Hillendale Closure reveals some of Mtunzini's future

The documentation regarding the Hillendale Mine Closure reveals some of Mtunzini's unfortunate fate. Specifically the "Draft Risk Assessment and Mine Closure Plan": http://acerafrica.co.za/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=2&Itemid=9

* Is "Where required the chemical properties of soils will be amended by the application of fertilisers." really the only attention the soils require?
* Is one successful crop really enough: "Successful re-establishment of a commercial crop i.e. sugar cane."
* In the soon to be "safe post-mining area": "If the radiation level of the spilt compound is above the release limit, it will be
disposed of in the mining area."
* No real mitigation for "The cost of rehabilitation and closure of Hillendale mine"
* We are in 2011, three years later: "The outcomes and lessons learned from this
pilot plant were used as input into the design of the full scale bulk mixing plant which is scheduled for commissioning during the second quarter of 2008. Large scale covering of the open mining area will commence subsequently."

Interesting RISK:
"High expectations for jobs at Hillendale and Port Durnford communities"

Swaziland via Jozini

I should at least tell you about the parts where there was no camera. Like when we were confronted by the military and police who were very friendly considering it all. For the rest of it pictures speak better than words.
We picked up a friend from Amsterdam at the King Shaka international airport close to Durban in South Africa and stayed the night in Mtunzini which is the most amazingly beautiful part of Zululand. The next day set out to Swaziland.
Driving via Jozini I favoured a border post I have not tried before and since there is a road on the map that seems to cross the border, we followed the map. We should have been deterred by the flimsy cattle gate but I am so used to just letting myself through those. We had to penetrate thick bush over growing what may have been a road once. Thorns and branches screeching on the windows and enamel paint. I bundubash out the front of the car checking the road between the 100 meter + drop to the right and the ditches and rocks.
A spider web bounced me back and revealed the monster in the following images.
Spider up close

Know what kind of spider this is?

This big!

Stefan Silke behind the wheel there brought us here in his own monster which soon broke the web after I passed through underneath to get these shots. Stefan wants to travel all over Africa and got this Prado for the purpose. get in touch with him if you want to tag along for part of the way. The 4x4 gives you access to places you would not usually get to. Like this adventure/madventure for example.

Facebook sucks for making access to content difficult especially for non-subscribers and here is an attempt to share some of those images, let's see how it lasts. For now just click cancel if it prompts for a login:
The view from the road:


Shortly after that view and getting stuck on a big rock on the uphill from which we had to dig ourselves we reached the border consisting of a few huge rocks which I found impossible to move. An old cattle herd who looked like a bushman, short, suncrumpled and amazingly skinny, wedged himself in between the rock and the ground and leveraged them out of the way. His body the lever! Big red hairy spiders took a defensive stance towards us but I followed suit when he simply stuck his hands under the rock and we rolled it out of the way. The fact that my hand was there meant nothing when he simply bumped the rock over.
As we drive past the rocks and thank the old bushman, other men dressed in civilian clothes arrest us: "Hi. Do you know where you are?" ... "Do you know who we are?" ... "If it was dark, we would have shot you" ... and so on and so forth. So dear world do not use this road into Swaziland: Link to google map
We ended up being processed by military and police who in the end treated us much better than any European authority treat people subjected to them in difficult scenarios. It did take 4 hours and fortunately the police officer phoned our accommodation and ordered food which was ready when finally arrived there very late.

Once in Swaziland we were spoiled with landscapes, flowers, wild life, white wate r river rafting and the most delightfully hospitable human beings on the planet. I love Swaziland and the Swazi people.









More photos on public facebook album

Better photos on picasa:

Join us for Zini Music & Food Fest 2011 and see Mtunzini before it's a minedump

So we were sitting there, around the usual huge bonfire, in the gorgeous natural indigenous forest amphitheater which is the Traveler’s Bush Tavern again. The Milkyway looked like a big white cloud of stars and we were pretty much wallowing in bliss until the stark contrast of reality got pointed out by an Exxaro geologist.
Perhaps a few beers to many and her rant started: ”F@c# your little town. We are turning this place into a minedump. You think you will get a 100 meters between yourself and the mine. Forget it. We will give you 20. If you think a bit of water on the roads will keep the dust away, then you are in for a surprise. We will stick to the letter of the law, that doesn’t mean anything for you.”
Perhaps it was my question about the failure of rehabilitation project in Madagascar with similar mining that set her off or perhaps someone else mentioning the failure of the Richardsbay rehabilitation.
After she explained how little liability they have and that there is no reason for them to care, she carried on in an argument with some of the people there. Finally we agreed to disagree for the sake of the peace. But there you have it Mtunzini, this is how your mine’s employees feel about your town.
And to the rest of the world, join us for the upcoming Zini Music & Food Fest and share the beauty before the prettiest place in the world is turned into a big red minedump. facebook group

Blogging

Blogging is so embarrassing
You know there is no editor other than myself
I should perhaps not read posts again afterwords
Housekeeping, is what it is
The letters go on a walk about after they have been published
In the dark around disks in the dark bowels
of Google's cross referenced mass storage facilities

Upgrading Drupal 5 to Drupal 6

Once again Drupal is just such a treat to work with. The amount of documentation available on the internet is amazing. If the proprietory software houses learn something from this they may give the open source stables a go. Everything I needed was a Google search away. Thank you. I am especially grateful for this data migration script: http://drupal.org/node/311442
Porting Views manually was a bit painfull and well woth the exercise for what we got in return.
Thank you Drupal Community for being UBER AWESOME!

Merry Xmas madventurers!

So Stefan spoiled himself with a Landcruiser this Christamas. He's been back in South Africa for a while and plans to start up a company to do adventure tours and safaris, starting around here and spreading into the rest of Africa.
To this end he has also been recruiting Wesley and myself and together we have started to have quite some delightful fun. Fun, fun and more fun.
She's been baptised, The Monster and will take us to some of the more remote and hard to reach places and you should join us if you love fun and adventures. She is fitted out with leather seats and we could potentially squeeze in seven people on shorter trips or six for more comfort on the long hauls. We picked her up in Durban yesterday and it was the first time I enjoyed such a luxurious comfortable drive back to Mtunzini. Absolutely yummy. It is understandable why people get so attached to their luxury vehicles. Just switch on the Cruise control, sit back in generous space adjust the climate settings to your individual liking and enjoy the ride. Mind you, there is so much space, I am sure you could fit on my lap :).
If you are up for some adventurous fun, getting out into nature and enjoying this planet's rich bounty, then watch this space. We will suggest some routes and a schedule in the near future. We hope you will get in touch with us with your hopes and desires.
Merry Xmas madventurers! May your wildest dreams come true!

Mtunzini is being spoiled even before it becomes a mine dump

Mtunzini's beautiful forest view recently suffered a brutal assault. Some aesthetic genius decided to stick his erection right in what used to be an unspoiled view. Does the visually perceivable space not belong to everyone who can see it? What is next? Billboards? Sky scrapers?
I was shocked when I walked along my favourite trail marked as 'Chalets' through the forest into the grass field next to Nature's way backpackers on the way to the beach. Suddenly there was this big white blotch where there used to be green. As you can see in the accompanying photos. Shocked because I was led to believe that people in this town have some aesthetic values they set out to protect. And other people have had to break down their third story developments in the past. Strict restrictions are placed on everyone else. And somehow this entity managed to impose their tastelessness on us.
It's all part of of a larger aesthetic value decay. Since the mining industry in the body of Exxaro will start mining the space 100 meters from village, the whole place will look like a mine dump, so what difference does one boil make?