South African wine country at risk from mining application

Winemakers and ecologists in South Africa’s Western Cape have expressed concerns over a prospecting application that could result in the area being mined for gold, silver and tin.

The application, registered by a company called Cienth Pty Ltd, to prospect the area of Overberg outside of the village of Napier has been delivered to the DMRE (Government Department of Minerals and Energy). If successful, Cienth Pty Ltd would be permitted to prospect, and later potentially mine, 4,200 hectares of land.

Jonathan de Thierry, owner of Napier-based Skipskop Wines, part of the Agulhas Wine Triangle, said: “Personally I do not believe any economic gold mineral potential exists on the farms Cienth Pty Ltd have applied for (completely wrong geology and age of rocks). Generally, where there is economic gold potential on a property you will see historic workings of gold in quartz veins over time with
numerous adits and pits. This is not the case in our area. In the 1870s a gold mining company was listed in London based on an adit dug close to Fairfield Farm. This was an early example of a mining scam and when I accessed the adit in the mid 1990s and took samples of the vein they were chasing, the assay results were negative.”

Bruce Jack, one of the most respected names in South African wine, told the drinks business that mining in the area would be highly detrimental to the local wine industry: “The impact on wine tourism will be severe and immediately felt – no one wants to go wine tasting next to a noisy, loud, dirty opencast mining operation. If mining is approved the destruction of vineyard land and potential vineyard land could be massive because the prospecting area will inevitably be extended and will directly affect over 200ha of vineyards, and indirectly affect hundreds more, through ground water contamination, etc.”

“Just as concerning,” he continued, “as we have seen elsewhere in the Western Cape where mining applications have been successful on agricultural land, the result is severe job loss and a breakdown in social cohesion. In our area this would be devastating because we are already marginalised and poor. This will crush to our agricultural community.”

At present, some 240,000 people are employed in tourism in the Western Cape.

Worries over how heavy mining trucks might damage the roads winemakers rely upon to transport grapes and equipment have also been voiced.

There are also grave concerns from environmentalists about what mining might mean.

Grant Forbes, conservation manager of the Overberg Renosterveld Conservation Trust, told the drinks business: “The application area includes renosterveld and Elim Ferricrete Fynbos, and both are very threatened habitats. Western and Eastern Rûens Shale Renosterveld are both listed as Critically Endangered, with only around 5% remaining in the world today. Elim Ferricrete Fynbos is listed as Endangered, also with around 5% remaining. These vegetation types are listed nationally as Critical Biodiversity Areas and Ecological Sensitive Areas that have to be protected.”

Forbes continued: “The impact of mining operations on air and water quality has been well documented. The rock ore contains sulphides which form sulphuric acid, and the effects of this are well known, with acid mine drainage running into river and underground water sources. Runoff from mining and prospecting sites will penetrate groundwater and end up in river systems. This means the Greater Overberg Region Groundwater is likely to be affected.”

Ross Kettles, operations manager for the the Nuwejaars River Nature Reserve, added that the 47,000ha conservation area contains “critical freshwater habitats” for various freshwater species, but also serve as a vital resource for farmers in the region: “Agriculture is one of the biggest sectors in the Overberg, and the Agulhas Plain – also serving as one of the biggest sources of employment. Our farmers depend on these water sources for many of the agricultural activities, in a region known as the breadbasket of the Western Cape for its wheat farming. So aside from the biodiversity value, there are also threats to food security posed by this mining operation.”

Elsaine Costerus-Mohr, the environmental lawyer representing Napier Farmers’ Organisation chairman Wynand Wessels, who is spearheading the opposition to the application, said: “In my experience I have seldom ever come across a prospecting right which does not progress to a mining right. If this happens, the landowners, farmers and even their descendants will not see rehabilitation in their lifetime, and no financial provision will be sufficient to fill the void left by mining activities. Therefore, it is imperative that we do everything in our power to ensure that this application fails.”

the drinks business has reached out to environmental assessment practitioner McDonald Mdluli for his response to these claims about the impact mining would have.