South Africa dismisses appeal against Coal of Africa's environment amendment

AIM-listed miner Coal of Africa has announced that the South African government has dismissed an appeal against the environmental authorisation amendment for its Makhado mine in the Limpopo Province.

Edna Molewa, the minister of the Department of Environmental Affairs, dismissed the appeal against the amendment which was lodged by the Vhembe Mineral Resources Stakeholders' Forum in August.

The company was granted the environmental authorisation amendment in July in accordance with the National Environmental Management Act, which made the Coal of Africa the holder of the authorisation for the project from Baobab Mining & Exploration, the legal entity for the project.

The environmental authorisation amendment also amends the validity period of the authorisation of the project for an additional five years.

Commenting on the decision, David Brown, chief executive of Coal, said, "We welcome this decision by the minister, and confirms the support of the provincial and national government for the Makhado project and its potential to drive meaningful socio-economic transformation. It is a further step in progressing the Makhado project towards construction.

"We have recently launched the Makhado Centre of Learning which aims to develop skills within communities to enable access to opportunities offered within the Makhado project.”

Coal of Africa is also in negotiations with the Department of Water and Sanitation to progress the appeal against the integrated water use licence for the Makhado project.

Shares in Coal of Africa were up 7.86% to 3.50p at 0939 GMT.