Call for Lonmin’s mining licence to be suspended
PLATINUM producer Lonmin should have its mining licence cancelled or suspended because it had breached several terms and conditions of that right, churchbased nongovernmental organisation the Bench Marks Foundation said yesterday.
The suspension would be by the Department of Mineral Resources in terms of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act.
Lonmin has been in the public spotlight since August last year when 34 of its striking miners were shot dead by police in what has been described as the worst police disaster since the 1960 Sharpeville massacre, in which 69 pass law protesters were killed.
“To lead a socially, environmentally and politically unstable industrial project — a project that on many levels must reach a breaking point — is to accumulate pollution, sickness and anger among the many in the project and in its surroundings,” said Bench Marks Foundation chairman Bishop Jo Seoka.
Lonmin had failed to meet its socioeconomic and environmental goals, and the act gave Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu the authority to withdraw rights in such cases, although she “does not use that power”, Bench Marks said in its report, released yesterday, on whether Lonmin had met its social and environ- mental commitments. Despite this, and the Marikana shooting, Lonmin is listed on the JSE’s 2012 socially responsible index and has won awards for its social and environmental work.
The platinum giant is under new leadership. CEO Ben Magara, who took over on July 1, is overseeing a wide-ranging review of the group in light of “the communities value proposition”.
The group’s executive vicepresident in charge of sustainability, Natascha Viljoen, said that Lonmin needed more time to properly peruse the report.
“While Bench Marks has given Lonmin a copy of the report, unfortunately they did not engage us during its compilation, although we have begun discussions aimed at finding common ground. We have started going through the detailed analysis to understand the context and veracity of the assumptions properly, but given the 10-year span and the changes in reporting methodology, we need more time.
“Once we have completed our review we would welcome the opportunity to engage with Bench Marks to discuss their interpretation of the data. While our perspectives may differ, we ultimately want the same thing,” she said.
The Bench Marks study traces Lonmin’s actions between 2002 and this year. Bench Marks executive director John Capel said if it was true Lonmin performed better than most of its mining peers in social and environmental responsibility, then SA had “an environmental, social and political problem as this company is not running a sustainable project”.
Lonmin, by its own admission, was “clearly violating its (mining charter) commitments” by not accurately reporting its use of contract workers and by “fail(ing) to achieve any meaningful improvement” in workers’ living conditions, and to mitigate adverse environmental impacts, he said.