Mining application curveball for Bathurst
PIET MARAIS, GST Editor - Scarcely a year after the Bathurst Commonage Management Committee (BCMC) was formed as a milestone of collaboration, they are met with their first major challenge: a move to establish a quarry about the size of 10 football fields in the unique 3000ha natural resource at the heart of the small rural community.
A notice posted on a gate of South Africa’s largest municipal commonage and dated May 2, 2025, informs passers-by of an application to mine stone aggregate and sand in two areas of the commonage about the size of 10 football fields. Sand and stone is mined for use in construction projects, including roads. The company that has lodged its application with the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy is Bathurst Quarry (Pty) Ltd, with its listed address in Koti Street, Nolukhanyo.
Mining operations require environmental authorisation and the notice, headed ‘Notice of application for mining permit and environmental authorisation’ was issued by Lwethuma Environmental Consultants and dated May 2, 2025. The notice invites members of the public to register as interested and affected parties with McDonald Mdluli, the Environmental Assessment Practitioner (EAP) at Lwethuma Environmental Consultants, in order to receive the Background Information Document (BID) and draft basic assessment report (BAR). The notice advertises a public meeting to be held at 10:00 on May 20, 2025, in the Nolukhanyo Community Hall. Mdluli’s contact details for more information or registration are shared on the notice: 079 242 1312, or info@lwethuma.com.
The Bathurst Commonage’s unique nature and the value it offers to the communities who use it have been the subject of extensive studies and community discussions in recent years. Encouraging engagement between community stakeholders, municipal officials and experts in this regard have been held by the Bathurst Residents and Ratepayers Association (BRRA).
For example, on their website brra.org.za is a link to a report from a Rhodes University Environmental Science third-year student research project on the commonage. It was conducted in collaboration with residents of Bathurst and Nolukhanyo in 2023.
Uses of the 3000-plus hectare land included horse riding, off-road driving, camping, picnics, hiking, mountain biking, dog walking, ancestral and spiritual ceremonies, lodge sites for ulwaluko (initiation), hunting, grazing livestock, collecting firewood, collecting medicinal herbs, fishing, collecting honey and collecting water.
A section on the BRRA website brra.org.za devoted to ‘Our Commonage’ states that "the Commonage is a vital resource to the people of Bathurst and a balanced and sustainable manner of effective utilisation must be found so that all residents may benefit."
An important step in agreeing on what that meant and how to realise that goal was the establishment about a year ago of a commonage management committee. BRRA assisted in its establishment.
A September 2023 presentation published on the BRRA website noted that in Ndlambe Municipality, management of the commonage fell under local economic development and that the municipality should publish a commonage management plan as part of its spatial development plan.
The Bathurst Commonage Management Committee has expressed concern about the manner in which the Bathurst and Nolukhanyo communities found out about the proposed mining.
The committee’s deputy chairperson, Monty Roodt said, "Whilst we as a committee are in favour of utilising the Bathurst Commonage as an economic resource to provide income for unemployed residents, any development must preserve and promote the environmental integrity of the Albany thicket and the existing grazing. Our lead projects, namely livestock farming and eco-tourism, demand this.
"So, this raises the fundamental question: who was consulted for the initial stages of this application, and why does the Bathurst Commonage Management Committee, which has been in existence for almost a year, have to find out about it from a small poster stuck on the commonage fence?
"We welcome the opportunity to make constructive input at the community meeting on May 20 and encourage all residents to attend."
The committee intended to register as an interested and affected party and would contact the environmental assessment practitioner to obtain copies of the relevant documents.
McDonald Mdluli, the Environmental Assessment Practitioner (EAP) at Lwethuma Environmental Consultants, told Talk of the Town that he would try and answer questions arising from the notice as soon as possible. By the time of going to press, he hadn’t yet responded. Questions included who had been informed about the application.
Here are some sources members of the public may find useful to inform themselves about the steps involved in a) applying for a mining licence and b) obtaining environmental authorisation:
The South African Government: How to apply for a mining right: https://bit.ly/TOTTMining_1
Environmental authorisation process map for SA: https://bit.ly/TOTTMining_2
Centre for Environmental Rights: ‘Mining and your community - know your environmental rights’: https://bit.ly/TOTTMining_3.
This report first appeared in Talk of the Town, Port Alfred, Thursday, 8 May 2025