We use farmland ... time to give back
From: Cape Winemakers Guild - Kate Jonker [mailto:kate@capewinemakersguild.com]
Sent: 04 March 2010 11:24
To: Cape Winemakers Guild Members
Subject: Please help us with our objection to the Winelands prospecting application
Greetings from the Guild Office!
Government owned African Exploration Mining and Finance Corporation (AEMFC) has applied for prospecting rights for tin, zinc, lead, lithium, copper, manganese and silver on a number of top wine estates in the Cape winelands. The Government’s Department of Mineral Resources has provisionally accepted these prospecting rights.
This area is in excess of 4700 ha on a number of Stellenbosch/Bottelary farms that are all part of the Bottelary Renosterveld Conservancy. Saxenburg, Jordan, Langverwacht and Zevenwacht Wine Estates are all included in this area. Affected neighbours are De Waal, Mooiplaas, De Morgenzon and Kaapzicht amongst others. The second application includes a number of farms in the Durbanville/Tygerberg area, including David Graaf’s farm, De Grendel.
AEMFC is state-owned and wholly owned and funded by the Central Energy Fund. It has been exempted by the Minister of Minerals and Energy from many provisions of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act in regard to prospecting rights, mining rights and mining permits.
Attached herewith is the Guild’s statement with regards to the mining in the winelands.
Guild member Gary Jordan (owner of Jordan Winery) has asked me to send you the following letter and asks that you kindly complete the attached form as a gesture of your concern:
Thank you for your support regarding this potential mining fiasco.
We only have until the 9th March to submit formal objections to the proposed prospecting plan in the Cape Winelands. Any valid reason is acceptable (national pride, cultural, tourism, job losses etc) remember that this is about prospecting at this stage, not mining, but we need to stop this in its tracks right now as that would be the next step. I have included the registration forms marked ‘Cape Town’ to save De Grendel (and the other Durbanville Estates) as well as well as the form marked ‘Stellenbosch’ to save Jordan, Saxenburg and Zevenwacht amongst others from the prospecting and potential mining activity. These need to be filled in and emailed or faxed to GCS as indicated at the bottom of the forms.
If we don’t stop this now there will be no end to where this will lead. We would like objections to be registered by as wide a public group as possible, both locally and internationally, personally and/or on Corporate letter heads where possible. Allowing the plan to go ahead could change the face of the winelands forever.
One of the main problems with regard to the application by African Exploration Mining and Finance Corporation is that it is a wholly state-owned company and the decision of whether it is granted this application or not rests with the state!
Please forward this mail and the attachment to as many people as possible.
Kind regards
Gary
Gary Jordan
Jordan Wine Estate
Tel: +27 (0)21 881 3441
Fax +27 (0)21 881 3426
www.jordanwines.com
We would really appreciate your support!
With kindest regards
Kate Jonker
CWG General Manager
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Registration Forms for I&AP's.pdf | 98.5 KB |
| CWG Statement regarding prospecting and mining in the Cape Winelands.doc | 55 KB |
On a purely non-cynical basis, this is a very common "storm in a tea-cup" situation.
Firstly, a prospecting licence is not a mining licence, and secondly, prospecting in its initial phases, is a zero impact activity (unlike agriculture). Exploration licences are not granted without full consultation on all levels, including environmental and social issues. On this account, with new legislation, South Africa has recently become one of the most difficult places in the world to engage in mineral exploration.
Mineral rights and surface rights are completely separate, so even the granting of a mining licence does not give the licence holder the right to mine. He would still need to purchase the surface rights from a willing seller.
But more to the point, the likelihood is extremely slim indeed that the company will find anything other than a few completely insignificant whiffs of tin and manganese in this region.
So, again, on a non-cynical basis, I would say; relax and let the company spend some money in the area.
I am however very suspicious about the motives behind the desire to prospect for something in a location that has such low potential for it. Given that this is an ANC sub-company, I would put money on there being some very shady individuals with ill intent. More even than you could Shaik a stick at.
