NGOs Oppose Mpumalanga Prospecting Licences

A group of NGOs, including the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), BirdLife South Africa and the Botanical Society, and landowners in the Wakkerstroom and Luneburg areas of Mpumalanga, have filed two High Court applications to have the coal prospecting rights which the former Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) awarded Delta Mining Company rescinded.

The organisations state that a copy of the mining company’s environmental management plan (EMP), authorised by the DME, reveals that no consultation took place with environmental NGOs, actual landowners or the greater Wakkerstroom community.

The prospecting rights cover properties in the Wakkerstroom area as well as in the Pongola Forest Reserve and the Paardeplaats Nature Reserve, which are Protected Natural Areas.