19 Feb 2014

One hundred and ninety-two companies have been awarded prospecting rights in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) in the last 10 years (2003 to 2013).

The Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, Mr Kitso Mokaila, said this when responding to a question in Parliament from MP for Kanye South, Mr Abram Kesupile.

Of the 1 214 prospecting licences, Mr Mokaila said 290 were for precious stones; 52 for metals, six for petroleum and 819 for various minerals excluding diamonds.

Mr Mokaila said there was no recorded impact on the Basarwa of the CKGR. However, due to prospecting activities, he said there had been negligible impact on the vegetation, the water table and wildlife.

Currently, Mr Mokaila said there were three companies holding prospecting licences for CBM in the CKGR, namely; African Coal and Gas and Strata (Pty) Ltd, adding that “it should be noted that some of the licenses are not active and some are at early stages of prospecting.”

He told the House that as prospecting activities required an Environmental Management Plan to address site and operation specific impacts and mitigation measures, there was no Environmental Impact Assessment report done.

Some of the common potential impacts which had to be mitigated, he said included risk of veld fires, oil spillages, disturbance to vegetation, wild animals, dust, and noise.

The CKGR management plan, Mr Mokaila said outlined steps which needed to be taken to ensure that prospecting activities that took place had no or minimal impact on the reserve. He also said the plan provided guidelines to prospecting within the reserve.

“Prospectors are expected to produce an environmental management plan to ensure minimal impacts on wildlife and vegetation. Permits given to prospectors by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) also have strict conditions which the prospector is expected to adhere to,” he added.

Furthermore, Mr Mokaila said since prospecting work was mostly limited to drilling and other non-destructive techniques such as; aeromagnetic survey, gravity surveys and desktop evaluations, he said the impacts to the environment was usually minimal.

He also added that “the thick sand cover (around 80 meters of sand cover) in the CKGR makes it even difficult, if not impossible, to collect bulk samples through techniques such as trenching or trial pit.”

Minerals, Energy and Water Resources minister also noted that Strata (Pty) Ltd held the majority of the licences, but were not active due to the ongoing court case, in which they were challenging the ministry’s decision to cancel the licences due to non-performance.

Kanye South MP wanted to know how many companies were given licences for prospecting activities in the CKGR in the last ten years and how prospecting activities in the CKGR had impacted on Basarwa, the vegetation, the water table and wildlife.

Mr Kesupile also wanted the minister to state the names of the company or companies that were in search of the coalbed methane in the CKGR and what the Environmental Impact Assessment reports stated in addressing risks to the environment due to prospecting and/or extraction of the coalbed methane. ENDS