Abandoned granite mine scars beautiful landscape
The abandoned and unrehabilitated granite mine is an eyesore.
MARA – While searching for an indigenous wood high up in the mountains in the Mara district, Lowvelder found an abandoned granite quarry with a long and intricate history.
Neighbouring farmers are now complaining about this eyesore and the reluctance of the mining company to fully rehabilitate it.
Mining there commenced in 1992, and according to a neighbouring farmer
Mr Willie de Klerk, many farmers tried to stop this mine from opening as they were afraid of the damage it would cause to this fragile area.
De Klerk described what the area looked like 20 years ago and how this mining operation changed its living conditions. “This area has been declared a bavaria in the nineties, which should tell you about the pristine conditions once found here. But the granite quarry changed everything. We couldn’t stay here because of the noise of the blasting and the sound of the blade cutting through the granite blocks. It lasted for at least 10 years!”
Three more farmers in the area complain about the lack of rehabilitation of the quarry.
To get to the mine by car looks impossible, because of conditions of the roads due to erosion.
Stone Haven, a neighbouring farm, belongs to Christo Nel.
He told Lowvelder that the road to Moederlief and the mine, ran across his property and that a lot of damage had been caused by extra heavy-duty mining vehicles travelling up and down that road.
The quarry has been dormant for more than 10 years and very little rehabilitation has taken place.
Nel said: “They stopped mining in 2002 and since then other farmers and I have been fighting to get the roads repaired. They are also responsible for damage to one of the dams on my property.”
The name of this mine is African Lilac and it was part of Kelgran Africa, but now seems to be part of Red Graniti, a granite business in Rustenburg in the North West Province.
Lowvelder managed to make contact with the owners of the mine, and Mr Francois van Wyk told the newspaper the type of granite mined at the Moederlief quarry was not economically viable anymore and that it was unlikely that the company would reopen the mine.
On the question of rehabilitation, Van Wyk answered, “Rehabilitation of the mountain top area is substantially complete. The open quarry face must still be sprayed and the intact blocks which are stored on the property, either sold or worked into the waste dump.”
Not long after mining operations started, the whole area had been proclaimed as a conservation area, and is now known as the Krokodilpoort Nature Reserve.
