Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Outrage at Bay undersea mining plan
The South African government has given a Chinese trading group permission to start prospecting a 44 439 hectare submarine bloc off Richards Bay for heavy minerals, clay, limestone and sand. The Department of Mineral Resources says the prospecting area allocated to Global Autumn Trading 102 (Pty) Ltd (GAT) stretches shorewards north and south for 30kms on both sides of Richards Bay. GAT may conduct its operations a mere 500 metres from the stretches of all affected beaches. The uMthlathuze Council did not reply to enquiries on the approved prospecting activities, potentially the most extensive in the history of Richards Bay.
Chinese expansion
In 2008 China announced that in its insatiable hunger for resources it would start undersea mining seriously in 2012, naming African, Indian, Micronesian and Pacific blue water and shore-hugging sites.
A number of permits have been already granted to Chinese operators by the International Seabed Authority, the world body granting such concessions in international waters.
Minerals sought include zircon, rutile, titanium, gold, copper, lead, zinc, nickel, manganese, cobalt, iron ore and the newly identified poly-metallic sulphide ore in very deep waters.
SA laws apply
The Richards Bay prospecting permission falls under South African jurisdiction and the SA Government is clearly in favour of the Chinese initiative.
Local tourism, fishing charter, ski-boat and B&B operators, hoteliers and Richards Bay residents are reeling under the news and have started to organise resistance to the plan stating that ‘unless we act now, all is lost as once this type of rapacious mining starts Richards Bay is doomed’.
The compulsory publication of the government’s granting of the prospecting right application appeared on 23 December last year, at the height of the holiday season when few interested and affected parties read newspapers. The timing of the announcement is seen as ‘a clumsy subterfuge’ given that the laws governing such compliancy advertising have recently been amended, according to a KZN Provincial employee who requested anonymity.
Assessors
Bay residents are outraged that when undersea mining commences local beaches will be heavily polluted, smothering tourism and fishing.
Prof Digby Cyrus, a prominent local academic with extensive experience in advising on Zululand marine developments, says that roiled sediments around Richards Bay can prove disastrous.
The environmental assessment practitioners handling the application are African Geo-environmental Services (AGES) of Pretoria whose Amelia Maree initially agreed to answer the Zululand Observer’s questions telephonically.
However after a while she suggested I interview AGES Director Michiel Grobler, who indicated he was in a Director’s meeting and would only consider e-mailed questions.