[miningmx.com] — It is not fair to blame the liquidators for the environmental damage caused by the neglected Pamodzi gold mines, liquidator Enver Motala said on Wednesday.
“It is not fair to say Aurora or the liquidators created the environmental problem, it was always there,” Motala told Sapa.
“The problem of acid water affects the whole East Rand Basin, not just the Aurora mines,” he said.
Earlier, trade union Solidarity said the liquidators for Pamodzi’s Orkney and Grootvlei mines on the East Rand must take some responsibility for the looting of the mines’ assets and resulting environmental damage.
“The liquidators are a party to the destruction of the mining assets as they have failed to put an end to the looting by cancelling the transaction,” Solidarity deputy general secretary Gideon du Plessis said in a statement.
The politically connected Aurora Empowerment Systems has been given until August to obtain financing for the Pamodzi gold mining group’s mines.
Du Plessis said he visited the Grootvlei Mine in Springs on Tuesday and found the Number 6 and Ndlovu shafts were completely destroyed and none of the seven shafts Aurora took over in 2009 was working.
“The Ndlovu Shaft was put up only four years ago. This shaft has been plundered and it will cost R100m to have it rebuilt, which is more than double the original construction cost of R40m.”
The liquidators had to be held jointly liable for the looming natural disaster created by rising acid mine water, he said.
“Aurora removed the pumping station at Shaft 3 under the pretence of moving it to a higher level,” Du Plessis said.
“It has been six weeks after the pumping station was removed and Aurora still has made no attempt to rebuild it.” he added.
“Its purpose was to prevent acid mine water from rising. Because the pumps were removed, acid mine water is rising at a rate of one metre a day in the Springs area, which could lead to an ecological disaster in the East Rand.”
Motala said it was concerning that no water was being pumped at the moment.
“We are waiting for documents from Aurora on how to deal with this… which we expect by Friday.”
He said Grootvlei wanted to create a new pump further up, and once installed it would take six to eight months to get back to the water levels they were at before pumping stopped.
The pumps were not maintained by Pamodzi which originally had 10 pumps.
When Aurora took over, there were four working pumps, but they did no maintenance either “so matters got progressively worse”.
Immediate liquidation
Motala said the department of mineral resources was not helping.
“The DMR are not giving Aurora one cent for the pumping of water because they are not mining. The law says if you don’t mine, you don’t get money.”
Various unions have called for the immediate liquidation of the mines.
Du Plessis criticised the liquidators for taking commission on the deal.
“Enver Motala, who regards himself as the principal liquidator, has already received R7.2m in commission,” Du Plessis said.
“This commission could have saved thousands of jobs at Aurora.”
Motala rejected the claim, saying: “They are very confused.”
The fee Solidarity was referring to was that received by the liquidators for selling Pamodzi’s assets in the Free State to Harmony gold mine, he said.
He said six liquidators shared a fee of over R40m for that sale, which took two years to complete.
In March, the High Court in Pretoria granted Aurora an extension until August 16 to find financial backing to buy Pamodzi, which went into liquidation in 2009.
However, on Tuesday the liquidators warned Aurora to produce “sufficient, irreversible progress” on the Pamodzi mining deal by the end of May or face cancellation.
Motala said the main creditors of Pamodzi had told the liquidators their patience was running out with Aurora, whose directors include former president Nelson Mandela’s grandson Zondwa, and President Jacob Zuma’s nephew Khulubuse.
