Poor attendance at proposed coal prospecting meeting
The prospecting will happen over five to six years.
The Kwasa Centre in Daggafontein hosted the scoping and environmental impact assessment for Manyeleti Consulting proposed coal prospecting in the Springs area meeting.
The purpose of the meeting was to introduce the project to people as well as to get the community’s input, questions and concerns about the project.
From the onset, it was clear that the community members who were present at the meeting were not happy about the idea of prospecting activities happening in the area.
Also read: Mixed verdict about the public meeting about the proposed Palmietkuilen Mining Project
The company in question were looking for a prospecting right application, not a mining one, which is a different process altogether.
The affected areas make up a combined area of 917 hectares and among them are two farms in Daggafontein and Grootvaly and portions of the Marievale Bird Sanctuary.
The prospecting would allow the company to determine the coal reserves and if mining in the area would be viable.
If the prospecting licence is granted, it would happen over five to six years.
As the meeting progressed, residents were unhappy that Laetitia Coetser, who was giving the presentation, was unfamiliar with the area and how the public participation process had been handled as some attendees who had signed up as interested and affected parties were not informed about the meeting.
Also read: WATCH: Strong opposition to mine as community demands answers
Coetser explained that as the consulting company for Manyeleti Consulting, they had only been appointed on Wednesday and had not been involved in any of the previous engagements.
Attendees then asked for another meeting to be set up where more people could come and give their inputs about the project.
All 17 people who attended the meeting were vehemently against the idea of prospecting.
“This can never be allowed to happen for a myriad of reasons, such a health, water and acid mine drainage,” says Philip de Jager, who was one of the attendees.
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