CONFLICT
Gwede Mantashe to extend Wild Coast mines ban
The moratorium freezes progress on an existing mining application from Transworld Energy & Mineral Resources and blocks new applications
Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe wants to declare a further two-year moratorium on mining applications for Xolobeni on the Eastern Cape’s Wild Coast, where competing interests over a potential titanium mine have resulted in violence and death. In the Government Gazette on Friday, Mantashe made known his intention to declare the moratorium, which will not only freeze progress on an existing mining application from Transworld Energy & Mineral Resources — an Australian company seeking to mine titanium along the Wild Coast — but will also block any new applications from being lodged. Moratorium The moratorium, Mantashe said in the notice, was in response to "the social and political climate at Xolobeni" and the "significant social disintegration and highly volatile nature of the current situation in the area". Stakeholders were invited to submit their presentations on the moratorium to the Department of Mineral Resources in writing within 21 days. The moratorium follows one iss...
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