Go-ahead for mining on ten West Coast beaches, South Africa
South Africa’s Environment Minister Barbara Creecy has dismissed most of the appeals against the approval in 2019 of vastly expanded beach mining operations on the West Coast north of the Olifants River.
China’s search for sand is destroying Mozambique’s pristine beaches
The community of Nagonha in northern Mozambique sits on a tall dune with lush greenery on the one side, and a turquoise Indian ocean on the other. It should have been the kind of unspoiled landscape that Mozambique’s growing tourism industry is beginning to take advantage of. Instead, a Chinese mining company has irrevocably tarnished the scenery, and people’s lives.
Shark Mystery: Where Have South Africa’s Great Whites Gone?
The world’s most famous sharks are the great whites off Cape Town, featured in the popular “Air Jaws” series. But now these sharks have mostly gone missing, and some experts blame a fishery for depleting the smaller sharks that the great whites feed on.
Riddle of the sands: the truth behind stolen beaches and dredged islands
The insatiable demand of the global building boom has unleashed an illegal market in sand. Gangs are now stealing pristine beaches to order and paradise islands are being dredged and sold to the construction industry.
Jobless Cape Coast youth venture into illegal beach sand winning; Ghana
The youth at Bakaano, a suburb of Cape Coast, have taken to illegal mining due to the unavailability of jobs.
It’s not just Xolobeni: What the Australian mining company did in the Western Cape; South Africa
The Australian mining company seeking the right to mine in Xolobeni in the Eastern Cape, has been lashed for its treatment of a community in the Western Cape where it has been accused of breaching its legal obligations.
Sand Mining in Uganda Poses a Serious Threat to the Environment
Environmentalists in Uganda say an important wetland that runs along a highway linking the capital city of Kampala to the southwestern town of Masaka is being harmed by aggressive dredging to extract sand.
Asia’s hunger for sand takes a toll on endangered species
Across Asia, rampant extraction of sand for construction is eroding coastlines and scouring waterways. t’s a global concern, but especially acute in Asia, where all trends show that urbanization and the region’s big construction boom are going to continue for many years.
South Africa: Setback for Giant West Coast Mine Project
The government has rejected an application by a controversial Australian mining company for a huge expansion of its existing Tormin heavy mineral sands mine near Koekenaap on the West Coast. Tormin has been in operation since October 2013, produces heavy sands minerals from the beach.