Government and companies must obtain “full and informed” consent from communities before granting mining rights, says judge By Zoë Postman In a landmark judgment on Thursday morning, the North Gauteng High Court ruled that the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) has to obtain “full and informed” consent from communities under customary law before granting mining rights to companies. Members of the Amadiba Crisis...

Interdict application to halt operations at the Somkhele coal mine thrown out with costs By Fred Kockott A high court bid to close down Somkhele coal mine on the border of Hlhulhuwe-iMfolozi Park in KwaZulu-Natal was yesterday dismissed with costs. The interdict application to halt operations at the Somkhele coal mine – one of the country’s largest suppliers of anthracite – was brought...

Punitive costs award against state By John Yeld The government’s hush-hush approval last year of a new coal mine within a critical biodiversity and water conservation area in Mpumalanga has been reversed by the North Gauteng High Court. In a judgment handed down in Pretoria on Thursday, an application by a coalition of eight environmental and social justice groups for the review and...

Court dismisses application with punitive costs By John Yeld The government has lost an attempt to side-step a High Court challenge to its controversial decision to allow coal mining in a protected area in the threatened Mpumalanga grasslands. On Wednesday, Judge Norman Davis of the Pretoria High Court dismissed the state’s application to postpone indefinitely a review application being brought by a coalition...