{"id":181,"date":"2026-07-15T17:58:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T15:58:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.magaliesbergvalley.org\/?page_id=181"},"modified":"2026-10-21T11:28:39","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T09:28:39","slug":"appeals-against-prospecting","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.magaliesbergvalley.org\/?page_id=181","title":{"rendered":"The Conservancy at work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"prospectingapplications\" class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading alignwide\" id=\"appeals-prospecting\">Appeals against prospecting applications<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns alignwide is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-7387b849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Conservancy has been involved in submitting appeals to the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment against two applications for prospecting rights for gold in Skeerpoort. As of July 2026, these are still in process. No prospecting activities can legally go ahead while the appeals are in process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-montserrat-font-family has-x-large-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"prospectingapplications\"><strong>Why prospecting and mining cannot be allowed here<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Water: <\/strong>There is NO Municipal Water in Skeerpoort and the surrounding areas. The pools of underground water on which the area depends for borehole supply are called Aquifers \u2013 These Aquifers CANNOT be allowed to be damaged or contaminated by drilling for prospecting or mining. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><br><strong>Pollution and damage:<\/strong> Water pollution &#8211; from drilling and from chemicals used; Noise pollution, from drilling (24 hours a day, 7 days a week); Air pollution \u2013 from the drilling proposed and from the increased traffic; Road damage \u2013 more large trucks on the road will cause increased damage to the infrastucture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><br><strong>Chemical contamination:<\/strong> <strong>Cyanide &amp; Mercury <\/strong>is used to extract gold from the rock. These chemicals could find their way into local rivers, poisoning the aquatic life and surrounding flora. These chemicals could also make their way into the food chain and into the sources of drinking water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"303\" height=\"228\" src=\"https:\/\/www.magaliesbergvalley.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/mine_diagram.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-72\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.magaliesbergvalley.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/mine_diagram.jpg 303w, https:\/\/www.magaliesbergvalley.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/mine_diagram-300x226.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 303px) 100vw, 303px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"316\" height=\"239\" src=\"https:\/\/www.magaliesbergvalley.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/mecury_hand.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.magaliesbergvalley.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/mecury_hand.jpg 316w, https:\/\/www.magaliesbergvalley.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/mecury_hand-300x227.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 316px) 100vw, 316px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"313\" height=\"223\" src=\"https:\/\/www.magaliesbergvalley.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/amd_image.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.magaliesbergvalley.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/amd_image.jpg 313w, https:\/\/www.magaliesbergvalley.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/amd_image-300x214.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 313px) 100vw, 313px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Appeals against prospecting applications The Conservancy has been involved in submitting appeals to the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment against two applications for prospecting rights for gold in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-181","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magaliesbergvalley.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magaliesbergvalley.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magaliesbergvalley.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magaliesbergvalley.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magaliesbergvalley.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=181"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.magaliesbergvalley.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":371,"href":"https:\/\/www.magaliesbergvalley.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/181\/revisions\/371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magaliesbergvalley.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}