2008.
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Last Updated on Monday, 24 May 2010 22:50 |
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Written by Enviroadmin
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Monday, 24 May 2010 22:44 |
MICHAEL HAMLYN | CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA - Aug 05 2008 16:24
The Democratic Alliance says it is disappointed by the decision of the Department of Minerals and Energy Affairs to grant a mining right to Mineral Resource Commodities (MRC) to mine a portion of the Xolobeni Mineral Sands Project.
"The site of this mining right is along the Wild Coast, one of the world's most important biodiversity hotspots," said Gareth Morgan, the party's environment spokesperson, on Tuesday
Morgan said while it was true the area in which the right to mining had been granted was one of the most impoverished places in South Africa, at best, only a few hundred jobs will be created from the mining. He said the potential to create new jobs in the eco-tourism sector -- which, along an unspoiled coastline would have far exceeded the opportunities created by mining -- might now be diminished.
Morgan said he feared that additional rights could be granted in the near future to increase the area that was to be mined.
"It is therefore important that the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism makes use of provisions under the Integrated Coastal Management Bill to prohibit the granting of any more rights along this area of coastline," Morgan said.
"The Coastal Bill is due to be passed by the NCOP [National Council of Provinces] in the next month, which will conclude its passage through Parliament."
He also said it was regrettable that the department bungled its opportunity to participate in the process surrounding this particular mining application. The department failed to submit its objections in time, he said.
"DEAT will need to improve its performance if it wishes to protect the remaining areas of the Wild Coast under prospecting rights," Morgan said. - I-Net Bridge
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Written by Enviroadmin
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Monday, 24 May 2010 22:43 |
By: Christy van der Merwe
Published on 4th August 2008
Updated 5 hours ago
The Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) has granted ASX-listed mining junior Mineral Commodities (MRC) the mining right for a portion of the Xolobeni Mineral Sands project, along South Africa’s Wild Coast.
The company was awarded a mining right for the Kwanyana block in the Xolobeni project, representing about 30% of the original area applied for.
The mining licence was awarded to MRC’s South African subsidiary, Transworld Energy and Minerals, and the remaining areas in the Xolobeni project would be held under prospecting right valid until 2010, which could be extended until applications were made to convert the remaining areas into mining rights on a block-by-block requirement.
DME spokesperson Sputnik Ratau told Mining Weekly Online that it was not yet possible to tell whether further licences would be granted, as the areas were still under consideration owing to environmental concerns. He remained assured of the feasibility of granting a licence for the smaller area.
The Kwanyana block contains some 139-million tons of heavy titanium producing minerals, including ilmenite, zircon, leucoxene, and rutile. Of the four blocks making up the Xolobeni project area, the Kwanyana block had the largest measured resource.
The mining right would be signed and issued on October 31, along with the Environmental Management Plan, and thereafter the company has said that it would fast-track the development of the Kwanyana block into a mining operation to produce heavy-mineral concentrate to supply the local South African producers and international markets.
It was not stated whether or not the mine development would include a beneficiation plant. Initially, MRC had indicated that it would build a smelter, which would also boost the number of jobs created in the relatively poor region of the Eastern Cape, however, the company later said that the plant would not be a part of the project. Ratau could not immediately clarify on the question of the beneficiation plant was put forward.
The project has long been met with resistance from environmentalists and those concerned for the human rights of people living in the area. The project is located in an ecologically sensitive area, dubbed a “biodiversity hotspot”, and it was felt by many that eco-tourism in the area could bring more benefit to locals.
The mining company’s black economic-empowerment structures have also been drawn into question.
However, MRC has stated that the project would do much for the development of the area, as the mine would bring with it associated infrastructure, such as roads and electricity.
Nongovernmental organisation Sustaining the Wild Coast (SWC) said it considered the fact that mining licences were not granted for all the areas “a substantial, although clearly incomplete victory”, and added that interested and affected parties “await to be officially informed by DME of their decision”.
Ratau said that the department did not issue statements every time a mining licence was granted.
In a statement, SWC said that it did not share MRC’s optimism that its grip on the prospecting rights was as tight as it would like investors to think, “because the newly enacted Integrated Coastal Management Act has come into play, which gives the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (Deat) unquestioned jurisdiction in records of decision that impact on coastal areas”.
Ratau said that the Deat had been involved in the granting of the Kwanyana block mining right, as was required by law. This was, however, a contentious issue as Deat officials had previously indicated environmental objections to the proposed mining in the area.
