Premier welcomes court order on Kagiso mining

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Operations at the gold mining company were temporarily suspended last Friday, 17 January 2014, by Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu following the department's preliminary investigation into operations at Mintails.

"We call upon all affected parties, more especially the residents of Kagiso, to refrain from violent acts and to respect the court order, which was sought by the Gauteng Provincial Government to protect their interests," said Mokonyane.

The investigation follows complaints lodged by the residents of Kagiso Extension 1, including the newly-developed Sinqobile residential development in Mogale City Local Municipality. The complaints relate to the cracking of walls and shattering of windows of their newly-built houses, especially in Sinqobile Phase 3. The damages were attributed to the new mine's close proximity to the residential area.

Acting in the interests of the affected residents of Kagiso, the Gauteng Provincial Government issued an application at the South Gauteng High Court, seeking an urgent interim interdict restraining Mintails from conducting any blasting activities in and around Kagiso with immediate effect.

The preliminary investigations into the company's operations established that the company had contravened the conditions of its mining licence.

The anomalies that were found during the investigation include:

Mining operations taking place with a major power line situated 100 meters from the high-wall of the eastern side of the pit.
Failure to implement the approved Social and Labour Plan, with emphasis on human resource development and local economic development.
The environmental impacts of opencast mining in close proximity to residential areas, and more particularly the public safety risks associated with tremors, percussion and fly rock resulting from site specific actions and activities that are not provided for in the approved Environmental Management Programme.