VEREENIGING — The Vaal Triangle, already burdened by some of the worst air quality in South Africa, is facing what residents are calling an existential threat: a proposed open-cast coal mine set to rise between schools, hospitals, and the homes of tens of thousands of people.

The project, driven by Glue Bay — a company owned by Canyon Coal, whose founder Vuslat Bayoglu is co-founder of Menar — has already obtained an environmental authority from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE). But the battle is far from over. Affected communities now have until 4 March 2026 to lodge a formal appeal, and they are mobilising fast.

"The war has not been won by Glue Bay. It is still busy — and all that we can do at this point is to participate, get the word out, and get government to listen to its people."

— Essop Sather, community activist and spokesperson for Vaal residents, speaking on JustGospel Radio

Digging Up the Past — Literally

The land earmarked for the Springfield and Redan Siding project is no stranger to coal extraction. The Springfield Colliery operated on the same site between 1934 and 1948 as underground mining before closing when coal reserves became uneconomical. Today, the surrounding suburbs of Roshnee, Arcon Park, Waldrift, Ramaphosa, Rustervaal, and Unitas Park have grown up around that history, housing retirees, young families, and small businesses who had no idea a new mine was coming.

What Glue Bay is proposing is fundamentally different from the original colliery: open-cast extraction, which involves large-scale surface blasting. In an area where residents are already reporting cracked foundations and structural instability a legacy attributed to the original underground workings, critics warn the consequences of surface blasting could be catastrophic.

"If you talk to people in the Arcon Park area, in Waldrift, there's instability in the ground currently. Walls are cracking. Everything is cracking. An open-cast mine involves blasting, and that blasting is going to cause further damage to infrastructure around the proposed mine — especially residential houses," Essop Sather explained during a broadcast on JustGospel Radio.

A Toxic Cocktail: Water, Air, and Acid

The environmental alarm bells extend well beyond structural damage. The Vaal Triangle already ranks among South Africa's most polluted airsheds. A 2017 report by a UK-based expert firm found that pollution from Eskom's coal-fired power stations kills more than 2,200 South Africans every year. Adding an open-cast mine, residents argue, would push the region over the edge.

Of particular concern is the proximity of a medical toxic waste landfill, situated approximately four kilometres from Roshni and Falcon Ridge. Residents fear that blasting operations could rupture the liner of the landfill, allowing toxic leachate to seep into already stressed groundwater systems. In a region gripped by a water crisis where many households have invested heavily in boreholes as an alternative to municipal supply contaminated groundwater would be devastating.

Acid mine drainage, a well-documented and long-term consequence of coal extraction, adds another layer of risk. Community representatives pointed to Mpumalanga and the eMalahleni area as a cautionary tale, where acid seepage has degraded water tables for over a century. The Vaal's wetlands, earth sanctuaries, and the Redan rock art heritage site — all within five kilometres of the proposed mine — face similar threats.

"Wherever there is a mine, there is acid seepage into the water table. It will be a devastation to our surrounding vegetation. People in the Vaal depend on water, and now they face consuming toxic waste from their own boreholes."

— Essop Sather

550 Jobs — For Whom?

Glue Bay has marketed the mine as an economic stimulus, promising approximately 550 jobs. Community activists, however, are dismantling that figure with forensic scrutiny. Most of those positions, they argue, will require specialised mining skills not prevalent in the local labour pool, meaning workers will likely be imported from other provinces.

Meanwhile, the agricultural operations on the proposed mining land currently supporting an estimated 400 to 500 farm labourers and a network of small entrepreneurs who harvest and sell maize across the townships would be permanently erased. The arithmetic does not favour the community.

Property values in the affected areas present a further economic risk. Pensioners and retirees who invested their life savings into homes in Arcon Park, Sonland Park, and surrounding suburbs face the prospect of properties becoming unsellable. The local municipality, too, stands to lose significant rates, taxes, and utility revenues as residents potentially abandon the area.

A Process the Community Calls Flawed

The community's fight did not begin this week. Activists and residents have been engaging the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process since 2019, lodging objections during the scoping phase, the draft EIA, and the final EIA submission. Approximately 9,000 people registered as Interested and Affected Persons (IAPs).

Yet even that hard-won participation has been clouded by procedural concerns. Community representatives allege that the EIA consultants were "selective" in which areas were included in public participation sessions, potentially excluding communities most directly in harm's way. When the DFFE granted Glue Bay its environmental authority, registered IAPs were not directly circulated the full environmental impact report. Many only accessed the document via the DFFE website, and only on the Monday before the appeal deadline, leaving inadequate time for meaningful engagement with a complex, technical report.

The scope of the project also expanded since its original 2019 application. What began as a single development proposal for the Springfield and Redan siding areas grew, in 2023, to include a second project — the Vlak Fontein — extending the mining footprint further into the Falcon Ridge and Unity Park areas, across the R-59.

Roads, Bridges, and the R-59

The logistics of moving coal from the mine to market present yet another headache for residents. An overhead conveyor system or bridge crossing the R-59 has reportedly been mooted to transport coal from the mine on the left of the highway to the Transnet railway siding on the right. Meanwhile, heavy coal trucks would place severe strain on the R-82 — currently a single-lane two-way road — and the R-59, adding an estimated 20 to 30 minutes to daily commute times and compounding the morning school-run chaos for parents across Three Rivers, Roshni, Rustervaal, and surrounding areas.

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What Can Residents Do — and What Happens Next?

The community has engaged a lawyer to file a collective appeal to the DFFE on behalf of all 9,000 registered IAPs before the 4 March 2026 deadline. Residents are being urged to complete mandate forms authorising the legal team to act on their behalf. Funding the appeal will require community support, but activists are resolute.

Project CBNews will be following this story closely. If you are a registered IAP and have not yet submitted your mandate form, time is critically short. Contact your local community representative or search for the IAP mandate form through the DFFE public participation portal.

"It is money over health. It is profit over humanity. The people of the Vaal deserve dignity. They deserve to live in peace, in harmony, and in good health."

— Essop Sather