TRANSWORLD ENERGY AND MINERALS RESOURCES - XOLOBENI

The AmaDiba Crisis Committee (ACC) successfully appealed a mining right granted to Transworld Energy and Minerals Resources (TEM) for titanium-bearing minerals in the Xolobeni area. While the Minister of Mineral Resources withdrew the right on 6 June 2011 due to outstanding environmental issues, the decision is considered interim as TEM may still address these concerns. The ACC's appeal highlighted several critical failures, including the location of the project within a Marine Protected Area, the lack of a community resolution, and a flawed public consultation process. The three-year delay in the Minister's decision caused significant prejudice to the community, hindering an existing eco-tourism project and creating internal social conflict.

• The Minister of Mineral Resources withdrew the mining right on 6 June 2011, but this is an interim decision that allows Transworld Energy and Minerals Resources (TEM) to address outstanding environmental concerns within 90 days to reach a 'final determination'.
• The proposed mining project targeted 139 million tonnes of titanium-bearing minerals, including rutile, leucoxene, zircon, and ilmenite, in the Kwanyana Block of the Xolobeni tenement area.
• The AmaDiba Crisis Committee (ACC) based its appeal on several legal and procedural grounds, including the fact that the Xolobeni area is part of the Pondoland Marine Protected Area, where commercial mining is prohibited under the Protected Areas Act 57 of 2003 and the Marine Living Resources Act 18 of 1998.
• The ACC alleged that the public consultation process was 'fatally flawed', citing insufficient notice, failure to disclose the number of people requiring relocation, and the absence of a Community Resolution authorizing the mining.
• A nearly three-year delay by the Minister in deciding the appeal prejudiced the AmaDiba community by preventing the development of an eco-tourism project and causing internal community conflict between mining proponents and those favoring tourism.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (n.d.). TRANSWORLD ENERGY AND MINERALS RESOURCES - XOLOBENI. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Transworld-Energy-and-Minerals-Resources-Xolobeni.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. TRANSWORLD ENERGY AND MINERALS RESOURCES - XOLOBENI. n.d. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Transworld-Energy-and-Minerals-Resources-Xolobeni.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=TRANSWORLD ENERGY AND MINERALS RESOURCES - XOLOBENI |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Transworld-Energy-and-Minerals-Resources-Xolobeni.pdf?x21779 |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centreforenvironmentalrightsndtransworld, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{TRANSWORLD ENERGY AND MINERALS RESOURCES - XOLOBENI}}, institution = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Transworld-Energy-and-Minerals-Resources-Xolobeni.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }