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Damned if you do

Allan Seccombe | Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:19

[miningmx.com] -- ANGLO PLATINUM is again being portrayed as a company that has no regard for the communities it interacts with as it develops new mining projects – which the world’s largest platinum producer denies.

This time allegations of an indifferent and heavy-handed approach come from the GaMawela community in its mid-September submission for the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the proposed Richmond Dam on the eastern limb of the Bushveld Complex.

Tensions between the GaMawela and Anglo Platinum have been simmering for years: first, over the restitution of arable land called St George and, second, the proposed dam, which will flood that land.

The GaMawela say in their submission they will be at a serious economic and social disadvantage if the dam gets the go-ahead. The dam is designed to be a backup for Anglo Platinum due to delays at the De Hoop dam. Construction of De Hoop began in July 2007 but is only expected to deliver water by April 2011.

An R8bn water project – including the De Hoop and Flag Boshielo dams – will supply water to around 20 platinum and chrome mining companies and burgeoning communities in the southern portion of the eastern limb. The project has been delayed by two years. One of Anglo Platinum’s concerns is that usage for the water could be oversubscribed in a couple of decades, a risky situation for its mining projects.

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The GaMawela say flooding their land by the Richmond Dam will violate their rights. They argue the R1,3m they’ve been offered by Anglo Platinum is inadequate. The compensation is carried in Anglo Platinum’s EIA submission.

At the heart of the matter lies some 100ha of arable land known as St George. The GaMawela were granted restitution of the land owned by Anglo Platinum in 2006 after arguing in a 1 800-page technical submission to the courts that it was economically feasible to develop St George.

The community has plans for the land, including agricultural, tourism and habitation, but if the dam is built most of that land will be flooded, says spokeswoman Tiny Mankge. “People are getting very tired of Anglo Platinum’s tactics,” she says.

The GaMawela outlined their dissatisfaction at the way Anglo Platinum has handled the process in its submission on the dam. “It’s once again noted that no negotiations have been conducted with the GaMawela community around any offer purportedly made by Anglo Platinum and there is no agreement between the GaMawela community and Anglo Platinum for the use by Anglo Platinum for the surface rights of St George,” the community said.

Not only that, but agricultural development at St George has been delayed due to Anglo Platinum’s “misleading information” about how much of that land would be flooded by Richmond Dam, it said. The land affected by the dam was originally said by the company to be 42ha, but by August 2008 that had grown to more than 100ha, because of the dam and moving infrastructure, such as power lines.

“Anglo Platinum is a responsible citizen and our main intention is to work amicably and cordially with communities and uplift their standard of living,” says spokesman Simon Tebele. There have been talks with the GaMawela, he says.

Incoming Anglo Platinum CEO Neville Nicolau said at the time of his appointment in May 2008 that apart from addressing the company’s woeful safety record he’d also mend relations with a range of communities that feel affronted by the company, particularly with regard to relocations.

Anglo Platinum has in recent years drawn stinging criticism from communities and human rights lawyers for the way it handled the removal of communities to make way for mines.

One of the biggest attacks came from an NGO called ActionAid, which alleged Anglo Platinum forced people off their land, didn’t consult them and polluted water. Anglo Platinum issued a strongly worded denial in response, saying the allegations were “simply not true and fly in the face of the evidence”.

It’s also released the findings of an independent study into ActionAid’s allegations of water pollution from mining. “The research finds the high nitrate levels in the water tested is a feature of the groundwater in this region and cannot be attributable to mining operations,” Anglo Platinum said in a statement.