Coalition lobbying for ban on bulk marine mining
South Africa allows prospecting for bulk marine sediment mining blocked or banned by other countries, writes Heather Dugmore
PHOSPHATE mining of the seabed, known as bulk marine sediment mining, has never been done and is a major concern for leading marine scientists worldwide. SA is about to become the testing ground.Despite objections, three rights have been granted by the Department of Mineral Resources to prospect for marine phosphates, predominantly used for fertiliser.This extremely destructive form of mining requires dredging up the top 3m of the seabed, destroying critical, delicate and insufficiently understood sea life in its wake."Two prospecting rights were granted in 2012 and one in 2014; the three extend over 150,000km² or 10% of SA’s marine environment, known as our exclusive economic zone," says Saul Roux, a legal campaigner for the Cape Town-based nonprofit Centre for Environmental Rights.Roux has been appointed as part of a WWF Nedbank Green Trust project called Safeguarding Our Seabed, which has among its objectives ensuring a moratorium on bulk marine sediment mining, which he describe...
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