A coal mine on your stoep

Imagine buying a new house or flat with a pristine view of the Bushveld, only to learn that an opencast coal mine is planned for your neighbouring property. This scenario might soon become reality for residents of Onverwacht and Marapong.
Northern News has learnt this week that Umbono Capital owns prospecting rights on just over 2000 ha of land which borders Onverwacht and the proposed Altoostyd, where government plans to build 5000
houses in the near future.
Umbono Capital did not want to comment, but confirmed that they have prospecting rights on the Groothoek and Eendracht farms which they acquired from Exxaro.
They are not the only company considering mining activities in the area. Jindal Africa, a part of Indian multinational conglomerate, Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL), is  already at an advanced stage of applying for mining rights on the farm, Peerboom, which borders Marapong on its Eastern side.
Astrid Basson, a DA councillor in
Lephalale, told Northern News that Jindal has met with councillors at the Lephalale
Municipality on three occasions since November last year.
At these meetings they announced their plans to develop and build an opencast coal mine, employing around 800 people in
Lephalale. The last meeting was held on 29 August and it was still unclear exactly where Jindal proposed to build the mine.
Lephalale Mayor, Jack Maeko, ended the meeting because Jindal failed to produce any documentation. Upon further investigation the DA discovered that the mine would be built adjacent to Marapong.
It has subsequently emerged that civil groups in Mozambique are crying foul over the actions of Jindal Steel, accusing them of
mining and blasting without first resettling communities who are now living less than 1km from the mine in the northeastern province of Tete. Jindal is in turn blaming the Mozambican government for failing to resettle the more than 500 families who are continually engulfed in coal dust.
The DA is adamant that it will do its best to keep the public informed, especially during the public participation phase.
“We will do everything in our power to prevent these companies from establishing coal mines so close to residential areas. We have to think of the health and safety of the people living in the area.
“Although no environmental impact study has been done, we want to start lodging our objections as early as possible to see if we can prevent Jindal and Umbono from developing coal mines on these properties,” concluded Basson. - Valerie Cilliers (valerie@noordnuus.co.za)