KAROO NEWS - Last August, the Advertiser reported about the sudden withdrawal of the huge uranium mining rights application by the Australian Peninsula Energy in the Karoo.

Since then more information has surfaced. Finally, there is a beginning of a public debate on this disruptive industry, and it shows results, although not yet here in Graaff-Reinet.

What looked like a surprise move two months ago appears now - as more information surfaces - more rationale. It now looks as if the company had to pre-empt an outright rejection of its applications for mining and prospecting rights by the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR). By its own admission the company felt that some of its applications like the one around Prince Albert were not “defendable” as they had not fulfilled several of the license conditions. But even more relevant was the public outcry over these faulty applications. Over 1,000 people registered as Interested and Affected Parties (IAPs). 

Together they handed in more than 300 submissions. These serious objections against uranium mining often were of a high standard, questioning the process itself but even more the shoddy science behind the application. These objections taken, together made it impossible for the DMR to let the application sail through unopposed.

Meanwhile, more and more people in the Karoo are waking up to the imminent threat of a disruptive industry at their doorsteps. The farming communities and their trade organisations, in particular, have understood the threat to their livelihood and viability. They are taking a fresh look at the application and ask how it would affect their business if the applications were granted. They realise that surface water flows are barely covered by the specialist studies. They found the groundwater modelling hardly convincing and against their “centuries of knowledge”. They experience first-hand the dust dispersal across the Karoo in their daily lives. And they are afraid that contamination in their main products like meat and wool would affect their future markets.

Farmers from the affected areas recently organised a major meeting in Beaufort West to get together in defence of the Karoo. Little did they expect that the nuclear industry would show up in full force, hijacking the agenda and derailing the farmer’s consultation.

They, however, realised finally what they are up against: A powerful alliance of nuclear and mining industry together with the ruling party and some people who stand to benefit substantially from the industry. Uranium mining is no longer seen as ”just another form of mining” but as part and parcel of the nuclear future of this country. And that is in serious debate right now.

In response, the pages of the Advertiser’s counterpart in Beaufort West, Die Courier, are suddenly filled with a lively debate about the pro and cons of this industry. Thanks to the local newspaper there is now a heated debate which is long overdue: Is uranium mining good or bad for the Karoo? Is it such a game-changer for the economy as the nuclear proponents want us to believe? Or is it the disaster the environmentalists fear for the Karoo? Will it create urgently needed jobs or will it destroy the few ones left in agriculture and tourism? What is the future we want for the Karoo?

That debate also needs to take place here in Graaff-Reinet. We may think we are sufficiently far away from the action, but that is likely to be a mistake. The environmental and economic impacts of uranium mining do not stop at the borders of the mining property. Contamination does not respect municipal demarcations. The newly established Dr Beyers Naudé Municipality would be directly affected by uranium mining in the Rietbron and the Aberdeen area. The latest Integrated Development Plan (IDP) reads very clearly: “uranium mining being feared as potentially the most destructive and dangerous in terms of the impacts they could have on the area’s scarce water resources, fragile environment, road networks, and pristine landscapes, human and animal health.” The new council should inform itself, stimulate debates and inform its citizens that such a disruptive industry is at our doorsteps. It is still time to make our voice heard. Until 1 November 2016 everyone can object in writing to tim@ferretmining.co.za

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