The companies operate under the same spokesperson, Tshepo Baloyi.
Baloyi is also the director of Thumela Logistix CC.
Thumela Logistix CC is planning to mine copper, gold, nickel, platinum group metals, pyrite, silver, sulphur and uranium from a mine dump in Portion 63 in Vlakfontein.
The dump can be found next to Golden Drive about 1.5km from Snake Road.
Nendiwave, Thumela Logistix CC’s sister-company, wants to mine the same resources on Portion One and Three – which comprise five hectares each – on the farm Modderfontein.
These two areas are located next to Chevalier Street and Hospital Road about 12km from Snake Road via Main Reef Road.
The Modderfontein project’s public participation meeting is to be held on October 19 at 10am at the Benoni Country Club.
Thumela Logistix CC was forced to postpone their first meeting for the Vlakfontein project that was scheduled to take place on September 23 because important stakeholders were not present.
Baloyi said a new date had not yet been established.
The meetings are meant to serve as opportunities for the community to raise their concerns.
According to Baloyi, the concerns and input of the community are included in the basic assessment reports and environmental impact assessment documents that are sent to three different committees to be considered: the Department of Mineral Resources, Department of Environmental Affairs and the Department of Land Reform.
Baloyi said the projects will not include any drilling and blasting, but simply involve the extraction of the aforementioned minerals and metals present in the existing mine dumps.
He said the company has more than 10 years’ experience in the mining sector.
The companies have come under criticism since October 12 after a concerned citizen questioned the mining of uranium and the effects thereof on the Benoni Community Network’s Facebook group.
The citizen also expressed concern about cyanide that was traditionally used to extract metals and minerals from mines and mine dumps.
“I have also been told by someone very close to the situation and who is experienced in the mining industry, that he firmly believes we are being poisoned by cyanide,” she wrote.
Baloyi explained the mine dumps already have uranium in them and claims the companies will simply concentrate the ore which, in his opinion, is not dangerous .
He said Thumela Logstix CC and Nendiwave will then sell the uranium ore to companies who specialise in the processing of uranium.
“We are trying to offer a solution to an existing problem,” he said.
He also said using cyanide is an archaic method to extract resources and that Thumela Logistix CC and Nendiwave outsource a chemical company that uses environmentally-friendly chemicals to extract the resources from the mine dump.
When asked what chemicals are used, Baloyi said he cannot recall the name, but it has become industry standard to use environmentally-friendly chemicals.
Another business owner close to the Vlakfontein mine dump, who preferred to remain anonymous, said he was not consulted about the project and neither were most of his neighboring business.
The mine dumps are about 100m from his business.
He is also concerned because the rehabilitation fees for the Vlakfontein project which have been estimated to be R 328 757.27 in the report, are too low.
According to him, this amount will not even enable Golden Drive to be upgraded to cope with the increase in traffic volumes while the companies mine there.
He says the actual rehabilitation figure should amount to R10-million.
Baloyi said the amount for the rehabilitation process of the mine was determined by the Department of Mineral Resources and his companies are simply complying with the requirements of the department.
The man said the companies’ efforts to reach out to the community were not sufficient, but according to Baloyi, the companies did what was legally required of them.
The Department of Mineral Resources was not available for comment at the time of publication.
Also read: Seventeen injured on Snake Road
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