West Coast town Elands Bay is under threat from toxic waste.

Wavescape users have been urgently requested to fight a mining company's application to prospect for minerals inland from Elands Bay, a move expected to bring catastrophic environmental damage to the area.

The proposal by Bongani Minerals is believed to be a precursor to destructive open cast tungston mining in a water catchment area that feeds into Verlorenvlei, one of few freshwater coastal lakes in South Africa. The rivermouth of the vlei is located at the base of the surfing point at Elands.

Members of the Verlorensvlei Coalition, who oppose the move, say that Bongani Minerals had tried to get mining rights on a farm in the Moutonshoek Valley. However, the application was withdrawn after an assessment indicated that the toxicity of the processed tungsten would have a negative impact on the vlei, the point and in turn the tourism industry.

However, according to the Verlorensvlei Coalition who oppose the mining bid, Bongani Minerals has instead lodged a Prospecting Right application with the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR). According to the coalition, this would take five years, cost R23 million, and be a precursor to devastating mining operations.

The coalition says that mining on farmland is madness given possible food and water safety issues, not least the potentially devastating effect it could have on the eco-system of the vlei. Minning for tungsten is a destructive process and could effect up to 4,000 sq kms of the area.

"For the people who live in the district the true issue is about the threat to their way of life, food security, provision of water, air quality and the potential for massive environmental degradation throughout the Verloren Valley from Piketberg to the Atlantic Ocean.

"The rains which fall on the Piketberg feed the Krom Antonies River which has sustained farming in the fertile Moutonshoek Valley for 300 years. The Piket-bo-berg and the valley produce export fruit, nuts, olives, potatoes, proteas and world class horses and provide work and a livelihood for hundreds of local people. The Krom Antonies River feeds the Verloren River which runs past Redelinghuys on its way to the sea. This water constitutes 60% by volume of that received by the Verlorenvlei which forms an estuary at Elands Bay and functions as a nursery for the local fishing and crayfishing industries.

"The quality and flow of water reaching the Verlorenvlei and thus the sea is at high risk of contamination by tungsten which becomes unstable during the mining process and has a strong affiliation for water. The fledgling tourist industry in the district, based on burgeoning guest houses, nature reserves and the famous left hand break at Elands Bay, may cease to exist."

The coalition has urged Wavescape users to object. Visit their website or go straight to this page on their website to voice your urgent objection.

The deadline is the end of the month, so time is tight. Do it now!

Source http://www.wavescape.co.za

News sponsored by West Coast Office National for all your printing & stationery needs.www.pencil.co.za on the West Coast.

Elands Bay could become toxic

Did you know that both of South Africa’s world class pointbreaks, J-Bay and E-Bay, are under threat from the Department of Minerals and Energy? If you’re a surfer, you’d at least be aware that South Africa is indeed blessed with two of the world’s most perfect pointbreaks, on either side of the country. It’s like some kind of divine symmetry for surfers. On the East Coast, 80 clicks South of Port Elizabeth, God left his right thumbprint on the coastline at a place called Supertubes, Jeffreys Bay. Waves can literally wrap in and unfold serving up kilometer long rides. It’s widely regarded as the world’s best right hand point break. It’s really an unrecognised World Heritage site that brings in millions of Rands worth of tourists each year and supports the economy of an entire town and provides the impetus for much of South Africa’s surf industry.

On the West coast, about 3 hours drive out of Cape Town is Elands Bay, possibly the world’s most perfect left hand pointbreak, aka God’s left thumb print, and it’s becoming increasingly popular and important in terms of all those tourist dollars that get deposited there by local and international surf tourists. Being in the desert and a bit of secret until late, Elands Bay’s development has been a little bit slow, but there are an increasing number of local businesses, backpackers, hotels, shops mushrooming in the town. And property prices have exploded in the little West Coast dorpie, all because the underwater geography funnels the Atlantic swells into perfectly shaped peelers, running left to right. So magnetic are the waves at Elands and Jeffries, that thousands of people from around the world spend their hard earned bucks to travel thousands of miles to ride these waves, for absolutely no good reason whatsoever beyond the fact that it’s really fun.

Distant Memories of Elands

But at the same time the Department of Minerals and Energy seems hell bent on destroying both of these routinely bankable, low impact, sustainable tourist attractions, and natural heritage sites, in the narrow pursuit of profit, disguised as development and job creation.

On the East Coast, the whole stretch from Jeffries Bay to St Francis is under threat as the preferred site for Eskom’s new nuclear power station, at Thuyspunt, which sits just 10 kilometers West of Seals. Not that we have a problem with Nuclear energy. It sure as hell beats Coal-fired power stations, even if we don’t really know what to do with all that dangerous nuclear waste it produces. But South Africa has nearly 3000 kilometers of coastline, surely Eskom and the Department of Minerals and Energy could find a more suitable, less populated spot that doesn’t threaten some of the world’s most prized surf real estate?

