DMR to brief Western Cape communities on shale gas development

21st April 2017 By: Megan van Wyngaardt - Creamer Media Contributing Editor Online

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Mineral Resources Deputy Minister Godfrey Oliphant will on Tuesday host an information-sharing session with interested and affected communities and organisations in the Western Cape on the potential of shale gas development through hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

The Deputy Minister will engage communities on the impact of shale gas development on water resources, the environment, and the economic potential to be derived from development of the resource.

The session will take place at the Rustdene sports ground, in Beaufort West.

After years of contention, Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane earlier this month took a decision to proceed with the development of shale gas in the country’s Karoo formation, “based on the balance of available scientific evidence”.