JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu would make a decision, within 30 days, on whether or not mining of heavy minerals, at the Xolobeni mine on the Wild Coast of South Africa, could proceed.

This followed the Amadiba Crisis Committee’s (ACC’s) appeal of the granting of the licence, which was awarded for a portion of the proposed project, by the then Minister of Minerals and Energy, Buyelwa Sonjica, in 2008.

The Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) said that it no longer intended to facilitate a second round of hearings on the matter, which it scheduled for this month.

The Minister would be advised to adjudicate upon the appeal, based on the available documentation, including the interim report made by the Holomisa task team.

This came after the legal representatives of the ACC objected to a second round of hearings and another report being drawn up on the issue, which it deemed unnecessary because a report had already been compiled.

The local community near Xolobeni, the mining company Transworld Energy and Minerals (TEM), and subsequently property developers in the area have sought a resolution on this issue since early 2009.

The major concern highlighted in the Holomisa report was that that TEM had applied for the right to mine a number of “blocks” of titanium-mineral bearing sands, however it was only granted the right to mine one of these, the largest, called the Kwanyana block.

It was questioned whether or not the project was still feasible since only one block could be mined, and this would likely mean that the associated processing facility (which would have created many of the jobs on the operation), would no longer be built in the area.
Thus, the report questioned why a mining right could be awarded for one block, when no feasibility study had been conducted to see if this was viable.

It was also understood that a letter, with a list of requirements, was sent to TEM in July 2008, by the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act regional manager, however it appeared that the right was granted in December 2008, without any, or all, of the issues raised in the letter having been attended to. This included a number of environmental impacts.

The Holomisa task team also noted that the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) was strongly opposed to mining in the area, and was “seriously concerned that the issues raised by the DEA were not addressed sufficiently or at all”.
 

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