Tungsten Tussle

By: Darlene Creamer

Published on 19th June 2009
Updated 17th June 2009

Residents and landowners are fiercely opposing the development of a tungsten mine in the Verlorenvlei valley, which is said to be one of the Western Cape's largest natural wetlands along South Africa's West Coast. The Verlorenvlei valley is a Ramsar site in terms of the international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. The opposition to the development of an opencast mine has resulted in the formation of the Verlorenvleivallei Coalition, which says that opposition to the proposed mine stems from the people of the valley relying on underground water for irrigation. They fear that mining could spoil that source.