New prospecting application to mine heavy minerals in Namaqualand.
Public comments urged as Gauteng-based company, registered only in 2023, Nurulos (Pty) Ltd applies to prospect for shopping list of minerals in a sensitive part of Namaqualand on the West Coast.
Locality Map of the Proposed Prospecting Area.
Protect the West Coast (PTWC) urges the public to comment on an application to prospect for heavy minerals such as copper, cobalt and manganese over a large area near the coast in Namaqualand.
Nurulos (Pty) Ltd, an unknown entity in the mining space headed by a solo 30-year-old director and registered in 2023, has lodged an application with the National Department of Minerals Resources and Energy (DMRE) to undertake prospecting for a wide range of mineral, some of which are toxic to humans and dangerous to the environment.
The company wants to conduct the prospecting using specialist drilling equipment over three farms Strandfontein, Tities Baai and Klein Kogel Fontein over more than 21,500 hectares in the Magisterial district of Kamiesberg, 25km south of the town of Garies, population 1,500. They want to do this over a period of five years.
The prospecting application is for Cobalt, Copper, Corundum, Feldspar, Garnet (Gemstone), Gemstone Expect Diamonds, Gypsum, Heavy Minerals (General), Hoshate, Iron Ore, Leucoxene (Heavy Mineral), Lithium Ore, Manganese Ore, Monazite (Heavy Mineral), Niobium (Columbium) Ore, Rare Earths, Rutile (Heavy Minerals), Spinel (Gemstone), Tantalum/Niobium Ore, Tin Ore, Uranium Ore and Wollastonite.
“A maximum of 7 out of 10 boreholes are proposed to be drilled, within a five-year lifespan of the prospecting right. The overall drilled boreholes may be less than the proposed number, given hindering factors such as bad terrain, sensitive environment, existing land uses etc,” the application states.
PTWC managing director Mike Schlebach said that the application was bad news: “Should the application get approved, it will lead to industrial scale heavy mineral mining in a sensitive and water-scarce area, and with that array of potential material in the application, and the vast area over which it is being conducted, they are bound to find something.”
“It’s widely known that for every tonne of copper, 99 tonnes of waste material must be removed, with devastating impact on the environment,” he said.
Schlebach noted that mineral and mining experts say certain heavy metals and minerals, such as cobalt, copper, lead and manganese can cause chemical reactions that lead to the formation of various acids, including sulfuric and iron hydroxide. These can leach into the surrounding terrain and into streams and other water bodies, leading to toxic contamination of what are limited water resources, stifling plant and animal growth.
While the drilling of up to 10 boreholes is not as invasive as full-blown mining, there are potential pollution and contamination dangers, and DMRE approval will ultimately lead to an application to mine, adding to a plethora of existing mines and prospecting applications just south of this area, including an alluvial diamond prospecting application by the ironically named Fish by the Sea company near Karoejtieskop, and the existing Tronox heavy mineral sand mine that has laid waste to tracts of coast north of the Olifants River.
“It is crucial that we stop this stretch of coast becoming one giant mining operation, both onshore and offshore,” urged Schlebach. The Draft Basic Assessment Report records that the only public participation that has been done is a newspaper advertisement and site notices on site and in “community service areas”. This itself is woefully inadequate. Further, the draft report confirms that the drill holes have been placed in critical biodiversity areas and that the site is situated in an area with a very high terrestrial biodiversity sensitivity. We simply cannot have prospecting granted in areas that should never be mined in the first place.
The South African National Department of Minerals and Energy (DMRE) is ostensibly tasked with enabling and balancing the sustainable development of our country’s mineral resources, while also protecting the environment, but the quest for profits invariably trumps environmental and community concerns.
Prospecting and mining applications are also granted ad hoc, with cumulative impacts not being properly considered and no long-term study in the form of a region-wide Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) into the effects of mining, something PTWC has advocated since we were formed and which the government has steadfastly refused to respond to us on.
PTWC urges anyone opposed to this application to register as an Interested and Affected Party (I&AP) and submit your comments by 29 June 2024.
Magisterial district of Kamiesberg in light red, proposed region in dark red.
The public participation process is being handled by EAP SA Consulting.
To register as an IAP or submit comments email: comments@eapsa.co.za. You should refer to the project name, DMRE reference number, provide their name, contact details (indicating your preferred method of notification) and an indication of any business, financial, personal, or other interest which they have in the application. Should you decide to comment on the Draft Basic Assessment Report, please provide a copy of your letter of comment to EAP SA Consulting via comments@eapsa.co.za and include the DMRE reference number, NC30/5/1/1/2/13758PR, in your correspondence.
Project name:
Proposed Prospecting Activity for Cobalt, Copper, Corundum, Feldspar, Garnet (Gemstone), Gemstone Expect Diamonds, Gypsum, Heavy Minerals (General), Hoshate, Iron Ore, Leucoxene (Heavy Mineral), Lithium Ore, Manganese Ore, Monazite (Heavy Mineral), Niobium (Columbium) Ore, Rare Earths, Rutile (Heavy Minerals), Spinel (Gemstone), Tantalum/Niobium Ore, Tin Ore, Uranium Ore and Wollastonite on Remainder Strandfontein 559, Portion 1 And Remainder, Part of Tities Baai 560 Remainder Of Klein Kogel Fontein 561 Situated in The Administrative District Of Namaqualand.
DMRE reference number: NC30/5/1/1/2/13758PR
Draft Basic Assessment Report and associated appendices:
A team from Protect the West Coast (PTWC), including activists, filmmakers, legal experts, and !Ama leaders recently travelled to the Richtersveld to document the catastrophic damage from mining, while engaging with the community about solutions to their plight. The devastation they saw prompted an urgent letter from PTWC to the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), Dion George, to raise the alarm.
Fish by the Sea has again applied to prospect on the beach for diamonds near Brand-se-baai, adjacent to an area designated as critically biodiverse. This application adds more potential for beach mining on the West Coast, which is already under severe pressure. The new application is a revised submission of the same area, replacing what was publicised by Protect the West Coast (PTWC) in July. Thanks to public input, the first application was deemed inadequate. The revised version is now open for public comment.
