Opposition grows to Karoo mine

AFRIFORUM has joined public opposition to plans for a uranium mine in the Karoo, launching an online petition it hopes will persuade Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane to reject the licence application.

This follows the completion of an environmental impact assessment report and environmental management programme document, which form part of the licence application on behalf of Tasman RSA Mines, a joint venture between Lukisa JV Company (Pty) Ltd and Tasman Pacific Minerals Limited, which in turn are subsidiaries of Australian mining firm Peninsula Energy.

Operations to mine uranium and molybdenum are expected to span 7 500km2 of the Karoo, spread over the Northern, Eastern and Western Cape, with a central processing plant near Beaufort West.

The company has also applied for a water licence to abstract 700 million litres of groundwater a year, about half the total water consumption of the Central Karoo Municipality.

However, the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (Safcei), which also opposes fracking in the Karoo, claims the public participation process leading up to the mining licence application was flawed.

According to Safcei, the environmental impact assessment report submitted to the Minerals Department in February showed the risk of uranium contamination was high and accidental contamination of water systems with radioactive material was possible.

AfriForum Eastern Cape co- ordinator Thomas van Dalen said the project would lead to the destruction of a large part of the Karoo ecosystem and he hoped the petition would convince Zwane of the risks.

Studies of a large number of cases and with exposure over many years had established a direct relationship between occupational exposure to uranium and its decay products and lung diseases.

“Mining uranium will invariably create huge plumes of contaminated dust. Dust clouds are unavoidable during drilling, blasting and transporting,” Safcei science adviser Dr Stefan Cramer said.

Spraying water on the dust was only partially effective and created new problems, with contaminated slimes adding to the environmental cost of groundwater abstraction.