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PLEASE SEE UPDATED NOTICE AT THIS LINK
DMR APPLICATION / NOTICE IS AVAILABLE HERE
 Notice to all Magaliesburg Residents and LandOwners
Magaliesburg residents need to be aware that once again mining companies are attempting to plunder the beautiful Magaliesburg situated in the Cradle of Humankind. This current prospecting application falls hot on the heels of a license issued to African Nickel for prospecting in the Golden Valley area (right behind the town of Magaliesburg) despite few landowners knowing about it or having been consulted. Once again landowners and the beautiful area of Magaliesburg are under attack.
The current prospecting application by a company calling themselves Autumn Skies Trading 455 cc is being handled by a Mining consultant called Future Mining Consultants. Piddly notice boards which barely meet the minimum requirements and are hardly noticeable were erected some time on Saturday the 20th of August. These notices are not easily noticeable to passers by who use this incredibly dusty sand road. It's not the first time we've seen mining consultants only do the bare minimum required by law.
The notice states that a public meeting is to be held on the 29th of August 2011 in Midrand Estates and comments / objections are to be received on the 30th of August 2011. Firstly the scheduled date of the meeting is grossly inadequate, 9 days notice is NOT acceptable by any means. The meeting location requires that landowners in Magaliesburg have to travel an hour and a half to Midrand which is also NOT acceptable. Secondly the consultant seems to think it is okay to give all objectors 1 day to submit their comments following the meeting. This alone runs roughshod over any legal requirements of public participation processes set out in law. Such actions are often deliberate to get as few people as possible to attend the public meeting and to get as few objections as possible. The mining consultants then go to the Department of Mineral Resources and say they did their jobs. Residents of Koesterfontein encountered the exact same tactics back in 2007. It is no surprise though that consultants try to do the absolute minimum to follow the law and also very evident it is done this way to make it as difficult as possible for people to attend or lodge objections.
It is time once again for the custodians, landowners and residents of Magaliesburg to take action.
One thing is for sure, the World Heritage status of Magaliesburg and the Cradle of Humankind which attract visitors worldwide is at great risk of being lost due to such activities not to mention precious agricultural lands of which this country is already running short.
The Full Notice Posted Reads as Follows and additional photographs are posted below:
NOTICE OF PROPOSED PROSPECTING ACTIVITIES
Notice is hereby given of an application for prospecting right ( with bulk sampling) contemplated in sections 16 & 20 of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Devolpment Act, 2002, respectively, covering certain portions of and/or Portions 2, 27, 28, 29,33, 40, 41, 42, 43, and 44 of the farm Koesterfontein 45 IQ, Magisterial District of Krugersdorp, by Autumn Skies Trading 455 CC ( Reg No: 2008/146618/23).
All interested and affected parties are hereby notified to register as an interested or affected party by contacting the appointed consultant through fax or e- mail and are hereby invited to attend a meeting on 29 August 2011 at 12h00 at the consultants office, namely 2 Lake Circle, Midfield Eatates, Midrand Estates (Midstream), Midrand. The closing date for receiving your registration, coments, concerns and objections is 30 August 2011.
The consultants are:
Future Mining Consultants:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Fax: 086 691 2411
Contact Person: Andre Richter 083 5757 671
All images are copyright 2011 to Environment South Africa and may not be used or duplicated in any manner without prior written consent.
All images are copyright 2011 to Environment South Africa and may not be used or duplicated in any manner without prior written consent.
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Comments
Dont have much faith in this process.
I wonder what the intention is to turn Magaliesburg into- what happened to the importance of the second oldest mountain range in the world- shouldnt our heritage be preserved??? What happens to all of us living there, who have invested our lives into where we stay?? Infuriating!!!
Here's some other news I uncovered:
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African Nickel has an alliance with Anglo-American. "African Nickel has access to, and carries out exploration work on, a number of projects that are held by Anglo American" ... "Although this alliance ends in 2011, Hornsey says that access to the database provides African Nickel with a potentially inexhaustible pipeline of profitable projects." -- source: http://www.miningweekly.com/article/nickel-alliance-mutually-beneficial-to-junior-and-giant-2010-01-29
From another article:
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African Nickel was defeated in Groot Marico and withdrew and have now pounced on Magaliesburg. See - http://www.moneyweb.co.za/mw/view/mw/en/page292681?oid=510014&sn=2009%20Detail
It is Time for the Landowners and Residents of the Historical Town of Magaliesburg to Take Action !!!
Adding to the above saga, I stumbled upon the web site for Future Mining
find it at http://sites.google.com/site/futureminingconsultants/Contact-details
Their motto reads"Where Others Run We Prevail !!! "
Now, with tears in my baby blues, I ask if this is the right attitude from a company
that is about to , dare I say it " prepare the ground for future rape & pillage" ???
Some quiet feedback to current & future(pardon the pun) miners planning to have their way with our sacred Magalies
is that they should be aware - the residents & other very influential parties will not sit back & watch !
Does anyone have further info about the Golden Valley / African Nickel / Land Owners Association of Magalies stand-off ?
There is a whisper (untested) that Afican Nickel &/or Future Mining already have a THIRD application underway
which will also be in the Magalies area.
Last one - Future Mining also advertsie their services on Alibaba.com which is a Far Eastern based trading web site with a huge global following.
Far East + Alibaba.com + mining + China + China neighbours = watch out for other attempts to gain
mining/prospecting rights across the land in your backyard.
I also received the applicants response regarding the short notice and the rush and this once again leads back to the Department of Mineral resources who have one goal and that is to plunder our countryside. You try and build a hotel here in Magaliesburg and see how long it will take you to get an EIA process underway and completed, not to mention the costs. But want to a start a mine and the DMR will get you in business in no time .... it's a sick sick joke and not one we're going to take lying down.
All explanations offered by the applicant & associates seemed only to be that they were hampered by the DMR's website lack of functionality,
which has led to the rush.
I strongly urge as many people as possible to attend the general public meeting scheduled at the Magalies Hotel (next to Wimpy)
on 01/09/2011 at 17:00
Speak to your friends, your councillors, any representatives that can assist in fighting this attempt at destruction of our beloved Magalies & surrounds.
Urge the local media to attend ( I have asked Thea from Opjouvoorstoep & Janine from Krugersdorp News)
Anyone with contacts at the Citizen, Radio 702, RadioBosveld ...... do your bit in defending magalies from unscrupulous developers & people with hidden agenda !
I can be contacted at incawoof
Tks to anyone making an effort.
http://www.eiatoolkit.ewt.org.za/players/min_requirements.html
Time for some people to be notified about this.
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