Mining - Still too many mines operating without a water licence
A reply to a Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary question has revealed that 69 mines in South Africa are operating without a valid water licence. This figure is an improvement on the June 2010 figure, when 125 mines were operating without a water use licence. It however remains unacceptable that any mines are operating without a valid water licence. While the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs claims to have a plan to expedite water licences for mines that have applied for these rights, the question to be asked is: ‘how are mines even allowed to begin operating if they do not have permission from the start to use water and discharge it thereafter back into water courses?'
The greatest number of mines operating without a water licence is in Mpumalanga where 23 mines use and discharge water without the necessary authorisations. This figure is down from 54 when the parliamentary question was last asked in mid-2010. Gauteng has 17 mines in a similar situation, while KZN has 12 and North West province 7.
The Minister has revealed that 66 of these 69 mines have applied for water use licences and they are now in the process of being assessed. Of these 66, 21 mines have been asked to provide further information on their water usage. According to the Minister, three mines are operating without an application for a water use licence even having been received at the time of the reply to the parliamentary question.
There are two crucial points that need to be made. Firstly, where is the necessary coordination by the Department of Mineral Resources and the Department of Water Affairs? For over two years now, the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs has been talking about liaising with the Minister of Mineral Resources about a cooperative authorisation that would ensure that a water use licence is granted before mining can commence. It is not clear when this will happen. It is difficult to see how the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs would have the guts to deny a mine a water licence after the mine has already begun operating. The Department of Water Affairs prefers persuasion by which officials issue directives to mines to comply with the relevant regulations and then to correct their actions by applying for a licence. However, the Minister and her Department have not attempted to close any mine down for operating without a water licence, which seems to suggest that, at least in some cases, the provision of a valid water licence is merely a formality and not a matter of substance.
Secondly, one wonders how thorough the process of granting water licences is. A thorough process, which would comply with administrative justice, would have, among other things, the necessary consultative processes, an evaluation and assessment process and an appeal process. Other water users who may be affected by a particular mine's use of water have a right to be part of the process, to have access to the mine's application and to be able to comment if so desired. This is not happening in many cases, and it appears the Department is being soft on mines, while inconsiderate of other users, most particularly agricultural users. The Department has issued a Best Practice Guideline for the mining sector in an attempt to help them comply with the water use licensing process, but there is no real attempt by the Department to ensure the guidelines are fully complied with.
In processing the water use licences for mines that are operating without valid licences, the Minister must show that she will defend the integrity of the licensing process by denying licences, after application, to at least some mines who cannot show that they would operate in ways that would do least harm to the environment. What she must not do is reinforce the view that mines can begin operations without a water licence going forward, by simply approving the licences for all mines that have already begun operations.
Statement issued by Gareth Morgan MP, DA Shadow Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, December 14 2011
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