Corobrik digs in on push against coal removal
Brickmaking major Corobrik is undeterred in its bid to remove coal from its clay quarries, saying that it needs to get to the carbonaceous shale that is sandwiched by the coal to lower its gas usage amid Sasol woes and ensure the longevity of its factory.
The manufacturer has faced fierce opposition to its mining of coal east of Johannesburg with environmental group Greenpeace warning that the Rietvlei conservation area — which provides 15% of Tshwane’s water — was under threat because of it.
The pushback comes after the department of mineral resources & energy approved Corobrik’s environmental plan in February, signalling it was edging closer to acquiring the necessary rights to mine coal.
Greenpeace’s online petition, aimed at garnering support to “Tell Gwede Mantashe … to stop this project before it starts”, has attracted about 31,200 signatures.
Speaking to Business Day, CEO Nick Booth said Corobrik did not aim to venture into coal mining as an economic activity but had to get through the coal to get to the layers of carbonaceous shale — a dark clay matter with carbon content — around which it has developed products to try to reduce gas consumption.
“We are removing coal. We are not coal miners and we are not selling coal,” he said. “We are moving the coal out of our way to get to the clay. The best clay for brickmaking is the one underneath the coal. It makes life a lot easier from a brickmaking point of view as it has certain properties in terms of your ability to work it.”
Corobrik has been trying to reduce its gas consumption after a request from supplier Sasol as Sasol’s reserves in Mozambique had come under pressure. “So we started working with the carbonaceous shale to develop products with it. Because the material had carbon in it, we use less natural gas,” he said.
As one of its biggest customers, Booth said the move was meant to assist Sasol to extend the life of its gas reserves.
Corobrik has been operating an opencast clay mine next to the Rietvlei Nature Reserve in Gauteng since 1983. While excavating the dark clay, it ran into coal deposits in one of its quarries in 2022 that were layered between the shale.
IMPACT APPLICATION
“We knew it was there,” said Botha. “What no-one knew was how much coal there was, how thick the layers were, and what the quality of the clay underlying the coal was.”
The CEO said that on discovering that the coal layer was thicker than initial assessments pointed to, the group lodged an impact application with the department in June 2022 to amend its mining licence to include coal.
Corobrik continued to mine for clay but increasingly ran into the coal pockets, which it removed without a licence.
The department ordered the company to immediately stop mining and Corobrik was penalised just more than R1m in administrative fines for moving the coal without a licence. It also advised Corobrik to embark on a full application to mine coal, which included a public participation process. Booth said the group had undertaken this process, including community engagements.
Corobrik said its water use application at Rietvlei had been revised to include the necessary controls and measures to include coal mining. Department spokesperson Makhosonke Buthelezi confirmed that Corobrik’s application was under consideration, and said that “no decision has been taken yet on whether to grant the permit”.
But the approval of Corobrik’s environmental impact applications in early February had ruffled feathers, and detractors have lodged various appeals against the approval. The process is continuing through the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment.
Greenpeace activist Desiree Laverne told Business Day that a go-ahead for coal mining would be “disastrous for the environmentally sensitive area”.
She said that while the site contained enough coal to be mined for seven years, no consideration was given to a lifetime of environmental damage nor could the company guarantee there would be no contamination of nearby water sources.
NO CONTAMINATION
“There is no guarantee from Mr Booth and Corobrik that it will be done correctly or responsibly,” said Laverne, highlighting the runoff risks.
Criticising allegations of the potential risk of contaminating nearby water sources, Booth said that Corobrik had mined in the area for 40 years without any contamination due to the effective clay dams it used that also contain sulphur from the coal.
“Not one drop of water leaves our site.” He said that they were about a kilometre away from the reserve. “You have to get runoff of water off the site to have any kind of acid drainage [into the reserve].”
Booth also said that the property did not have any access to, or effect on, the Bapsfontein groundwater dolomite water source.
Corobrik has appointed an experienced mining contractor from Mpumalanga to mine the low-quality coal, stockpile it to a limit of 100,000 tonnes and remove it from the site expeditiously.
Booth said that Corobrik faced the risk of increasing its production costs without the clay. “What’s at stake is we take 15 years of economic life out of our factory,” he said,
“My urgency is to keep my factory going more efficiently and use less gas.”
Laverne said that once the NGO had reached its petition target, it would be handed over to officials at the department and the City of Tshwane.
WE ARE MOVING THE COAL … THE BEST CLAY FOR BRICKMAKING IS THE ONE UNDERNEATH THE COAL
Nick Booth Corobrik CEO