JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Mintails has committed to further limiting the impact of its mining activities on local communities, while a task team has been established to determine the cause of damage to houses near the West Rand-based mine.

Mintails said over the weekend that a meeting with Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu on Friday had led to measures, including the implementation of enhanced noise and dust control and improved safety systems, being put in place to address complaints emerging from nearby communities.

Community members of Kagiso Extension One, near the mine, in Gauteng, have accused Mintails of undertaking blasting and other mining activities – without community consultation – that had resulted in dust fallout, noise and structural damage to houses and roads.

The Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) would appoint an independent team of technical experts to ascertain the cause of the damage and to what extent this was the result of mining activities.

“We are pleased that a scientific route will be used to make an objective determination in this regard,” the company said in a statement, reiterating its commitment to “make good on any impairment found to have been caused by the mining operations”.

In the interim, Mintails would halt blasting during overcast weather, which exacerbated dust and noise for nearby residents, cease percussion drilling between 20:00 and 07:00 and divert load-bearing trucks through alternative routes to stockpiles.

The company also promised to install a siren, similar to those used in other mining communities, alerting residents to imminent blasting activities.

Further, the safety berm currently surrounding the mining operations would be heightened to augment the safety of community members inadvertently entering the mining area and reduce the amount of noise emerging from the mining operations.

Video documentation and the capturing of seismic data for each blast would also be undertaken to ensure compliance and determine the potential of blasting to cause damage to permanent structures such as houses.

“Inspectors from the DMR regularly inspect Mintails’ operations and compliance and, as part of [its] regulatory monitoring, will ensure that the above measures are undertaken,” the company said.

The mine had not been asked by the DMR to cease operations while the investigations were under way.