[Debate] (Fwd) Indian Ocean tragedies: MT Phoenix to drown; KZN North Coast to be mined

[Patrick Bond]

(As for the Phoenix - background/pics here: 
http://ccs.ukzn.ac.za/default.asp?11,61,3,2365 - "It failed to comply 
with almost every international standard and should not have even been 
allowed to set sail from Nigeria. However, he revealed that cases like 
this had appeared to become a pattern as the economic climate suffered" 
... and ... “It’s not just the valuable prawn and fish nursery. If 
mining went ahead, it could affect the marine ecology of the entire 
North Coast.”)

Tuesday, August 30, 2011 4:24:37 PM
Scuttle plan for grounded tanker

August 30 2011 at 03:24pm

Bronwyn Fourie

The tanker Phoenix, which ran aground on the rocks at Sheffield Beach 
and has attracted crowds of curious bystanders since July 26, is 
destined for a watery grave.

It will disappear below the waves by the end of the week. Maritime 
officials are preparing to refloat it, then tow it almost 80km out to 
sea before sinking it.

The South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) plans to involve the 
South African National Defence Force in the scuttling effort, which 
could see the vessel used as target practice in order to sink it, 
possibly as deep as 2 000m.

The operation, which included clearing the ship of fuels and other 
environmentally dangerous substances, has already cost about $4.25 
million (R29.8m). This excludes the direct costs incurred by Samsa and 
the legal costs to trace the vessel’s owners. The overall cost will only 
be known once the Phoenix has been successfully scuttled.

Yesterday, Sobantu Tilayi, the executive head at Samsa’s Centre for 
Shipping Services, said the Phoenix was initially to have been refloated 
today.

However, the tide and swells which, combined, have to be enough to take 
it off the rocks, are only expected to be at optimum levels towards the 
end of the week.

Once it is off the rocks, the 125m steel vessel will be pulled, in an 
almost upright position (because of flooding in the engine room), about 
78km out to sea, south-east of Durban.

The nearest marine protected area will be Aliwal Shoal. However, this is 
Samsa’s best-case scenario as the vessel could sink before it reaches 
this point as it will take on water while being towed. If this happens, 
the Department of Environmental Affairs has indicated three other points 
closer to shore at which the vessel can be safely sunk.

Captain Saroor Ali, Samsa’s regional manager for the east coast, said 
the Phoenix would be pulled very slowly, at about two or three nautical 
miles an hour, to prevent it flooding too quickly or breaking up.

A skeleton crew will be on board during the transportation, but in the 
event of severe flooding, the crew will be urgently disembarked. The 
trip from Sheffield Beach to the Phoenix’s final resting spot should 
take about 24 hours.

If efforts to refloat the Phoenix are not successful, maritime officials 
will “go back to the drawing board” and see where more money can be 
obtained for further operations.

“Even if we can move her 100m then we could just leave her there and 
wait for the waves to break her up after 10 years. She poses no danger 
to the environment but would just have to be an ugly neighbour.”

He also explained that the Phoenix had been in an “appalling” condition 
when it ran into trouble off East London at the beginning of July. It 
failed to comply with almost every international standard and should not 
have even been allowed to set sail from Nigeria.

However, he revealed that cases like this had appeared to become a 
pattern as the economic climate suffered, adding that there were many 
more like it in South African waters in the winter seasons.

The difference with the Phoenix was that it was in view of the public 
and had been brought to its attention.
Although there had been offers to buy the vessel and sell it for scrap, 
Samsa decided to sink it as the costs for a potential buyer to keep it 
afloat while cutting it up for scrap would outweigh the metal’s value.

***
KZN coast mining fears

August 29 2011 at 04:25pm

INLSA

Tony Carnie

tony.carnie at inl.co.za

THE FUTURE of the marine ecology of the entire northern KwaZulu-Natal 
coast could be placed in jeopardy by plans to scour the sea for heavy 
minerals and gemstones, say critics of the proposed venture.

