Cape mining company backs down

The mining company that applied to bulldoze its way through thousands of hectares of Cape vineyards has withdrawn its application.

Last week the department for mineral resources had said that the application had little chance of being approved.

As of Friday 12 March the African Exploration Mining Finance Corporation (AEMFC) has, at the request of the government department, withdrawn the bill and there is now no chance of the planned prospecting going ahead.

The company’s chairman, Mputumi Damane, released a statement claiming ‘strategic business reasons’ for the withdrawal.

“We have just completed an extensive process of reviewing our corporate plans. One of the key outcomes of that process was a decision to reprioritise the areas around the country where we plan to devote our energies,” he said.

“Like any other business we operate with limited resources, and part of the business plan review process was to shorten the list of areas where we are going to deploy our corporate resources going forward.

“On the basis of the adapted strategic trajectory, we have decided to withdraw the application to the department of mineral resources for prospecting rights in the Western Cape.”

Gary Jordan, of Jordan Estate, who had been leading the opposition to the proposal posted the news on the group’s Facebook site: “Thank you to all who worked tirelessly on this for the past few days.

“An unprecedented number of objection applications were received from people all over the world. You have all helped save the Cape Winelands and the UNESCO registered Bottelary Conservancy,” he said.

Nevertheless, the situation may not be as clear-cut as it seems.

The AEMFC, despite withdrawing its application, still handed in the Environmental Plan required for all prospecting applications, on Friday 12 March.

There is jubilation in many quarters but Jordan and the other producers remain wary and are still waiting for absolute confirmation of the dropped proposal in writing from the AEMFC.

Added to this, there are plans afoot from the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform to make all productive agricultural land a national asset.

This would mean that current owners of the land would have to receive rights from the government to use the land on either a temporary or permanent basis.

Minister for the department, Gugile Nkwinti, apparently failed to mention any changes in land ownership when he addressed Agri SA, an agricultural trade association, on the strategic plan for 2013 a fortnight ago.

Agri SA is meeting the department to discuss the issue today, although the plan has already been forwarded to the department’s portfolio committee.

Rupert Millar, 15.03.2010