"Environmentalists win bid to stop mining in protected area for now", 28 June 2017

The Centre for Environmental Rights has won a court bid to immediately stop an Indian-owned company from mining in an environmentally protected area in Mpumalanga. The centre, representing a coalition of civil society organisations, lodged an urgent application against Atha-Africa Ventures Pty Ltd with the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria...[T]he court granted an order that Atha-Africa should give the Centre for Environmental Rights’ lawyers three weeks written notice before commencing with any mining or mining-related activities...The coalition is also involved in another litigation process against the various departments, including of the mineral resources department, that issued licences to the company relating to the mine as the area is inside the Mabola Protected Environment...Catherine Horsfield, the centre’s mining programme head, said the court victory was important because the coalition was challenging all the licences granted to the mine, and both parties were also disputing what licences mine would require...However, despite disputing with the Centre for Environmental Rights over approvals, the company said, in response to City Press that it could not give a new time frame on when they would be commencing pre-construction works because it was awaiting approvals from various departments. [See here for more information].