Coal of Africa has stopped certain construction activities at its new Vele coal mine in Limpopo after receiving a compliance notice from the department of environmental affairs, the company said on Wednesday. Company CEO John Wallington said in a statement the company "ceased certain activities at Vele". The Green Scorpions had served the company with a compliance notice to stop all construction work on roads at the mine. It also ordered the mine not to use the existing roads, including access roads, for any reason.
Departmental spokesman Albi Modise said on Tuesday the company was also ordered to stop construction on a storage facility and tank for dangerous goods within 24 hours and to empty the facility of fuel within 48 hours. It had to stop any activities within the 1:10 flood line or 32m from any perennial, non-perennial and drainage lines of the Limpopo river. It was also instructed to stop any further installation of water pipelines and to stop using existing pipelines on the mine. The compliance notice further forced it to halt construction on a sludge dam until all authorisation had been obtained from the departments of environmental affairs and water affairs.
Modise said the mine had to appoint an independent environmental consultant within five days to assess the mine's compliance with environmental legislation. Modise said the company was issued with the mining rights for the Vele mine, which was located near the Mapungubwe World Heritage Site and the Kruger National Park, in March, but had never got the go-ahead from the department of environmental affairs to proceed with construction. "They needed to go through an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process and we think they haven't done all they were supposed to do in this process," he said.
Wallington said all the mine's activities were within its mining rights, issued by the department of mineral resources. "The company is nonetheless complying with that Notice as required and confirms it has ceased certain activities at Vele," he said.
He said the company was working with the department of environmental affairs to sort out the problems.
Source: Times Live
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