November 30, 2007 Edition 1

Tony Carnie

THE future of the controversial Xolobeni sand dune mining venture on the Wild Coast has been cast into doubt, with a mining media report that the project had been put on hold.

Martin Creamer’s Mining Weekly reported in its online edition this week that the Australian company, Mineral Commodities, MRC, and its wholly owned subsidiary, Transworld Energy and Minerals, were understood to be planning a meeting soon to review whether to proceed with the mining rights application.

Neither Mark Caruso, Managing Director of MRC, nor John Barnes, General Manager of Transworld Energy and Minerals, could be reached for comment yesterday.

Bob Barras, an official at the MRC offices in Perth, Australia, said that Caruso was in Europe and was unlikely to make any comment until Monday.

The Maverick Group, a Johannesburg public relations company acting for MRC, issued a statement yesterday suggesting that a final decision on mining was unlikely to be taken before mid-January.

The statement did not comment on the accuracy of the Mining Weekly report, but simply noted that the Department of Minerals and Energy was to issue a final record of decision on the mining application on January 15, and that “thereafter, a decision would be made on the way forward”.

Indication

Nanette Hattingh, a Johannesburg environmental consultant co-ordinating an environmental impact assessment for the Xolobeni project on behalf of MRC and Transworld Energy and Minerals, said that she doubted the accuracy of the Mining Weekly report because Caruso’s brother and business partner, Patrick, had been in South Africa for the past month, and had not given any indication that the venture was in question.

“I saw Patrick Caruso on Tuesday and, as far we are concerned, the Xolobeni project is not on hold.”

MRC claims that the Xolobeni dunes contain the world’s 10th-largest mineral sand deposits and would yield large quantities of ilmenite, rutile, zircon and leucoxene over the next 22 years.

However, the plans to mine a 22km stretch of the Wild Coast just south of the Wild Coast Casino have attracted strong criticism from environmentalists and several community groups.

The project has been opposed largely because mining is seen as a threat to the scenic beauty and eco-tourism potential of the region.

The lease area stretches from the Mtentu River to the Mzamba River, and borders on the Mkambati Nature Reserve.

Hattingh said that the project had reached an advanced stage, with a final environmental impact assessment report due to be issued on December 23, and an official record of decision from the Department of Minerals and Energy due in February.

Unlike other major development ventures that require environmental approval, the decision on the Xolobeni project will be made by the Mining Department, not by officials in the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.

Posted on December 3rd, 2007
Filed under: Press Releases