New Empangeni quarry on the cards
A proposed quarry outside Empangeni would uplift the rural Ndabayakhe community
MASA Mzantsi Cement has applied for mining rights to develop a quarry south of Empangeni that could help boost the Ndabayakhe community.
A scoping report of the Petlands Aggregate Quarry submitted to the Department of Mineral Resources, indicates it would have various positive socio-economic impacts on its host community, while providing up to 28 direct job positions and several indirect work opportunities.
The application states it ‘guarantees’ local staffing and numerous benefits through the implementation of the social and labour plan prescriptions, which include skills development, capacity building and local economic development.
‘Unemployment is high,’ states the report. ‘Any job opportunities and positive socio-economic spin-offs through mining cannot be underestimated.’
However, the site is still privately owned by a sugarcane farmer, with negotiations underway regarding compensation by way of sale of land, or rental based on product sales against the sugarcane production on that land.
If all loose ends are tied up for Masa Mzantsi, over 12 hectares of sugarcane farmland will be turned into a quarry pit producing nearly 13 million tonnes of product over the next 44 years.
Quarrying will occur as a drill and blast operation, with faces of nine to 11 metres high and a blast size of 20 000 to 30 000 tons per blast approximately once a month.
‘To date, no adverse responses to this (proposal) have been received, but any such comments which are received during further correspondence and at the proposed public open days will be reported on in the upcoming EMP (Environmental Management Plan),’ the report says.
The Pentlands quarry will be the second pit in the area after Lafarge’s Ninians Aggregates situated on the R102 between Empageni and Felixton.