Now let’s shift our attention across the country to Elands Bay, that just happens to be under threat from several dodgy housing developments, but more seriously from a new application to prospect for minerals in the Verlorenvlei, the very river that runs into the sea right where the hallowed wave of Elands Bay ends. They’re planning on mining for tungsten, the stuff in your old lightbulbs and toasters that heats up when electricity is passed through it. Mining for tungsten is a pretty brutal affair, and it causes large scale pollution of the waters surrounding the mining operation. In fact, Bongani Minerals, who have applied for the prospecting rights, have already tried to get mining rights on a farm in the Moutonshoek Valley. However, the application was withdrawn after an assessment indicated that the toxicity of the processed tungsten would have a negative impact on the vlei, the point and in turn the tourism industry.

However the new application to the Department of Minerals and Energy opens the way for mining rights to be granted within 5 years. But this threat is bigger than just the potential ruin of a world class lefthand pointbreak. According to the Verlorensvlei Coalition:
“The rains which fall on the Piketberg feed the Krom Antonies River which has sustained farming in the fertile Moutonshoek Valley for 300 years. The Piket-bo-berg and the valley produce export fruit, nuts, olives, potatoes, proteas and world class horses and provide work and a livelihood for hundreds of local people. The Krom Antonies River feeds the Verloren River which runs past Redelinghuys on its way to the sea. This water constitutes 60% by volume of that received by the Verlorenvlei which forms an estuary at Elands Bay and functions as a nursery for the local fishing and crayfishing industries.
“The quality and flow of water reaching the Verlorenvlei and thus the sea is at high risk of contamination by tungsten which becomes unstable during the mining process and has a strong affiliation for water. The fledgling tourist industry in the district, based on burgeoning guest houses, nature reserves and the famous left hand break at Elands Bay, may cease to exist.”

If building a new nuclear power station near a built up area and world surfing heritage site is stupid, then mining the Verlorenvlei for tungsten is suicide. Scratch the surface and both these projects seem to be propelled by destructive, short-term, narrow-minded profit-seeking, instead of truly sustainable human development.

In many ways, a good surfbreak is the most dependable and sustainable pay day. As long as the authorities protect the location and control the development around it, the wave will literally do the rest. Forever. The tourists, local and international will arrive, surf the wave, stay in the accommodation, drink in the bars, eat in the restaurants and spend spend spend. And even though trickle down economics is hardly the best system for addressing our dire social circumstances, surfbreaks offer a reasonable impetus for development in communities that would otherwise remain neglected.

You can object against the Nuclear Power Station at Thuyspunt and learn more about it at thebombsurf.com

And you can object against Bongani Minerals’ application to prospect in the Verlorenvleihere, and learn more about it at Wavescape.co.za

Source http://www.mahala.co.za

News sponsored by West Coast Office National for all your printing & stationery needs.www.pencil.co.za on the West Coast.

Mine could destroy Elands Bay wetlands.

Oppenheimer scion Mary Slack, whose fortune is built on diamonds and gold, is fighting to save her trophy stud farm in the Western Cape from destruction - at the hands of a mining company.

Slack is part of a coalition of landowners and environmentalists who are trying to block Bongani Minerals from mining tungsten in the Moutonshoek valley, a pastoral idyll of fynbos, orchards and horse paddocks 50km northwest of Piketberg.

"I'm unutterably opposed," she said. "(A mine) will just ruin the whole area. It's just a catastrophe, an environmental catastrophe, and personally it's a catastrophe."

She established her Wilgerbosdrift stud in the valley 10 years ago and has bred legendary horses like Dynasty, horse of the year and Durban July winner in 2003, and Asylum Seeker, the champion two-year-old filly in 2006.

"I should think we have far greater possibilities of earning foreign exchange (from horse exports) than a lousy bit of tungsten," Slack said.

Asked if there was irony in the daughter of Harry Oppenheimer fighting a mining company, Slack quoted the Biblical proverb about visiting the sins of the fathers on their children, and continued: "I fail to see what it has to do with anything. I think there's every reason to oppose it just on environmental grounds. The fact that it would ruin my farm is incidental, really."

Bongani Minerals and its environmental consultants held an "open day" in Piketberg this week to address the concerns of those opposed to their application for a prospecting licence.

Farm owners and workers harangued Bongani directors Johannes van der Walt and Mike Reynolds, saying a mine would generate toxic dust and pollute the valley's water, which flows into the Verlorenvlei on the coast at Elands Bay - an internationally recognised wetland.

Jacqui van der Merwe, who with her husband, Bennie, breeds horses and grows export fruit in the valley, said that among other things a mine would coat their table grapes in tainted dust.

Tungsten was first found in the area in the '70s by Anglo American, but the deposit was not regarded as worth mining.

Van der Walt said only a full prospecting programme and environmental impact study would show if the concerns were well founded: "I think we've put a lot of fears to rest. But the principle still is their lifestyle that they feel they're going to lose. That's just the nature of the business. You can't say a mine is going to make the place prettier. You're going to have a dump there."

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