Poor attendance at open coal mine meeting
The attendance of the Draft Scoping Report (DSR) public meeting, held at Stable Inn on Wednesday afternoon, was lower than expected.
The DSR, which forms part of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the proposed Palmietkuilen Mining Project, near Springs, is now available for public review.
Ward councillor Dean Stone says the meeting should not be recorded as a public meeting, but rather as an information session, due to the lack of notification given to the affected community.
Springs businessman Philip de Jager says Digby Wells has been involved in previous local projects and they know who should have been notified of this meeting.
Digby Wells practitioner Stephanie Aken replied that Digby Wells relies on word of mouth notification to ensure stakeholders are aware of upcoming meetings.
“Maybe at the next meeting there will be a better attendance of public participation,” she says.
The proportions project includes Portions One, Two, Four, Nine, 13 and 19 of the farm Palmietkuiken 241, IR near Springs.
Stephanie says the proposed project area falls within the Sedibeng District Municipality and borders Mpumalanga.
It is a proposed opencast coal mine.
The project is classed as a Greenfield Project, which means no mining will be done.
“The coal is shallow and open mining is suggested, therefore, there will be no digging,” says Stephanie.
Once the project is up and running they plan to mine approximately 2.4-million tons of coal per annum.
Application for the mining rights was submitted to Department of Mineral Resources on August 4.
The DSR for this development is available for public review and comment until September 12, at the following venues:
• Springs Library, Fifth Street, CBD, from 9am to 4.30pm weekdays and 8am to 1pm on Saturday.
Contact 011 9999 8814.
• Bakerton Library, on the corner of Peabush and First Avenue at the Bakerton Community Centre, from 9am to 4.30pm weekdays, and 8am to 1pm on Saturday.
Contact 011 999 8826.
• Electronic copies can be viewed on www.digbywells.com
You will find CNC4065 – Anglo Operations Pty Limited: Palmietkuilen Mining Project DSR in the public documents menu item.
Community members who attended the meeting feel the poor attendance is due to poor advertising and the fact that the meeting was scheduled during working hours.
Stephanie says all the community’s comments were recorded and will be looked into.
The draft scoping report is open to be viewed by the public.
For more information, contact Stephanie on email Stephanie.Aken@digbywells.com, or visit the Digby Wells website at www.digbywells.com
