Distressed Mining Community of Ogies v Glencore Operations South Africa (Pty) Ltd and Others (8 July 2019)

This case study details a 2019 South Gauteng High Court judgment in which an application by the Distressed Mining Community of Ogies to stop Glencore Operations South Africa (Pty) Ltd from creating a nuisance through coal mine blasting was dismissed.

• The Distressed Mining Community of Ogies sought a court order to compel Glencore to mitigate the impacts of coal mine blasting, which the community claimed caused vibrations leading to "fear, unsettlement and often trauma in the children and people of Ogies", air and dust pollution causing respiratory illnesses, and water contamination that deprived a mosque and madrasah of running water.
• The community requested specific relief including reducing blasting activities to below 125 dB, installing and maintaining seismographs with calibration certificates every six weeks, banning blasting and sirens between 7 PM and 7 AM, installing automated dust suppression technology at the Goedgevonden and Tweefontein mines, and providing 10,000 litres of fresh drinking water to the Ogies Mosque.
• The court dismissed the application, ruling that the community failed to prove a material and unreasonable interference with their rights. The judge noted that while Glencore breached air blast maxima on four occasions over three months, this was "insufficient to constitute a regular and persistent abuse" given the overall compliance with statutory limits and the marginal nature of the exceptions.
• Glencore successfully defended the claim by providing expert evidence that blast levels were below the 134dB standard for air shockwaves and ground vibrations were below 25mm/s for formal houses and 12.5mm/s for informal structures. Additionally, dust levels were found to be below the 600 mg/m2 limit specified in Regulation 3 of the National Dust Control Regulations under the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act 39 of 2004.

APA

Danjelle (2019). Distressed Mining Community of Ogies v Glencore Operations South Africa (Pty) Ltd and Others (8 July 2019). Centre for Environmental Rights. https://cer.org.za/virtual-library/judgments/high-courts/distressed-mining-community-of-ogies-v-glencore-operations-south-africa-pty-ltd-and-others-8-july-2019

Chicago

Danjelle. Distressed Mining Community of Ogies v Glencore Operations South Africa (Pty) Ltd and Others (8 July 2019). Centre for Environmental Rights, 2019. https://cer.org.za/virtual-library/judgments/high-courts/distressed-mining-community-of-ogies-v-glencore-operations-south-africa-pty-ltd-and-others-8-july-2019.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Danjelle |title=Distressed Mining Community of Ogies v Glencore Operations South Africa (Pty) Ltd and Others (8 July 2019) |publisher=Centre for Environmental Rights |date=8 July 2019 |url=https://cer.org.za/virtual-library/judgments/high-courts/distressed-mining-community-of-ogies-v-glencore-operations-south-africa-pty-ltd-and-others-8-july-2019 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{danjelle2019distressed, author = {Danjelle}, title = {{Distressed Mining Community of Ogies v Glencore Operations South Africa (Pty) Ltd and Others (8 July 2019)}}, institution = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2019}, month = jul, url = {https://cer.org.za/virtual-library/judgments/high-courts/distressed-mining-community-of-ogies-v-glencore-operations-south-africa-pty-ltd-and-others-8-july-2019}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }