Coal of Africa ink environment deal

Thursday, 15 Sep 2011

It is reported that Australian junior mining company Coal of Africa Limited edged closer to the possibility of being able to mine at Vele, its new mine which has been shut for more than a year after activists objected due to its proximity to the ancient Mapungubwe cultural site in Limpopo.

The company signed the memorandum of agreement with South African National Parks and the Department of Environmental Affairs as part of the steps it must take to have a compliance notice served on it last year lifted. The compliance notice shut down activities at Vele after the Department of Environmental Affairs said CoAL was not in compliance with the National Environmental Management Act.

A coalition of civil society organisations which includes the Endangered Wildlife Trust criticised the agreement for the breadth and scope of the blanket confidentiality provision in the agreement.

It said "Considering the Department of Environmental Affairs is concluding an agreement that relates to a national treasure like the Mapungubwe National Park on behalf of the South African public, all information around such negotiations and the implementation of the agreement should be public as a matter of principle.”

The company said as part of the agreement, CoAL has agreed to work with SANParks and the department to find biodiversity offset programmes and action plans to preserve the area around the site.

Mr John Wallington CoAL CEO said the agreement was the first of its kind.

The agreement was concluded in two months, he said, and the groups were anxious to make progress on defining the action plans over the next three months. Mr Wallington said "We will have more detail once we have put meat on the bones. I think this is fantastic news for the country and what it does is create a new benchmark for co-operating with various stakeholders for this type of development."

The agreement calls for the monitoring and implementation of the plans through a steering committee and adequate staffing and funding of efforts to measure compliance and implementation.

The agreement brings CoAL a step closer to mining. However, it must still have its water use licence reinstated after it was suspended. The matter is still subject to a ruling by the Water Tribunal.

There is also a court fight the project must face brought by the coalition of activists against the project which is challenging its mining licence.

(Sourced from Businessday)