SWC called on all interested and affected parties to respond with objections as soon as possible.
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Written by Enviroadmin
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Monday, 24 May 2010 22:43 |
MEDIA STATEMENT –SUSTAINING THE WILD COAST
An announcement appeared on Monday morning ( 4th Aug) on the Australian Stock Exchange website listing for MRC Ltd (http://www.asx.com.au/asx/research/CompanyInfoSearchResults.jsp?searchBy=asxCode&allinfo=&asxCode=mrc. ) reporting that “the Department of Minerals and Energy of the Republic of South Africa.. will proceed to grant to its South African Subsidiary Transworld Energy and Mineral Resources (SA) Plty Ltd, the mining right for the Kwanyana Block within the Xolobeni Mineral Sands tenement area”. The announcement goes on to say that “the remaining areas will be held under a Prospecting Right valid to 2010 which can be extended until applications are made to convert the remaining areas to Mining Rights on a block by block requirement.” Interested and Affected Parties wait to be officially informed by DME of their decision.
SWC is extremely alarmed by this announcement. Any awarding of a mining licence is in complete contradiction to the wishes of local communities who are vehemently opposed to the mining application. The announcement raises questions about the validity of government consultation processes, and about the application of legal criteria supposed to protect communal land tenants from exploitation.
SWC is also extremely concerned that in light of the MRC statement that '“the remaining areas will be held under a Prospecting Right valid to 2010 which can be extended until applications are made to convert the remaining areas to Mining Rights on a block by block requirement”, that this is nothing more than an ill conceived, undemocratic, devious, manipulative, underhanded, scandalous and possibly unlawful attempt by DME to award full mining rights by stealth.
This flies in the face of all democratic processes that are supposed to protect communal land rights and protect the environment, and raises questions about DME's commitment to democratic processes, sustainable development and poverty alleviation.
SWC is also alarmed by the announcement presenting on MRC website, prior to Interested and Affected parties being officially informed by DME. This raises questions about the impartiality and suitability of DME as a deciding party on the ROD, when the civil interests of South African citizens seem to play second fiddle to foreign corporate interests.
The threat of mining has, to date , hindered the development of eco-tourism investment in the region, and an open ended prospecting permit such as DME seem to be in favour of granting, will do little to promote equitable sustainable development initiatives that are sorely needed in the area. Awarding this highly controversial mining application to a foreign mining company, at the expense of local community livelihoods and wishes, amounts to nothing more than a plundering of South Africa's natural resources by foreign interests, and a complete disregard by DME and government for the wishes of local community.
The announcement also raises questions about the legality of DME’s decision in light of the newly enacted Integrated Coastal Management Act, which gives DEAT unquestioned jurisdiction in RoDs that impact on coastal areas. .
The Kwanyana block represents approximately 30 % of the mining area. The Kwanyana block is situated between the Mnyameni and Kwanyana estuaries, which are both highly sensitive coastal marine environments, - but with astounding natural beauty and thus locations with considerable appeal to tourists.
SWC will respond with further details about further actions in due course.
ends
Issued by
Lylie Musgrave
Kibao Communications
tel: 27 31 2613406
fax 27 31 2616232
mobile: 072 2970974
email:
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Written by Enviroadmin
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Monday, 24 May 2010 22:42 |
By: Christy van der Merwe
Published: 29 May 08 - 12:43
Article Source: http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article.php?a_id=134483
Aluminium producer Rio Tinto Alcan on Thursday indicated that it expected its Coega aluminium smelter to only come on line in 2012.
Rio Tinto Alcan Aluminium CEO Dick Evans said that South Africa's power constraints meant that the energy-intensive project on the country's south-east coast had been suspended.
He reported that the project's engineers had been redeployed to Canada, where the power situation has improved, and Rio Tinto Alcan was looking into leveraging an "alumunium hub".
The company, which inherited the $2,7-billion project when it bought Canadian aluminium producer Alcan, originally planned to bring the new smelter online in two phases, between 2010 and 2014.
However, electricity capacity constraints in South Africa have forced it to review the timing of the project. The smelter was placed in an 'interim' phase, until the discussions, between the company, the government, the Coega Development Corporation, and State-owned utility Eskom, on the timing of the project had been concluded.
Earlier this month, the ruling African National Congress also called for a review of all energy-intensive projects "in line with the country's strategic needs".
