Ngwenya Mine water pollution fears allayed
MBABANE – “What guarantee do we have that the water will not be as polluted and impossible to use or consume just like it happened during the previous mining project?”
This was one of the concerns raised by some Ngwenya residents when interviewed by this reporter during a visit to the area on Friday, to assess the general feeling of the community regarding the possible reopening of the Ngwenya Iron Ore Mine.
Less than a kilometre from the site of the mine is Eswatini Water Services Corporation’s (EWSC) water treatment plant. Its closeness to the mining area makes it vulnerable to runoff and dust pollution.
Treatment
Water from the Ngwenya treatment plant supplies residents of Ngwenya, Motshane and other areas, including Mbabane. The water is drawn from Hawane Dam, a reservoir at the foot of the mine site. However, according to Mwelase Mine Director, Victor Ndlovu, water will not be sourced from there but using a different reservoir. The second-biggest mountain in Eswatini, located north-east near the main border gate, is called Ngwenya because, at first glance, it looks like a crocodile. On its crown, it is a massive man-made crater, and on its side is a small hollow big enough to shelter a pride of lions, called the Lion Cavern. This is where the Iron Ore Mine is located.
Mwelase Mining Eswatini PTY LTD was awarded the mining licence to resume operations last Thursday at Ngwenya Village, in the presence of the residents, Minerals and Mines Management Board and Ngwenya Town Board. This is where the Director of Mwelase Mining Eswatini PTY LTD, Ndlovu, made mention of a reservoir being constructed where affected residents would access clean water.
He further indicated that the project would potentially hire 400 people.
*Thobile, an elderly woman who lives at Ngwenya, when interviewed on her views on the reopening of the mine said she was part of the group of residents who had attended the launch/meeting, and although the director had mentioned that all was well regarding the problems the residents previously encountered, this was a wait and see situation.
“I have lived here long enough to know what happened during the previous years and what I can tell you is that the red dust which accumulates due to the operations of the mine pollute the water beyond use. You can neither drink nor cook with the water once the dust collects, maybe you can try washing but that also requires a lot of work as you have to sift the water,” she said.
Thobile stated that although they were equally excited about the development, they had a right to worry about the effects of the operations.
Previously, Ndlovu said: “We have engaged consultants with the necessary expertise to deal with such problems and I can safely assure the people that challenges experienced during previous mining activities will be curtailed to the bare minimum.”
The mine wants to go further and explore potential underlying mineral deposits as opposed to just collecting iron ore dumps.
Machines
As sourced from previously published articles, the hole in the Ngwenya Mountain crown is a wound opened by machines a few decades ago. The one on the side is evidence of mining activity from over 43 000 years ago, as the then Bernard Price Institute for Paleontological Research at the University of the Witwatersrand found, making it the oldest known mine in the world.
Lion Cavern makes the mine a tourist attraction. In 2008, the Swaziland National Trust Commission (SNTC), now Eswatini National Trust Commission, together with the Swaziland (Eswatini) National Museum began a process of petitioning the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to declare the whole mining area a World Heritage Site.
According to City Press, between 1963 and 1977, the Swaziland Iron Ore Development Company, a subsidiary of the Anglo American Corporation,
dug up tons of hematite from the opencast Ngwenya Mine. Hematite is a hard oxide mineral with a high iron content (70 per cent). One and a half million tonnes were shipped in 1967 alone.
After stopping operations in 1977, Anglo American continued to ship the mountains of ore already dug up and prepared. But they proved too plentiful. In 1979, all operations came to a halt, leaving behind mounds of hematite, mainly in the form of fines or small particles.
In this state, they remained for many years. Up in the mountains, the main big holes, which were steep and contoured, got invaded by wattle and pine trees. Other plants followed, most of them exotic. Then, in 1982, the old mine became a protected area, falling under the newly established Malolotja Nature Reserve, and administered by the SNTC, now ENTC.
Things changed in 2011. The Mines and Minerals Act was signed into law by the King. The country’s Minerals Management Board granted VM Salgaocar & Bro Pvt Ltd a licence to mine what it called ‘iron ore dumps’.
Controversial
According to previous media reports, a controversial environmental impact assessment report was submitted to the Eswatini Environment Authority. A South African company, Fines Mining and Melting (Pty), built three processing plants at the mine. Shortly afterwards, Salgaocar began mining.
The mining licence granted to Salgaocar was the first issued in 20 years.
In October 2011, mining – the so-called rehabilitation of tailings – began and went on for three years, abruptly coming to a halt in October 2014 ‘because of a drop in global iron ore prices’.