THE announcement by Australian company Mining Commodities (MRC) that it would be selling its 56% share in the mineral sands project at Xolobeni on the Wild Coast appears to indicate it is pulling out of its plans to mine coastal land against the wishes of local communities.The unity and determination of the AmaDiba community of Pondoland has not only held back MRC’s destructive plan for about 13 years, but forced it to change its strategy, so this is a victory.The community has a long history of resistance, including the 1960 revolt against the apartheid state’s forced villagification under the so-called Betterment Scheme.MRC’s Tormin mine on the West Coast is now drawing the attention of the state to the possibility that it infringed environmental conditions and the terms of its mining licence — damaging the coastal environment, according to Environment Affairs Minister Edna Molewa, and expanding the mine without permission and illegally extracting garnet, according to the Departme...
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