After years of underinvestment, South Africa ran out of excess electricity capacity in January, forcing industry and mining companies to reduce their power consumption.
In a presentation to analysts and investors in London, Evans said: "Optionality counts, and we have a lot of it. When we do have unexpected delays, we can quickly reshuffle our portfolio."
Rio Tinto Alcan also owns smelters in British Columbia and Quebec, which are in various stages of expansion.
OTHER PROJECTS
At the company's Kitimat smelter in British Columbia, in Canada, advanced feasibility and project preconditions for a $2,5-billion capital expansion (capex) project from 2007 to 2011, had been completed and were expected to receive approval within months.
The project involved replacement of existing 277-kt/y capacity, with 400-kt/y capacity pre-bake, using the latest version of RTA's AP series technology. This project's power would be supplied from the Rio Tinto-owned Kemano hydropower station.
The company reported that the phase-out of existing production and ramp-up of new capacity were expected between the fourth quarter of 2010 and the final quarter of 2011.
Rio Tinto's Alma-2 project in Quebec, was a stage-two expansion to add between 150-kt/y and 190-kt/y capacity to the existing 415-kt/y smelter. The project capex between 2008 and 2011 was set at $1-billion.
The project was in the prefeasibility/feasibility stage, and was expected to receive approval by early 2009, with start up expected in the second half of 2011. Hydropower energy would power the project, and once completed, the smelter was expected to operate in the first quartile of the industry cash cost curve. It would use the latest version of RTA's AP 3X series pot cell technology.
Rio Tinto Alcan's Arvida AP-50 project, in Quebec, was a 60-kt/y pilot plant, and was evaluating the option of adding a 140-kt/y second-phase demonstration plant. The project was designed to be expandable to up to 450-kt/y.
Capex for the project was in the region of $2-billion for a 200-kt/y pilot-plus demonstration plant. It included infrastructure for capacity between 400-kt/y and 450-kt/y, and Rio Tinto said it expected approval by early 2009, with first metal expected in 2012. Energy would come from a primarily self-owned hydropower plant.
Article Source: http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article.php?a_id=134483
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Written by Enviroadmin
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Monday, 24 May 2010 22:41 |
Guy Rogers ENVIRONMENT &0x0026; TOURISM EDITOR
Source: http://www.theherald.co.za/herald/news/n13_20032008.htm
RISING costs and development pressures have forced the owners of Port Elizabeth‘s Kragga Kamma Game Park to consider transforming the property into an eco-estate open to residents only.
Opened 10 years ago, the park presently attracts about 50000 visitors annually, including regular school groups.
Founder Garnet Cantor, who owns the 200ha park with other family members, said yesterday the rezoning of the area two years ago by the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality from agriculture to rural residential had been a turning point. The rezoning meant, suddenly, that properties could be divided into 1,8ha plots.
“The rural aspect of this area was lost and development started all around us. Now, with rising maintenance costs and this new valuation roll . ... the pressure to go this route is huge.
“But if we did it in terms of this rezoning, the park would be turned into a checkerboard. It would be destroyed.”
There were already about 30 neighbours on the park‘s boundary and the concern was that the checkerboard development option would eventually sneak in – unless steps were taken to stop this ever happening, he said.
“It won‘t be a threat for as long as I or my kids are the majority shareholders, but if our control is lost some time in the future, then this checkerboard model could be rolled out. If it does, the conservation and green lung aspects of the park would be lost.”
Cantor and his family have applied for a different zoning option for the park, to be set in place in perpetuity. This will allow for development of low-density cluster housing around the edge of the property and in the non-sensitive areas of alien blue gum and Port Jackson willow. Space will be kept for the game, and the wetlands and indigenous forest especially would not be touched.
“We would have to take out the dangerous animals like rhino, buffalo and cheetah, but big spaces would be left for the rest to roam. It would become a private eco-park ... But it would be lost as a public asset of the city.”
The new valuation for the park was R70-million. This meant the owners would now have to pay between R2-million and R3-million annually in rates. This would cripple the park, Cantor said.
“It‘s crazy. The only way the park survives at the moment is because it is propped up by our other businesses.”
The new valuation appeared to have been worked out according to the high-density rural residential rezoning, he said.
“The park should have been valued for what it is – a game farm. Down the road there are similar farms valued at between R5-million and R6-million.”
