Power station for Bushveld?

The face of the Bushveld north of the Soutpansberg is set to change forever, should government, mining companies and private enterprises have their way.

The latest development venture is the proposed Mutsho Power Project. The project is to be located on the remainder of the farm Du Toit 563 and remainder of the farm Vrienden 589, located approximately 43km south of Musina and 40km north of Louis Trichardt in the Musina municipal area.

Mutsho Power (Pty) Ltd’s project comprises the construction and operation of a baseload coal-fired combustion power station and associated infrastructure, including a power station with up to a 600MW capacity on a footprint of approximately 350ha in extent. The power will be generated by utilising supercritical circulating fluidised bed boiler technology, making use of direct dry (air) cooling methods. It will also make use of dry ash disposal methods with a zero-liquid effluent discharge facility.

According to the Mutsho Project EIA report, coal for the power station will be sourced from the Makhado Colliery, to be developed approximately 20km south-east of the project site and transferred to site via road or rail.

Environmental consultants Savannah Environmental this week advertised Mutsho Power (Pty) Ltd’s intent (see page 11) by inviting residents to take part in their Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and public participation process. A copy of the report is available for review and comment at the Musina/Nancefield Public Library (3 Ralph Small Street, Nancefield), the Louis Trichardt Public Library (Erasmus Street, Louis Trichardt), and the Makhado Centre of Learning (Tanga Farm, along D745) from 13 April to 15 May 2018.  The report is also available for download on www.savannahsa.com.  The due date for written comment is 15 May 2018.

Bushveld residents might be thinking to themselves: What next? In 2016, amidst huge fanfare, Cabinet approved the Makhado/Musina Special Economic Zone (SEZ). Shortly afterwards the Minister of Trade and Industry, Rob Davies, announced that an investment of more than R40 billion was expected for the proposed SEZ for the establishment of an energy and metallurgical industrial park.

A Chinese based company Shenzhen Hoi Mor Resources Holdings Ltd signed a cooperation agreement regarding the Musina/Makhado SEZ with the Limpopo Economic Development Agency (LEDA) in Beijing. The company stated that it aims to establish an energy and metallurgical industrial park, consisting of power, coking, ferrochrome, ferromanganese, ferrosilicon, pig-iron metallurgy, lime, steel and stainless-steel plants on an 8 000ha piece land near Mopane. The project was purportedly said to create 20 800 local jobs.

As with any development, there were those who supported it and those who opposed it. At this stage, however, the hype about the SEZ has died down with not much happening on the ground.

Then there is mining company Coal of Africa’s attempt to get their Makhado Colliery into production. The company has since changed their name to MC Mining. At the end of last year the company announced that they would apply for certain amendments to their existing environmental impact assessment (EIA) report through a subsidiary company, called Baobab Mining and Exploration Pty Limited (Baobab), to make provision for road transport, rather than railway transport. Road transport, instead of railway transport, needed to be considered as a result of the downsizing of the Makhado Mine now known as Makhado Lite. According to estimates, this would mean that a coal truck will be travelling on the N1 to Musina every 21 minutes, 24 hours per day, if the mine becomes operational.

At present the Makhado Project holds an executable mining right. At the beginning of the year, all that stood in the way of the mine becoming operational was the final authorisation of the amendments to the EIA report and the lifting of a suspension on the water-use licence. Indications are that the mine will come into operation despite pressure groups like the Vhembe Mineral Resources Forum trying to put a stop to the activities.

At this stage it would seem that all these proposed developments will eventually become reality, despite public objections. It is obvious that there is something bigger at play and that pressure group’s resistance would end up being nothing more than a futile exercise.

Why, you might ask?

The answer is easy. All the above developments in some way or the other influence each other. They are not isolated ventures. They all seem to form part of a bigger singular picture and that is to see the area north of the Soutpansberg develop into an economic hub. According to Savannah Environmental, the Makhado Lite colliery, situated some 20km away, will supply the Mutsho Power Project with coal. Official documentation also indicate that site selection of the Mutsho Power Project was specifically done to be in close proximity to the proposed Makhado/Musina SEZ.

It remains to be seen how landowners and residents would react to this latest proposed development venture. In the meantime, Savannah Environmental has invited all interested and affected parties to attend an open house meeting to be held on Thursday, 3 May, from 15:00 to 18:00 at the Makhado Public Library in Louis Trichardt.

Date:22 April 2018

By: Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

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