Collaborative Solutions for Soil, Groundwater Rehabilitation in Petrochemical and Mining Sectors

There are truly some terrible images on social media of the damage to beaches up the West Coast due to coastal mining activities. Many contaminated sites remain in a “care and maintenance” phase, where the focus is on containment rather than achieving permanent remediation. Last month, to comply with an agreed order of the Western Cape High Court, mining company Trans Hex finally delivered its updated Environmental Management Programme (EMPr) to mine near the Olifants River Estuary and surrounding coast. However, according to a team of scientists and lawyers, it contains serious flaws that render it non-compliant with the order. In another case Protect the West Coast (PTWC) raised a red flag over a diamond mining application that will destroy 3184 hectares of critical biodiversity biome in the Northern Cape. But apparently there are solutions to the problem…