Cantor is contesting their valuation on these lines but, if their argument is rejected, “it will certainly accelerate the need for us to make a decision,” he said.
“I feel sad about the possibility of changing the public asset aspect of the park, but we feel we have to be realistic.”
Municipal spokesman Lourens Schoeman said the Kragga Kamma Game Park was “a conservation asset contributing to biodiversity and conservation targets and one of our main ecotourism attractions.”
He said the municipality had not known the park was considering closing as a public entity. “The municipality was never consulted in this case. If it had been brought to our attention, plans would definitely have been put in place to arrange a business model beneficial to all stakeholders.”
Mandela Bay tourism specialist Peter Myles said while the trend in South African government seemed to be away from offering subsidies and incentives, it would be good if planning supported the sustainability of a facility like the Kragga Kamma park.
“Foreign tourists especially are always looking to get away from the built environment, but some don‘t have time to drive out to the big parks. This is where a place like Kragga Kamma comes in.”
NMMU economics department acting head Dr Pierre le Roux said the “benefit to society” of a facility like Kragga Kamma should be taken into account.
Source: http://www.theherald.co.za/herald/news/n13_20032008.htm
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Written by Enviroadmin
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Monday, 24 May 2010 22:40 |
Press Release
18 February 2008
CapeNature and the Landmark Foundation have established an integrated
partnership in predator conservation. This partnership is an ambitious
endeavour to see predators conserved across the living landscape. The
project is aimed at innovative and proactive management interventions,
supported by research and market solutions to the livestock-predator
conundrum.
This partnership follows from the unfortunate events in November and
December 2007 where a leopard died in a gin trap near the Kammanassie
Nature Reserve near Uniondale in the Western Cape. In the lessons learnt
from this event both organisations have agreed to work together in
establishing a partnership that will proactively try to address the challenges of
predator conservation in agriculturally active areas. The initial area of focus of
this partnership will be mutually agreed areas of the eastern region of the
Western Cape. (The Landmark Foundation has been operational in the
western region of the Eastern Cape since 2004.)
The partnership will focus on conserving predators with a particular focus on
the leopards. Extension services will be jointly provided to try and convert
farming in the region to holistic, non-lethal predator control methods that will
enable livestock predation to be effectively managed. Both organisations
commit themselves to work towards terminating the indiscriminate use of leghold
(gin) traps, poison traps and hunting dog packs. Further efforts will jointly
be made to bring in more land into biodiversity conservation through
collaboration with commercial farmers.
The use of gin traps to manage other damage-causing animals such as
caracal or black-backed jackal often results in the capture of a leopard.
Records of such incidents show that the overwhelming majority of leopards
are caught in traps set for other target species. The events that led to the
death of the leopard last November on the boundary of the Kammanassie
Nature Reserve have been fully investigated and it was found that the leopard
was caught in a trap allegedly set for a jackal.
While the circumstances surrounding this animal’s death are regrettable, both
parties now commit themselves to providing capacity to manage future
situations jointly to the benefit of leopard, predator and biodiversity
conservation.
CapeNature and Landmark Foundation will work together on efforts to ensure
that farmers who conserve biodiversity patterns and processes, and in
particular in this partnership the process of top-predation, benefit from
predator-friendly initiatives and related industry directives in the production of
meat and animal fibre products.
Both parties commit themselves to the partnership and will pool their
resources to develop innovative and proactive strategies to conserve
predators. In this regard staff from both institutions have already initiated joint
meetings with landowners and commercial farmers. Where leopard damage
activity is identified, efforts will be made to use modern acceptable methods to
manage the situation, and in so doing ensure that unacceptable control
methods such as gin traps, poisons and hunting dogs are removed from the
landscapes where the parties are collaborating, and beyond.
The partnership between CapeNature (Western CapeNature Conservation
Board) and the Landmark Foundation (a registered NGO), will be governed by
a formal Memorandum of Understanding.
18 February 2008
Signed: Dr Kas Hamman, Director Biodiversity, CapeNature
Signed: Dr Bool Smuts, Director, Landmark Foundation
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Written by Enviroadmin
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Monday, 24 May 2010 22:40 |
Dear All
I am pleased to be able to report a further expansion and breakthrough for our project that has resulted from the rather unfortunate events reported in late 2007 where a leopard died in the eastern part of the Western Cape.
