NGO Coalition appeals water use licence granted to CoAL



28 July 2011

The coalition of civil society organisations that has opposed the proposed Vele colliery of Limpopo Coal Company (Pty) Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Australian mining company Coal of Africa Limited, will today lodge an appeal with the Water Tribunal against the water use licence granted to Limpopo Coal for its proposed Vele colliery by the Acting Director-General of the Department of Water Affairs (DWA), Mr Trevor Balzer, on 29 March 2011.

The Coalition in this appeal consists of the Mapungubwe Action Group, the Endangered Wildlife Trust, the Wilderness Foundation, BirdLife South Africa, the Association of Southern African Professional Archaeologists and the Peace Parks Foundation.

The proposed opencast colliery would be situated in close proximity to the Mapungubwe National Park and World Heritage Site in northern Limpopo, which forms part of the proposed transfrontier conservation park between South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe.

Since it first became aware of the mining right awarded to Limpopo Coal at this important site, the Coalition has also:
  • lodged appeals against the mining right and environmental management programme for the Vele colliery approved by the Department of Mineral Resources in 2010;
  • in August 2010, launched interdict proceedings against Limpopo Coal and the Minister of Mineral Resources, which application must still be heard in the High Court;
  • opposed applications by Limpopo Coal to the Department of Environmental Affairs for rectification of illegal activities at the site. On 25 July 2011, the Coalition filed its notice of intention to appeal the environmental authorisation granted by the Department of Environmental Affairs on 5 July 2011, rectifying the illegal activities undertaken by Limpopo Coal in 2010.
The water use licence granted on 29 March 2011 gave Limpopo Coal the right, amongst other things, to:
  • abstract more than 2,4 billion litres of water per year (2 452 800 m3/annum) from the Limpopo alluvial aquifer based on an average of more than 6,7 million litres per day (6 720 m3 per day);
  • do opencast dewatering (i.e. pumping contaminated water from the opencast pit) to a maximum quantity of 109 million litres per year (109 500 m3 per annum);
  • irrigate land with waste, or water containing waste and dispose of waste into various facilities;
  • impede or divert the flow of water in a watercourse by constructing access road culverts in an unnamed tributary of the Limpopo River; and
  • alter the bed, banks, course or characteristic of a watercourse by construction of three pipeline crossings.
The Coalition's appeal to the Water Tribunal is based on 17 separate grounds of appeal, a summary of which is attached hereto. Notable grounds of appeal include:
  • The DWA based its decision on a reserve determination which relied on inaccurate, apartheid-era population data from 1991. The DWA assumed that only 495 people required water for basic human needs from the particular subcatchment, when in fact there are thousands of people living in the area. In terms of the National Water Act, the reserve must be determined for each licence to ensure that enough water is kept aside for people’s basic human needs, and to maintain the ecological integrity of the water resource.
  • The DWA ignored the precepts and recommendations of its own strategic documents, such as the National Water Resource Strategy and the Limpopo Internal Strategic Perspective, both of which contain strict warnings about the water-stressed nature of this particular catchment and advise against the issuing of new water use licences in the area.
  • The proposed use of water by Limpopo Coal would not be not efficient or beneficial, since its proposed “closed system” for contaminated water management makes no effort to treat or to conserve water and still poses risks of contamination of groundwater. Instead of treating contaminated water and putting it back into the water resource, this “closed system” would remove precious water from the water resource without returning it for others to use.
  • The proposed use of water by Limpopo Coal would not be in the public interest, particularly since Limpopo Coal has a history of non-compliance with the National Water Act and other environmental legislation.
  • The proposed mining operation would be far closer to the Limpopo River than is stated in the water use licence application and in the licence itself.
  • Inadequate assessment of the risks of acid mine drainage and acid rock drainage had not been remedied by Limpopo Coal by the time the licence was awarded.
  • The DWA did not give adequate consideration to the opinions of other authorities who had expressed grave concerns about the proposed colliery.
  • The potential socio-economic benefits of the proposed colliery have been overstated by Limpopo Coal.
  • The DWA failed to consider the impact of the colliery’s proposed water use on climate change, water security and food security.
The Coalition will file further papers in the appeal once written reasons for the decision, as well as the full record of decision, have been made available by the DWA.

In terms of the National Water Act, lodging the appeal with the Water Tribunal has the effect of immediately suspending the decision by the DWA to award the licence to Limpopo Coal until a decision has been made by the Water Tribunal.

A copy of the appeal can be downloaded here.

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