The latest Zululand application for mine prospecting, for the mouth of 
the Tugela River, has triggered alarm bells about the safety of a rich 
fish and prawn nursery ground.

The application has raised fears that the discovery of mineral deposits 
could lead to huge undersea trenches and opencast mining operations, 
disrupting a unique, complex sea food chain linked to the marine ecology 
of the entire northern KZN coast.

The application to prospect in a block almost 50km long and 22km wide 
has been lodged by Fast Pace Trade and Invest 58 (Pty) Ltd.

According to geologist Ian Basson from the Western Cape, he and 
University of KwaZulu-Natal geology lecturer Ron Uken, Durban geologist 
Damian Smith and black empowerment mining services group Siyakhula Sonke 
Corporation are shareholders, with 25 percent each.

Siyakhula’s chief executive is former Anglo Platinum transformation head 
Fred Arendse and the business development director is Champ Tekiso, a 
former assistant manager at PwC. Siyakhula also has interests in Redpath 
Mining and Sekgwa Mining Services.

Apart from gems such as garnet, the company is looking for heavy 
minerals such as rutile, ilmenite, zircon and iron ore, which are also 
mined nearby by Richards Bay Minerals and Exxaro.

If mining went ahead, it would be the first underwater mining venture 
for heavy minerals off the South African coast, although similar mining 
is done off the Australian and South American coasts.

The company does not have any record or experience in offshore mining, 
although some of its members have done extensive geological research and 
prospecting work for companies such as Richards Bay Minerals. They have 
also been involved in exploration or research at the Rossing uranium 
mine in Namibia, and gold and diamond mining in Tanzania and Botswana.

The application is restricted to prospecting rather than mining, but if 
large quantities of heavy minerals or gemstones were found, this could 
trigger a major controversy about the short-term benefits of mining as 
opposed to the long-term health and productivity of a nationally 
important marine environment.

Rudy van der Elst, director of the Oceanographic Research Institute in 
Durban, said the prospect of undersea mining on the Tugela Banks was of 
“major concern”.

“It’s not just the valuable prawn and fish nursery. If mining went 
ahead, it could affect the marine ecology of the entire North Coast.”

Environmental consultants acting for Fast Pace advertised the 
application two weeks ago and want written feedback before Thursday.

Van der Elst said the institute had asked for the company’s 
environmental management plan, but had not seen it yet.

“We have indicated that the notice period is too short. You can’t have 
such a tight schedule, particularly when we have not been provided with 
adequate information to comment properly.”

Van der Elst said he was unaware of similar ventures off South Africa.

Depending on the methods, mining could stir up clouds of sand and 
sediments that could have serious effects on the marine environment.

Bianca McKelvey, conservation manager of the Wildlife and Environment 
Society, noted that the Tugela was among the country’s biggest rivers 
and deposited vast quantities of sand, sediment and food nutrients into 
the sea.

The muddy environment was an ideal nursery for prawns and other creatures.

“Research shows that it is also a nursery for a larger group of species 
which go all the way up to Mozambique and beyond.

“In a worst-case scenario you could end up with trenches and an opencast 
mine underwater… the removal of large volumes of sand could… wipe out 
prawn fishing.”

Basson, also principal director of Tect Geological Consulting in 
Somerset West, said these fears were “premature and alarmist”.

He said only 3 percent of prospected areas were eventually mined globally.

Prospecting would involve desktop studies and the collection of sediment 
samples and low-energy seismic tests. Mining would be “largely benign”.

“It is pretty much what RBM and Exxaro are doing on shore. It is not as 
if there are coral reefs. It is basically an underwater dune field.

Asked if Fast Pace was acting or planning to act for a large mining 
company, Basson said: “We have not really thought that far ahead.”

A Companies and Intellectual Properties Commission data search suggests 
that Basson and Smith are the only two directors of the company.