Save the Sanwild Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa

Orphaned elephants caught in the middle.
Bobby Jordan   Sunday Times

A standoff between a gold mining company and a herd of orphan elephants at a wildlife sanctuary has landed up in court and prompted an international outcry.
Conservationists are trying to stop the Maranda Mining company from scaring animals by blasting for gold inside the SanWild Wildlife Sanctuary in Limpopo.
Each side accuses the other of operating illegally.
At the heart of the row is a herd of orphan jumbos that have been shunted around several times since the herd was first targeted for culling in the Kruger National Park in the early 1990s.
After the cull, several orphans were relocated to the Thukela Biosphere Reserve near Weenen in KwaZulu-Natal , but a land claim in 2006 meant the herd had to be moved again %u2014 this time to SanWild near Tzaneen, where they live among animals including lions, leopards, buffalos, rhinos, wild dogs, warthogs and giraffes.
Gold mining is due to begin this year, which SanWild claims could spell disaster not only for the elephants but for the entire sanctuary, which is internationally renowned and receives funding from the Brigitte Bardot Foundation.
SanWild director Louise Joubert said:  We have fought tooth and nail to get one of the largest animal sanctuaries in the world established in South Africa. It has been blood, sweat and tears. You cannot expect me to sit by and let a company come in and jeopardise the future of these animals and destroy our ecotourism operation, which we are working very hard to build up.
But Maranda Mining, which obtained mining rights to the property from the previous landowner, says in addition to unpredictable commodity prices it now has to worry about interference from wild animals.
The standoff has already gone one round in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, where Maranda Mining last year won an urgent order allowing them access to the property. The order was upheld on appeal. Now SanWild is lodging an objection with the Department of Minerals and Energy against Maranda mining permit and is bringing a high court action to compel the department to respond.
Joubert, who says SanWild has all the permits it needs, said:  The writing is on the wall that more and more the responsibility for conservation will become that of the private sector as the needs of humans place a growing demand on government resources.
Maranda mining said the rumpus was jeopardising its business. The company, which employs about 200 people, said the mined area would take up less than 2ha of the approximately 6000ha reserve. Additional prospecting activities would be limited to an adjoining 20ha area, the company said.  Basically we were here first, said Bryant, who lashed out at Joubert for her aggressive approach. He said the farm in question, called Zonderwater, was unsuitable for wildlife ranching.
The standoff drew comment from international animal welfare expert Michael Kennedy of the Humane Society International in Australia one of SanWild  major donors. and is making its concern known to the SA authorities, and will inform our colleague conservation organisations around the world of the sanctuary  plight, Kennedy said. More than 60 elephant are due to be removed from a densely populated area in Malawi after killing ten villagers there, Sapa reports. this week. They elephant will be tranquilized, loaded into vehicles and transported to a wildlife reserve. Malawi is grappling with increasing elephant-human conflict due to human population growth.
For the full article go to  http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thetimes.co.za%2FNews%2FArticle.aspx%3Fid%3D1013367&h=ae2f62ceb4bab422d022e796f2824951

Louise Joubert founder & director of Sanwild     http://sanwild.com

While the decision (right or wrong) by a government department can be taken lightly by disinterested officials not too interested in applying their minds it has the potential to destroy ordinary South African citizens' lives, jobs and dreams. It further has the potential to ruin conservation initiatives by the private sector in whose hands more and more responsibilities will be placed for conserving and protecting Africa wild places and animals while governments will need to deal with the growing demand of increasing populations. Should entrepreneurs accept this status quo or should we fight back to ensure that the environment is protected for future generations?
The permit to do open cast mining in the SanWild Wildlife Sanctuary was issued without following due process. Despite repeated requests to DME (Department of Minerals and Energy) to review the process and merits on which the permit was granted has fallen on deaf ears now for more than a year. This effectively means that SanWild knows has to bring a legal application to compel them to react and should they then come back to us / or not come back to us and say NO (they are not prepared to review the case and withdraw the permit) we need to bring a further legal application to the court to review the permit on the Public Administrative Justice Act and ask the court to review the issuing of the permit.

"Do we really need to mine minerals at the expense of animals' lives? Gold and minerals will forever be in the ground...animals are a little more sensitive, and when they are gone...then what?" Nora Olquin  (Tacoma, WA)   So True......

