In the ongoing fight between Kumba Iron Ore and Imperial Crown Trading (ICT) over mining rights to a 21,4% share of Sishen mine, ICT have made serious allegations of poor environmental management by Kumba...Armando Costa, the director of Emkhankasweni Waste Management Services (EWMS), said he had seen many contraventions of the National Environmental Management Act at the mine before his contract was prematurely terminated. Costa claimed that the Sishen Iron Ore Company [part of Kumba] had not done an environmental impact assessment...nor did it follow an environmental management programme. But Kumba [said] that Costa was a "disgruntled contractor" who tried to blackmail the company...Costa said that he had personally witnessed the illegal dumping of hazardous hydrocarbon waste...by mine contractors and employees alike...[and] that the toxic waste at Sishen was even responsible for deaths in the area...Kumba denied the accusation of E. coli infections in the area and said there was no factual basis for the claim.