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Anglo Pt, Impala slammed by report
Allan Seccombe
Posted: Mon, 25 Jun 2007

[miningmx.com] -- A SURVEY of four mining companies operating in the platinum- and chrome-rich Northwest Province in South Africa painted a grim picture of the environmental and social impact mining has had in that region.

The survey by Bench Marks Foundation of Anglo Platinum, Impala Platinum, Xstrata and Lonmin Platinum showed that the HIV/AIDS infection level in the Rustenburg area is nearly 60%, according to ante-natal clinic results, and respiratory problems account for 80% of visits to medical practitioners.

Bench Marks Foundation, a non-profit Christian organisation, found there was also a huge impact on water, both the drawing down of natural underground sources and pollution of the same.
a gap between policy and practice
“The report demonstrates huge negative impacts on surrounding communities and goes contrary to the popular myth that the benefits from mining trickle down to local communities,” said John Capel, an executive director at Bench Marks.

“Our report shows that much needs to be done in terms of the environment, housing, health, labour, waste management, energy and water management, clean air and geological issues,” he said.

Anglo Platinum declined to make any comment, while Impala Platinum was not immediately available for a response. Lonmin did not participate in the study.

"While the report demonstrates that the mining houses comply with a legislative overview, there exists a gap between policy and practice," Capel said.

Among the major omissions from companies when it came to reporting were water issues, atmospheric and geological issues as well as seismic events, he added.

There is no independent environmental monitoring in this region, and Bench Marks said this was something that needed to be urgently addressed.

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The high HIV/AIDS rate, which ultimately makes it more expensive to produce an ounce of platinum because of companies’ anti-retroviral medicines programmes, was blamed on migrant labour, sub-contracted services to the mines, a living out allowance to workers and a lack of job opportunities for women, who, in certain instances, turn to prostitution for income.

The lung disorders was attributed to platinum smelters in the area, the burning of wood, paraffin and coal in informal settlements that have no electricity and dust blown from tailings and waste rock dumps.

Shanty towns have sprung up next to nearly every mine as people hope to secure jobs or reap the benefits of living near a mine, which, under mining laws are obliged to invest in neighbouring communities.

An estimated 250,000 people live in shanty towns in and around Rustenburg, which has recorded one of the highest increases in property prices in the country as people flooded into the area because of increased mining activity in the region.

"Despite the best of business plans and intentions about the present and the future, many of the policies of the mining companies have had, perhaps unintended, negative consequences such as the growth of informal settlements and urban squalor, rampant HIV and AIDS in surrounding communities," the report said.

These same informal communities have polluted water sources with untreated effluent. The tailings dams and rock dumps have also contributed to contaminating water, Bench Marks said.

“The research found a disturbing lack of capacity at local and district government levels to independently monitor the impact of mining on surface water. There is also a disturbing lack of awareness among communities in the area of the potential risk,” it said.

It recommended that mining companies adopt a bottom-up approach to interacting with communities instead of relying on the historic paternalistic approach.

The 90-page report recommended a list of projects ranging from catfish production to reed and grass production to earthworm farming that mining companies could implement in neighbouring communities to create jobs.