Orphaned elephants caught in the middle.
Bobby Jordan   Sunday Times

A standoff between a gold mining company and a herd of orphan elephants at a wildlife sanctuary has landed up in court and prompted an international outcry.
Conservationists are trying to stop the Maranda Mining company from scaring animals by blasting for gold inside the SanWild Wildlife Sanctuary in Limpopo.
Each side accuses the other of operating illegally.
At the heart of the row is a herd of orphan jumbos that have been shunted around several times since the herd was first targeted for culling in the Kruger National Park in the early 1990s.
After the cull, several orphans were relocated to the Thukela Biosphere Reserve near Weenen in KwaZulu-Natal , but a land claim in 2006 meant the herd had to be moved again %u2014 this time to SanWild near Tzaneen, where they live among animals including lions, leopards, buffalos, rhinos, wild dogs, warthogs and giraffes.
Gold mining is due to begin this year, which SanWild claims could spell disaster not only for the elephants but for the entire sanctuary, which is internationally renowned and receives funding from the Brigitte Bardot Foundation.
SanWild director Louise Joubert said:  We have fought tooth and nail to get one of the largest animal sanctuaries in the world established in South Africa. It has been blood, sweat and tears. You cannot expect me to sit by and let a company come in and jeopardise the future of these animals and destroy our ecotourism operation, which we are working very hard to build up.
But Maranda Mining, which obtained mining rights to the property from the previous landowner, says in addition to unpredictable commodity prices it now has to worry about interference from wild animals.
The standoff has already gone one round in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, where Maranda Mining last year won an urgent order allowing them access to the property. The order was upheld on appeal. Now SanWild is lodging an objection with the Department of Minerals and Energy against Maranda mining permit and is bringing a high court action to compel the department to respond.
Joubert, who says SanWild has all the permits it needs, said:  The writing is on the wall that more and more the responsibility for conservation will become that of the private sector as the needs of humans place a growing demand on government resources.
Maranda mining said the rumpus was jeopardising its business. The company, which employs about 200 people, said the mined area would take up less than 2ha of the approximately 6000ha reserve. Additional prospecting activities would be limited to an adjoining 20ha area, the company said.  Basically we were here first, said Bryant, who lashed out at Joubert for her aggressive approach. He said the farm in question, called Zonderwater, was unsuitable for wildlife ranching.
The standoff drew comment from international animal welfare expert Michael Kennedy of the Humane Society International in Australia one of SanWild  major donors. and is making its concern known to the SA authorities, and will inform our colleague conservation organisations around the world of the sanctuary  plight, Kennedy said. More than 60 elephant are due to be removed from a densely populated area in Malawi after killing ten villagers there, Sapa reports. this week. They elephant will be tranquilized, loaded into vehicles and transported to a wildlife reserve. Malawi is grappling with increasing elephant-human conflict due to human population growth.
For the full article go to  http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thetimes.co.za%2FNews%2FArticle.aspx%3Fid%3D1013367&h=ae2f62ceb4bab422d022e796f2824951

Louise Joubert founder & director of Sanwild     http://sanwild.com

While the decision (right or wrong) by a government department can be taken lightly by disinterested officials not too interested in applying their minds it has the potential to destroy ordinary South African citizens' lives, jobs and dreams. It further has the potential to ruin conservation initiatives by the private sector in whose hands more and more responsibilities will be placed for conserving and protecting Africa wild places and animals while governments will need to deal with the growing demand of increasing populations. Should entrepreneurs accept this status quo or should we fight back to ensure that the environment is protected for future generations?
The permit to do open cast mining in the SanWild Wildlife Sanctuary was issued without following due process. Despite repeated requests to DME (Department of Minerals and Energy) to review the process and merits on which the permit was granted has fallen on deaf ears now for more than a year. This effectively means that SanWild knows has to bring a legal application to compel them to react and should they then come back to us / or not come back to us and say NO (they are not prepared to review the case and withdraw the permit) we need to bring a further legal application to the court to review the permit on the Public Administrative Justice Act and ask the court to review the issuing of the permit.

