Environmental groups take mine to court

IN an application brought by environmentalists and anti-mining communities, Tendele Mining will tomorrow (Friday) appear in the Pietermaritzburg High Court to respond to allegations that it operates Somkhele mine in Mtubatuba without required environmental authorisations.

Global Environmental Trust (GET) and Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation (MCEJO) says the mine has violated the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) by breaching environmental and other laws.

GET and MCEJO seek a court interdiction to restrain Tendele Mining from continuing operations until environmental laws they say the mine is flouting, are complied with.

‘Tendele has, since inception in 2007, conducted its mining operations in accordance with valid mining rights and environmental management programmes (EMPs) that have been granted and approved by the Department of Mineral Resources, and continues to do so lawfully in accordance with certain transitional arrangements that were introduced through the ‘One Environmental System’ in December 2014,’ said Jarmi Steyn, Tendele Coal Mining Chief Operating Officer.

The human rights abuses and negative impacts on community members’ lives and livelihoods of which GET accuses Tendele will be tabled in various reports before Judge Seegobin.

Legal obligations

Apart from environmental authorisations, GET says Tendele is operating without land use authority, municipal approval or a waste management licence.

‘If Tendele complies with its legal obligations and establishes that it has done so, the interdict may be lifted,’ said GET.

Separate from the court case, GET recently stated that the 20% community and employee shareholding benefit implemented in recent years is a Petmin loan for which, should Tendele go into debt, repayment obligations would fall onto the community and Tendele employees.

Steyn said this was untrue, and that the deal was structured so the community and employees would benefit without having to pay for equity in Tendele.

‘The obligations under the preference shares are guaranteed by Petmin and not the community, thus free funding has been received without any recourse,’ said Steyn.

She said whether or not Tendele goes into debt is determined by such factors including exchange rates, local and foreign market conditions, and political stability.

Tendele won its expansion appeal brought about by GET earlier this year, and relocation negotiations with communities have commenced.

Delays as a result of the appeal caused existing pits to be mined deeper, a temporary solution which, when the pits are mined-out, would result in the mine down-scaling.

This would result in between 200 and 300 job losses.