NGOs oppose proposed Mpumalanga mine

The pristine, sensitive Mpumalanga conservation area where a controversial, proposed coal mining project would be located ‘is unlike any other area in which coal mines may be situated’. According to a Cape Argus report, the Yzermyn underground mine is in an environment that has been granted protected status by Mpumalanga’s own environmental affairs MEC – the Mabola Protected Environment – near Wakkerstroom. Located in the Enkangala Drakensberg strategic water source area, the planned mine area is a water source for the Vaal River system which supplies Gauteng’s water. These were among the contentions made this week by a coalition of eight civil society and community groups to stop Atha-Africa’s proposed mine. In a two-day hearing and represented by the Centre for Environmental Rights, the coalition last week presented their appeal against the environmental authorisation issued by the Mpumalanga Environment Department last year to an expert panel appointed by the Mpumalanga MEC for Environment, Vusi Shongwe.