"Do we really need to mine minerals at the expense of animals' lives? Gold and minerals will forever be in the ground...animals are a little more sensitive, and when they are gone...then what?" Nora Olquin  (Tacoma, WA)   So True......

care of zodwa.zitha@dme.gov.za

Dear Minister Shabangu,

Re: Mining in the SanWild Wildlife Sanctuary, Limpopo

As a wildlife lovers and conservationists we are writing to you as we are extremely concerned about the possible demise of the SanWild Wildlife Sanctuary in Limpopo Province.

We are aware that Maranda Mining Company Pty Ltd has been granted general mining and further prospecting rights, by the Department of Minerals and Energy (DME), on 2600 hectares of land owned and occupied by the SanWild Wildlife Trust, a registered non-profit animal welfare charity.  We understand that the mining permit has been issued without a single representative from the DME actually visiting the proposed mining site or without any consultation with the SanWild Wildlife Trust.

It is therefore clear that stakeholder consultations have been grossly inadequate, and that valid environmental impact assessments were not completed prior to the permit being issued.  Maranda Mining Company%u2019s EMP is flimsy and totally flawed.  We are further aware that three appeals have been lodged by the SanWild Wildlife Trust with your department without any response from your department.  Please find herewith relevant appeal description and our department reference numbers, dates lodge and fees paid by SanWild.

• 8 April 2008.  DME Reference number 8/7/1/10/554 Amount paid R500.00 Appeal against granting of permit and also prospecting rights on limited area.
• 4 June 2008 DME Reference number 8/7/1/10/565 Amount paid R500.00 Appeal against the issuing of further prospecting rights over the entire 2600 hectares of Leydsdorp Town lands.
• 3 June 2009 DME Reference number 8/7/1/10/755 Amount paid R500.00 Appeal against the renewal of said mining permit.

We are appalled at the proposal to mine this critical wildlife reserve. The SanWild Wildlife Sanctuary is of immense local and global importance, and is recognised internationally for its essential role in rescuing, rehabilitating and protecting threatened African species and habitats. It contains over 4500 free roaming African animals that will be drastically impacted by the any mining activity.

Moreover, noise, drilling and mining operations will force SanWild to cancel their tourist safaris, effectively shutting down their only major source of income, other than donor funding. 

We are also appalled that an anti-poaching rangers training facility had to be put on ice as funds allocated by donors for the purpose of developing such a facility has now been used to fight an unnecessary legal battle as the permit should never have been issued.

The certain habitat destruction, and the associated impacts of mining on SanWild%u2019s funding, will make it very difficult for this unique sanctuary to keep operating. As such, any threats to its long term viability by mining or other inappropriate development must be strongly opposed.

The initial area of about 1.5 hectares Maranda wants to mine is only the beginning, as they have indicated and stated that they will continue to develop further mine sites in the reserve.  The area they intend mining is ecologically very sensitive but in addition to this, it is the core territory of a recently rescued herd of African elephants and is also home to elusive creatures such as aardvark, pangolin and leopards.

Once mining starts - i.e. blasting, crushing, 30 tons trucks driving in and out every half hour, wild animals will move out of the area no matter what you do. Additional dust and noise pollution will result in a large area becoming void of all animal life. Creatures such as klipspringer and mountain reedbuck and also very large pythons' home will be destroyed as they life in the koppies (small hills) that will be affected and destroyed by the open cast mine.

The production of a single 18 Karat gold ring weighing less than an ounce generates at least 20 tons of mine waste, containing cyanides, mercury , lead, arsenic and lead.   These kinds of toxic wastes need to be securely contained and isolated to prevent damage, from leaking into the underground or surface water ... a real danger of land contamination. Once gold mining has taken place rehabilitation is not possible as the poisons are now on the surface.  SanWild will then be left with many hectares of non productive unusable land. 

We therefore urge you to immediately revoke the mining permit granted to Maranda Mining Company as a matter of the utmost priority.

We have so few places left for our wild life.  Please verify if in this particular case we really do need to mine minerals at the expense of animals' lives? SanWild truly does benefit people and animals and is sustainable.  Here both animals and people can build a bright future.  Gold and minerals will forever be in the ground, but our wildlife depends on our understanding and support.  If places like SanWild no longer exist; animals and people will loose the only place they can now call home%u2026%u2026

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and we await with anticipation your action on this matter.

Yours sincerely,