[miningmx.com] — MINES Minister Susan Shabangu would announce next week whether the Department of Mineral Resources was ready to lift the ban on new prospecting rights applications in Mpumalanga.
Shabangu in March extended the ban in the province until September 30, saying the DMR had not been able to deal with “the challenges’ of the province during the nationwide moratorium which was imposed in August last year. The moratorium in the other eight provinces was lifted in April.
Departmental spokesperson Bheki Khumalo said on Friday Shabangu would return from China on Saturday where she accompanied Deputy-President Kgalema Mothlanthe on an official visit.
“She would deal with the issue (the moratorium) next week, probably Monday,’ Khumalo said.
Mpumalanga is the province which hosts South Africa’s major coal fields, and many small operators have opened new coal mines there in response to power utility Eskom’s demand for extra coal supplies.
Shabangu earlier this year said Mpumalanga’s unique problems related especially to the granting of licences in environmentally sensitive areas.
“When we reopen in Mpumalanga, we must have a situation where mining will be done responsibly. There are a lot of areas in Mpumalanga that must be taken care of environmentally,’ she said in March.
At the beginning of February the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) – on behalf of 13 non-governmental and civil society organisations – submitted a request to Shabangu to put a ban on prospecting and mining in “certain key areas of critical biodiversity’.
Shabangu replied: “We will be guided in this matter by the department of environmental affairs (DEA). The DEA will decide which areas are sensitive and it is then for us to implement.’
