JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Mintails this week committed to “making good” on any housing damages emerging from its mining activities on the West Rand, but said an independent assessor would need to determine the actual cause of the surrounding communities’ claims.

The mining company, which was currently the focus of a Department of Mineral Resources- (DMR-) initiated independent investigation, stood accused of undertaking blasting and other mining activities – without community consultation – that had resulted in dust fallout, noise and structural damage to houses and roads in Kagiso Extension One, near the mine, in Gauteng.

The Mogale City local municipality called on the DMR to intervene and pursued court action, which had since been halted, to suspend the mine’s operations, while angry Kagiso residents embarked on often-violent protest action against the mining company’s activities, reportedly disrupting mining operations and setting fire to a Kagiso ward office earlier this week.

Mogale City claimed that the blasting activities had impacted the informal settlements of Makhulugama and Tudor Shaft/Soul City and the suburbs of Boltonia and Kagiso.
Mogale City spokesperson Nkosana Zali said in a statement that Mintails had failed to undertake “basic things”, such as informing the public, cordoning off the blast area and ensuring adequate signage, besides others.

“We are not the competent authority to issue mining licences and monitor compliance with the provisions of such licences. We agree that Mintails is within its rights to blast and hope they agree to the fact that they have a responsibility to be circumspect about their business practices,” he said.

However, Mintails assured that it was a responsible, compliant miner and would not shirk its duties or responsibilities.

“By law, all mining operations must be undertaken further than 100 m from any permanent structure. We fully comply with this requirement and have had a number of inspections conducted independently by the DMR in this regard,” Mintails CFO Eddie Milne said in a response statement.

“As a relatively new mine – opencast operations began in June 2012 when the mining rights were acquired – Mintails has only a short history in the region. It has conducted consultations with all affected communities, including Kagiso, the details of which are reported as required to the responsible authorities at the DMR and have been provided to the local authority as well,” he said.

He added that the group supported, and would fully cooperate with, the independent team of technical experts’ evaluation of the operations.

However, an independent assessor should be appointed to establish whether the damages to the properties had resulted from an act of nature, a pre-existing condition or from the mining operations, the results of which would “plot the way forward”.

Milne said the concerns of the residents emerged shortly after a devastating hailstorm in November and Mintails, which had been undertaking hard-rock gold mining in the region over the past 14 months, had engaged the community leaders, Mogale City representatives and ward councillors.

The DMR was set to engage the communities and various stakeholders in the region on Friday.

The DMR-initiated investigation would be completed by the end of January.

Currently, 20% of the mine’s 800 workers came from the Kagiso community, with the remainder sourced from the surrounding communities and, despite being a lossmaking operation, Milne pointed out that Mintails invested R1.5-million in the community during the financial year.