Mining meeting scheduled
All interested parties should attend the next public meeting
West Wits Mining has arranged another public participation meeting, which will take place at 6pm on 31 May, in the Roodepoort City Hall.
The mine intends to apply for mining rights and mining permits for the extraction of gold, uranium and silver over the current prospecting rights area.
Rights to mine sandstone and aggregate have now been excluded from the application as these rights have already been granted.
Read more: Legal mining to curb illegal mining
The mining rights application will include a mining work programme as well as a social and labour plan, in addition to the integrated environmental authorisation application.
Malan Scholes Attorneys have prepared two basic assessment reports (BARs), including an environmental management programme as part of the two mining permit application process for Cresswell Park. The purpose of these assessment reports is to summarise the process followed to date, provide an overview of the proposed project and the affected environment, present the assessment of the potential impacts and set out the recommended mitigation measures. The BARs will be available for a 30-day comment period from 1 June to 2 July. Copies are available at the Roodepoort Civic Centre, Witpoortjie Library and Sol Plaatjies Hall.
According to DA councillor, Gert Niemand, mining operations have already commenced at Sol Plaatjies. Niemand said the mining company claimed that the paperwork had been sorted out and therefore the mining operations are legal. “The way they conduct themselves is very arrogant and flamboyant. I have not seen the alleged paperwork, although I know that they have made an application.”
Also Read: An inside look at illegal mining
Niemand said the mining group claimed they received a request from the Department of Mineral Resources to start with legal mining in Sol Plaatjies. “They motivate the legal mining as a way to curb illegal mining. In the long run it will, especially if they deplete the reef of gold, uranium and silver, but we are stuck between two devils – the one being curbing illegal mining activities and the other being noise, air and dust pollution, decreased property values and increased squatting and criminal activity.
“According to the mining group, the open cast mine adjacent to the Roodepoort CBD will be about one kilometre in diameter and will allegedly be mined and rehabilitated within a year,” Niemand said.
Niemand advises the public who are attending the meeting to arrive early.
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