Damning report on abandoned gold mine
THE abandoned Blyvooruitzicht gold mine has had massive environmental and health impacts on the adjacent mining village and its 6 000 inhabitants.
This must be remedied by “state and corporate actors”, according to a report released yesterday by Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR).
“[Residents] deal with the constant inhalation of toxic dust from the unrehabilitated tailings dam in the area, possible water contamination and the ever-increasing sinkhole risk,” said LHR attorney Michael Clements.
Blyvooruitzicht Gold Mining Company first obtained a mining right in 1937, and in 1997, DRDGOLD Limited took over operations.
After a sale to Village Main Reef Limited fell through between 2012 and 2013, both companies walked away and claimed the other held responsibility.
Neither company applied for a closure certificate needed to legally close the operation, and the mine has since entered insolvency.
In an attempt to pay back creditors, the liquidator began selling the mine’s assets.
Zama zamas also moved in, mining available gold ore and stripping any valuable metals from mining infrastructure.
Speaking at the Joburg re- lease of the report, community activist Pule Molefe said crime had surged and multiple residents were shot in the crossfire.
“Mine bosses are allowed to get away with murder while the government looks the other way and the community is left to fend for itself.”
The same legal loopholes in insolvency and liquidation legislation that led to the situation at Blyvoor allow companies to abandon mining operations around the country, states the report.
“The structural issues that allowed the Blyvoor circum- stance to occur will likewise have to be addressed. Otherwise, we’ll see many more Blyvoors across South Africa as the mining sector enters into its decline,” Clements said.
Investors are now hoping to gain a new mining right and restart operations at the No 5 shaft at the abandoned mine.
Joseph Rammusa spent 33 years working at the mine.
“Blyvoor village is home. I got married there. My children were born there. That’s part of me,” he said.
Rammusa and other former Blyvoor mineworkers want the Department of Mineral Resources to allow the investors to mine.
“There’s a hope that some people can get jobs,” Rammusa said. “Even if only 100 people can get jobs, it’s something. The village is still there, and there’s no income.”
Environmentalists are wary of the deal, saying it would create a precedent of selling mines piecemeal while abandoning the uneconomical sections.
“The Blyvoor example deftly illustrates that while the practice of casting off under-perfor ming assets by invoking insolvency proceedings may be an effective way to safeguard shareholder profits, the negative impact on South Africa’s environment and communities is tremendous,” the LHR report stated.