Miner faces criminal charges in SA first

According to a Business Day report, they face collective fines of up to R18.6m. The action marks the end of an era for mining companies in SA, after decades of not being brought to book for environmental degradation. More prosecutions are expected to follow. Six people, including Anker Coal and Mineral Holdings director Albrecht Frick, have been summonsed to appear in two separate prosecutions before an Ermelo Regional Court magistrate on 10 March. In the first action, nine charges relate to coal prospecting on a Mpumalanga farm between January 2009 and April last year. In the second case, 16 charges relate to opencast coal mining between March 2009 and August last year. 'Our argument is that for as long as a company gets away with not paying (for contravening environmental laws), they are being rewarded for criminal activity,' Federation for a Sustainable Environment director Koos Pretorius, is reported to have said. Full Business Day report

Besides Frick, a mine manager, senior geologist, environmental manager and contractors at the site are also being prosecuted, says a Beeld report. The Federation for a Sustainable Environment and the Centre for Environmental Law told the paper Anker Kole is alleged to have 'moved' a side-river, dumped mining waste in the river, mined in a wetland contaminating fresh water, and committed fraud. According to a second charge sheet against Grey Venter, of ACS Core Drilling, he contravened the Water Act by drilling prospecting holes for Anker Kole close to the Usutu River. Full Beeld report