If they were not keen on finding something and mining it, then they wouldnt go to all the effort of applying for prospecting rights etc. You dont go prospecting with the intention of not finding anything and not wanting to mine!?!?!?!?
We border Saxenburg, Jordan and Zewenwaght, amongst others, on the hill and would certainly not fancy any mining activity on our doorstep. Just imagine- the beautiful and idylic vistas of the lush green vineyards of the winelands spoiled by a smelly, dirty industrial opperation squattering smack bang in the centre.
No thanks.
Some things to bear in mind:
- All those directly affected, or neighbouring the area, will be dismissed as NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard). You will be accused of looking after your own interests, not that of the 'Nation', the 'Previously Disadvantaged' or of nature. The only people with credibility would be those who have nothing to lose - and they have no incentive to get involved.
- The consultants doing the prospecting are not getting paid to find minerals - they are getting paid to do prospecting. They are also getting paid to do EIA's, and to convince investors to pay for what they are doing.
- The BEE beneficiaries gain from the funds invested, not from results. And what better incentive for ANC black money than sticking it to the wealthy white boers on the winelands.
- If any development is going to happen, it becomes a war of attrition against the nimbys - the consultants get paid to do it, and they don't mind how long it takes. The nimbys devote their own money and time to the effort, and after a few years are ready to just give up - I know, it happened to me. I have reached the point where I don't give a fsck what they do with the wetlands in front of my house.
- You will be surprised at how many people will actually support the development. They will quote numbers about how it will increase GDP and employment etc etc. But the fact is, any activity at all increases GDP. No really, employing a team with rippers to tear up all our roads would increase GDP. Building a shopping mall increases GDP. Starting a war increases GDP. And the jobs are always overestimated, and given in the wrong units. For example, when they say 500 000 jobs will be created - we think "500 000 people will be able to earn a living for the rest of their lives", when the truth is "500 000 people will have casual labour for a few months".
- While I was fighting to stop a highway through unique and sensitive wetland, residents from Marina da Gama were fighting to build the road so they wouldn't have to drive through Steenberg/Lavender Hill.
So ja - good luck with this. I've had enough though. Sorry.
Chill everyone - they won't find anything there other than granite and quartzite. There may be some fractures with manganese in them, like the one that was mined above Hout Bay, but these days, the Chapmans Peak mineralisation wouldn't even be close to viable for mining. There may be some elevated gold, silver and tin levels here and there, but again, nothing to pursue.
Refer to Charles' points 2 & 3. I think they are right on the mark.
Chill everyone - they won't find anything there other than granite and quartzite. There may be some fractures with manganese in them, like the one that was mined above Hout Bay, but these days, the Chapmans Peak mineralisation wouldn't even be close to viable for mining. There may be some elevated gold, silver and tin levels here and there, but again, nothing to pursue.
Refer to Charles' points 2 & 3. I think they are right on the mark.
Quite right ... probably won't find anything. But of course by then it will be too late for the farmers, which is why I posted this, not to generate speculative debate.
All I ask is that anyone who feels an inclination to support the chaps who are worried about their land, their labourers and their heritage (and of course their income), to make a bit of an effort to help as they've asked, and those that are not, to at least refrain from discouraging others from trying to help.
Agree with this last post of PeterO, those who are indifferent, to preferably refrain from posting, as it may sway someone who would have supported. We can never be sure of the outcome of our actions, yet we ought to act if it feels good and true, and when in doubt ourselves, to leave those, who feel they wish to, free to act.
Every devastating blaze started as a small fire, too small to worry about.
As with the "Pedestrians crossing the N1" issue, there was some discouragement voiced....it proved to be a success...and although we never will know with certainty I'm fairly sure some lives were saved/ accidents prevented.
Good luck with this.
Well, I am a NIMBY because I still need a job. Already too many winemakers and too few wineries. I will support "vasskop" team.
On the news it sounds like the proposal to prospect has been withdrawn now. One has to wonder wtf these people are thinking, if at all.
