Minister rejects plan for giant coal mine in Gauteng
Barbara Creecy, minister of forestry, fisheries and environmental affairs, dealt a major blow to mining groups Anglo Operations and Canyon Coal, as well as the department of mineral resources, after rejecting plans for a giant new open-pit mine outside Springs because it is an important agricultural area.
Community and environmental groups appealed against the decision of the department of mineral resources to approve the environmental plan of the new Palmietkuilen coal mine.
Anglo Operations, on behalf of Canyon Coal, applied in 2016 to build the open-pit mine on almost 202 hectares between marshes, pans, maize fields and suburbs.
The mine would have been upstream of Blesbokspruit, one of the largest wetlands in the Highveld region, and the Ashton Lake residential area. It would have delivered 200 400 t of coal every month for almost 50 years.
The department of mineral resources granted environmental approval for the mine on March 5.
But then the Grootvallei Blesbokspruit Trust, the Asthon Lake community, the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa and the farming company Rossouw Pluimvee appealed the decision with Creecy.
In her decision, Creecy said she took into account their concerns as well as that of the department of agriculture, which contended that the area is considered important for farming. Creecy concurred that the area was agriculturally sensitive, adding that it had been farmed for generations.
She said that while mining brings social benefits, those are not more important and larger than agriculture.
Comments
The
content
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation