Press statement: DMR grants Platreef mining execution in Mokopane while countless host community members' concerns still not answered

Ivanhoe Mines announced last week that the mining right for the development and operation of the company’s Platreef mining project in Mokopane had been executed and would enable immediate preparations for the construction of the mining site. The mine further reported that the final approval of the mining right was indicative of the Department of Mineral Resources' (DMR) satisfaction that the project complied with required environmental and socio-economic requirements.

The decision to execute the mining right has been taken despite media reports last week that Mineral Resources Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi had sought to meet with Ivanhoe’s Robert Friedland to resolve issues relating to the government’s approval of the platinum mine. The Department was quoted in the Star on 31 October 2014, that it “cannot ignore complaints from the community and is duty bound to listen to the communities and address their concerns.”

Following the media reports, the Mokopane Interested and Affected Communities Committee (MIACC) was hopeful that the Department was genuinely prepared to address their concerns surrounding the Platreef Project. This, MIACC believed, would involve the processing of their appeal in terms of section 96 of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) challenging the Department's decision to grant the mining right and engage with MIACC’s concerns.

MIACC’s appeal addressed possible air and water pollution, the adequacy of the financial provisions set aside for the rehabilitation of the mining site, the impacts on heritage resources and archaeological sites including graves, the inadequacy of the public participation process and concerns surrounding land ownership and the permanent loss of subsistence land and the impact on livelihoods.

Since submitting its appeal on 4 July 2014, MIACC has yet to receive Minister Ramatlhodi’s decision on the appeal but it recently learnt from Ivanhoe’s lawyers that the Minister has not even initiated the appeal process which includes sending a copy of MIACC’s appeal to Ivanhoe. It can therefore not be said that the community concerns have been addressed either by the Minister or the mine before the decision to execute the mining right was taken.

The lack of accountability by the Department and its Minister to this rural host community which will be significantly and directly impacted by the massive mining project, for at least the next few decades, is wholly unacceptable in a democratic dispensation.