An urgent Pretoria High Court bid to stop Atha-Africa Ventures from proceeding with the development of the Yzermyn coal mining project, in Mpumalanga, has failed, with the matter removed from the urgent roll and each party ordered to pay its own costs.
The court found that the allegations of the eight objecting civil society and community organisations had already been addressed and that their court bid had been brought notwithstanding repeated undertakings that mining-related activities would not begin until all the required authorisations were in place.
Atha-Africa senior VP Praveer Tripathi said his company had diligently followed all the required authorisation processes and had repeatedly sought to engage “openly and honestly” with entities opposed to the project, near Wakkerstroom.
However, it had been repeatedly rebuffed.
A further undertaking to provide three weeks’ written notice of mine development commencement, along with prior notice of commencement to the relevant government departments, has been given.
“We’ve always believed in coexistence,” said Tripathi, who added that past draft agreements with the nongovernmental organisations had failed to culminate in partnership.
“We would like to extend our invitation again to them to partner with us in the interests of sustainable development, growth and employment,”he reiterated in a release to Mining Weekly.