Many of you got involved in the appeals and campaign that went out with the press release of then (21 December 2007). It has resulted in a number of processes and discussions that followed from it (and in no small way your interventions had a role to play), and in so doing the Landmark Foundation and CapeNature has formally embarked on a partnership to expand our work and strengthen their actions in the eastern part of the Western Cape. This will enable the work we are doing in and around Addo National Park, the Baviaanskloof Reserve and Tsitsikammas to be expanded into the Garden Route and the Little Karoo. (Please see the attached press release.) We trust that this will enable us to build on the success of being able to rescue and return 15 leopards to the wild in this region in the last few years. Having the statutory authority in the Western Cape also as an integrated partner in our efforts will, we trust, be a great boost for predator and leopard conservation in the region.
I believe that this partnership is important to the cause that we are working towards, and I am sure it will continue to spur others on to join the efforts, namely:
o Rescuing and releasing predators and particularly leopards,
o Supporting holistic, non-lethal predator control strategies,
o Advocating an end to the use of gin and poison traps, and indiscriminate hunting packs of dogs
o Research in predator ecology, behaviours and strategies to manage them
o Developing of market mechanisms towards predator-friendly agricultural products
o Expanding leopard- and predator - safe territories.
For those of you that got involved, we thank you for your support.
Kind regards
Bool
Dr Bool Smuts
Director
Landmark foundation
083 324 3344
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Written by Enviroadmin
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Monday, 24 May 2010 22:39 |
EnviroEd Note: Now this is classic African Thinking. The whole country must cut down and "do our bit" to save electricity just so that some international company can come here to build a massive aluminium smelter, to spew out emissions into the air that we breathe and the water we drink and use up MASSIVE amounts of electricity in the process at a rate MUCH cheaper than any of us pay for electricity. All this so that a few ANC fat-cats can fill their GREEDY little pockets. I don't know for how much longer South Africans will put up with this crap and lying from this government. South Africa!! start using your common sense and brains, this nonsense can no longer fly, enough voices who say NO can not be silenced.
By: Sapa
Published: 15 Feb 08 - 20:08
Source: http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article.php?a_id=127134
The Western Cape on Friday announced a plan to save 500 megawatts of electricity, as the Eastern Cape recommitted itself to an aluminium smelter that will gobble almost three times that amount.
The premiers of the two provinces made the announcements in their state of the province addresses, a week after President Thabo Mbeki apologised to the blackout-hit nation for what he described as an energy ‘emergency'.
In Cape Town, Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool said municipalities in the province had agreed on an electricity saving plan that would "almost" eliminate the need for power cuts.
Delivering his state of the province address, he said the agreement was reached at a meeting of mayors, the provincial government, Eskom and the Energy Risk Management Committee earlier this week.
The savings target had been set at 500 megawatts. The Western Cape, largely dependent on the 1800-MW Koeberg nuclear power station, has been particularly vulnerable to power cuts.
Rasool said all municipalities would convene special council meetings in the next two weeks to decide how they would help meet the target.
The planned distribution of two million compact fluorescent lights would save 63 MW, while geyser management such as ‘ripple control' would save another 101 MW.
Other major savings would come from retrofitting buildings, installing domestic solar geysers, and what he called "consumer energy savings interventions".
Rasool said the province was aggressively promoting renewable energy and was drafting a sustainable energy act.
"As citizens of the Western Cape, we need to translate our actions now into a long term lifestyle and behavioural change," he said.
NO COEGA SMELTER RETHINK
Speaking in the Bhisho Stadium, Eastern Cape premier Nosimo Balindlela said there was no question of a rethink on the power-gobbling Alcan smelter planned for Coega.
It has been reported that the plant will consume some 1 300 MW - said to be almost four percent of South Africa's electricity supply.
"Any talk that government or our parastatals are re-considering the aluminium smelter investment is deceitful," Balindlela said.
She said everyone was concerned about the "emergency" brought about by the current nationwide power cuts, but her government believed it provided an opportunity "for us to act in unity to ensure that our province's economic growth is not retarded".
Your government will continue to mobilise those resources which are required to leverage investment in our economy by the private sector.
"We are committed to the realisation of the Alcan investment in the smelter at Coega because this will lead to direct jobs as well as downstream business opportunities."
She thanked residents of the province for helping resolve the electricity crisis by following energy-saving initiatives.
Balindlela also said the state of fiscal governance in the provincial government remained "an area of concern".
In response, the province had drawn up an "audit intervention plan" -
Source: http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article.php?a_id=127134
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