Green groups say the Resgen Boikarabelo project in South Africa will lead to worker exploitation and hinder Paris commitments

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Environmental action groups including Greenpeace, Oxfam and GetUp have signed an open letter to Australia’s export credit agency asking it not to fund a controversial new coal mine.



The groups say a loan to the proposed Resgen Boikarabelo mine in South Africa will lead to human rights abuses and hinder Australia’s Paris commitment to keep global warming below 2C.

The 9,000-hectare open-cut mine is currently being considered by the export credit agency, Efic, with submissions having closed in October last year. Once complete, the mine is expected to produce 32m tonnes of coal a year, with Resgen claiming to have production contracts for the first seven years of operation, and partial contracts for the next 30.



“If Efic were to fund this project, it would clearly be inconsistent with Australia’s obligations to act on climate change,” the letter reads.

“Human rights abuses in the South African coal industry are rampant. Reports by affected communities have documented black lung disease amongst coal workers, noise and air pollution, groundwater contamination, loss of farmland due to pollution, and land acquisition.”

An official submission to Efic from the Australia Institute and the Jubilee Australia Research Centre said it was “hard to see any possible justification” for Australian taxpayers to fund the project.

“The assessment of environmental and social impacts is below standards expected in Australia and if linked to construction of a power station, Efic would be violating an [OECD working group] agreement not to fund new coal-fired generation,” it reads.

“Even if Boikarabelo is financially viable it is unlikely to be in Australia’s interests as it will compete with Australia-based coal mines ... if ‘successful’ the project will increase greenhouse gas emissions in South Africa or abroad, contributing to climate change.”

The mine’s accompanying infrastucture and train line is also expected to open up access to the Waterberg coalfield, thought to hold 40% of South African’s coal reserves. Resgen estimates the untapped region could hold as much as 75bn tonnes.

In order to keep global temperature rise to less than 2C, the Australia Institute reports recommends the Waterberg coalfield must be left untouched.

Boikarabelo – which means “responsibility” in the Sotho language – is described by Resgen as a “world-class, low-cost, open-cut coal mine”.

The proposed site lies in the country’s northern Limpopo province, which frequently suffers droughts and ranks highly on government surveys of national poverty.



“Mining in South Africa has a negative impact on women,” says Lorraine Kakaza, a South African activist.

“At the environmental level, the air that they breathe is polluted. The soil, it’s no longer fertile, they can’t plant, they can’t do anything. They lose their loved ones at an early age due to the gasses – the carbon dioxide they inhale almost every day.”

ActionAid’s Lucy Manne said the letter was a “warning to the Australian government that Australians are paying attention to how our dollars are being invested abroad”.

“While the nation’s eyes are on the future of the Adani coal mine, Efic and the Australian government are quietly considering using tax-payer dollars to fund a new coal mine in South Africa. Efic thought this proposal would slip by unnoticed, but this letter shows the outrage they can expect.”

Other signatories to the letter include the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Australian Conservation Foundation, Jubilee Australia, the Wilderness Society and the SEED Indigenous Youth Climate Network.

In January, the Coalition proposed an amendment to the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Act that would allow Efic to directly finance businesses that substantially manufactured overseas, which the Australia Institute said would hasten the “offshoring of Australian manufacturing”.