How do you take an eyesore and an environmental liability and turn it into an asset that will have immediate economic benefits for the local community? Anglo Coal’s Aapiesdoorndraai, near Burgersfort in Mpumalanga, was up for the challenge.
The company’s rehabilitation of an old magnesia mine, closed since 1978, and its transformation into a residential and industrial area, has a Cinderella aspect to it. A vast grey area with several opencast pits in a poverty-stricken region will metamorphose into a lively area with beautiful homes and booming businesses.
Critics say the north-eastern section of Burgersfort’s “platinum city” in Limpopo has led the way on how mines can be rehabilitated in a way that meets the government’s mine closure requirements. The project also addressed a critical housing shortage in the area.
The mine was bought by Anglo Coal’s subsidiary Vereeniging Refractories when Anglo American unbundled in 1999. The responsibility for rehabilitating the mine fell on Anglo Coal. To do this, it funded technical studies to change the land use from mining to a residential and to ensure that the necessary legislation was approved.
“We contributed R10-million for the technical studies for the rehabilitation of the land and donated the land to the municipality,” says Johan Badenhorst, project manager of Anglo American Property. The area has been identified as a presidential growth node.
The Greening judges were worried that mines had neglected their rehabilitation responsibilities and lauded the project for its efforts in this regard.
Groundwork has started for the first phase of the Motaganeng development plan. The housing development was approved in 2005 and the new suburb has 1 000 stands available for residential homes and 60 business and industrial properties worth R1,5-billion. The second phase will see the construction of a Protea hotel complex, a shopping centre, a casino and a solid waste area.
The open pits will be used for the disposal of domestic waste, a project that will be overseen by the Development Bank of South Africa and a BEE company. Ross Rankapole, the regional director of the department of minerals and energy, was quoted in Beeld as saying the project put BEE and job-creation firmly hand in hand with the rehabilitation of closed mines.
Anglo Coal has helped settle land disputes between the municipality and the Manok community. An agreement was entered into whereby the community would be moved from the arable land to enable an organic farming project to be set up for its use.
Through the mine rehabilitation project, Anglo Coal has achieved its goals of addressing critical safety aspects on the site, sustainability in the long term, benefiting neighbouring communities, creating opportunities to unlock growth and adding value to the area and have the blessing of all stakeholders. Future plans for the area include a school, a shopping centre and energy-efficient housing.