Mining, succulent poaching and drought push species to the brink in the Richtersveld

The mouth of the Orange River, where South Africa meets Namibia, lies directly opposite a diamond mine owned by the Alexkor Richtersveld Mining Company (RMC) Joint Venture (JV) in Alexander Bay. (Photo: Kristin Engel)

By Kristin Engel

9 Feb 2025

South Africa has submitted more than 50 species to the Red List of threatened species every year for the past three years from the Richtersveld region alone due to expanding diamond mining, ongoing drought, illegal succulent poaching and historic livestock overgrazing.

The relentless extraction of minerals has led to environmental degradation that threatens the biodiversity in the Richtersveld area of the Northern Cape. In combination with increasing levels of plant poaching and the prolonged drought, the impacts of mining are pushing species populations in the area to critical levels.

“South Africa has submitted over 50 species every year for the past three years to the Red List of threatened species, from the Richtersveld region,” said Domitilla Raimondo, threatened species programme manager at the South African National Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi) and co-chair of the IUCN SSC Plant Conservation Committee.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhzBm5YKK-w&t=14s

Sparse desert flora struggles to survive in a landscape altered by mining. (Photo: Kristin Engel)

Raimondo said that many of these species had changed from being Least Concerned in assessments predating 2020, to very high threat categories of Endangered and Critically Endangered.

This was due to population collapses based on the combined impacts of mining, prolonged drought, livestock overgrazing, habitat loss from climate change and illegal succulent poaching.

Nick Helme, a botanist who has consulted in this area, told Daily Maverick: “There are numerous species at risk from mining and they have been for a long time. But it’s reaching critical proportions now in combination with plant poaching and the drought.”

But it’s not just plants, Helme said this includes animals such as geckos and various insects which depend on alluvial terraces along the Orange River – which have largely been lost now in spite of “supposed” environmental efforts of mining companies in the area.

The Richtersveld falls within a centre of species endemism. There are more than 1,000 species of plants that occur here. Many occur nowhere else on earth and are restricted to either the Gariep Valley (the area on either side of the Orange River) or to the many ancient mountains that are part of the Ricthersveld National Park.

According to Raimondo, “The Richtersveld is the most biodiverse desert ecosystem on earth.”

Threats to Richtersveld species

There are several threats affecting the species in the Richtersveld, but Raimondo warned that the most significant now was the loss of habitat due to rapidly expanding diamond mining taking place along the alluvial terraces of the Orange River.

“Mining completely destroys all the habitat of the species that are restricted to the alluvial terraces. It also causes a huge problem with wind-blown sands that spread from the mine dumps to cover vegetation for hundreds of kilometres around the mines,” Raimondo said.

This renders many small Richtersveld plants and animals easily buried by these wind-blown sands.

“The desert ecosystems of the Richtersveld region are highly sensitive. Even a small amount of soil disturbance has a very long-term impact and can cause local extinctions,” Raimondo said.

dead plants sand Dead plants covered in sand on the edge of a mine in the Richtersveld/ (Photo: Kristin Engel)

According to Sanbi, climate change is also becoming a serious threat in the region as a drought, which began in 2012, is still active and has led to the decline of many plant and animal populations.

“The combination of illegal collection, long-term droughts related to climate change and ongoing land degradation as a result of livestock overgrazing and mining are creating a devastating storm causing unprecedented loss of biodiversity in the world’s richest desert ecosystem,” Raimondo said.

Zeroing in on the impact of mining on biodiversity in this region, however, experts are not convinced that there are sufficient interventions by mining companies and oversight bodies to halt their rapid conversion of the unique alluvial terraces along the Orange River.

“SANParks has worked hard to save as many plants as possible ensuring these are now represented in the recently established Richtersveld Desert Botanic Gardens. However it is not acceptable for species to be lost from their natural habitats and so the mining companies need to ensure they set aside and avoid impacting the few remaining terraces,” Raimondo said.

Restoration and rehabilitation

In the national parks, SANParks has special ex-situ conservation facilities for the flora of the Richtersveld region as well as poached targeted species of all of Namaqualand and the Richtersveld.

These facilities are used in various ways, not only to fight poaching but also to make material available for rehabilitation and restoration.

SANParks spokesperson JP Louw told Daily Maverick that since 2014, more and more assessments of the endemic flora and to a lesser extent fauna, have been conducted by Sanbi and SANParks, and since last year, botanists from several institutions including from Namibia assisted.

The group of experts have confirmed that many of these are threatened by extinction.

Mining in the Richtersveld has reshaped the land, leaving behind a stark, sandy expanse with little sign of life. (Photo: Kristin Engel)

When asked how mining activity had affected biodiversity in the region over the years, Louw referred this question to the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR); the Department of Environment and Nature Conservation in the Northern Cape, South Africa (DENC); and the DFFE, “as only a small part of mines falls within SANParks’ area of management”.

The DMRE, DENC and DFFE’s did not respond to questions sent by Daily Maverick. They will be included once received.

Mike Schlebach, co-founder and co-managing director of Protect the West Coast, said that diamond mining (and heavy mineral sand mining) over almost 100 years had worsened the loss of biodiversity in this area.

Unrehabilitated mines are the main culprit, according to Schlebach. Rehabilitation is expensive, but crucial to restore the fauna and flora. Unfortunately, most of the time this does not happen.

“In some instances, the derelict moonscapes of abandoned mines have stood there for decades – a permanent scar on the landscape. The historical legacy of mining in an area out of sight and out of mind was to avoid rehabilitation. The regulations were lax and complicity between officials tasked with oversight and mining companies meant that nothing happened,” Schlebach said.

The remoteness and harshness of the area also seem to attract the shady elements, the “cowboys” of the mining sector, and more recently illegal miners are now allegedly mining at old mines.

“The zamas are scratching for the small stones and leftovers that are in tailings discarded after the really valuable stones were extracted,” Schlebach said.

Read more: Diamonds the Richtersveld’s worst friend as infighting and illegal mining tears community apart

Read more: Among the forgotten mountains and deserted mines of the Northern Cape

Protect the West Coast has been calling for a moratorium on all mining along the coast and inland at the Richtersveld until an all-encompassing environmental assessment can be made.

Schlebach believes that this is the type of holistic, top-down strategic approach that would begin to undo the decades of damage and devastation to the area.

Rehabilitation is the responsibility of the rights holder. Mining companies applying for these rights must have a comprehensive rehabilitation plan in place before these rights can be granted, according to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002.

In terms of current law, Schlebach said mining companies were mandated under this Act to comply with a rash of regulations via documentation that informed the decision-making process that governed the decision to grant eventual permission to prospect or mine.

“Unfortunately, the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Affairs is not doing its job properly. There is an unfortunate trend to favour perceived economic benefits – to the mining companies and the government via taxes – over any potential negative impacts on the environment or community,” Schlebach said.

Mining at the Orange River mouth

richtersveld orange river mouth The mouth of the Orange River, where South Africa meets Namibia, lies directly opposite a diamond mine owned by the Alexkor Richtersveld Mining Company (RMC) Joint Venture (JV) in Alexander Bay. (Photo: Kristin Engel)

The mouth of the Orange River, about a kilometre west of Alexander Bay, on the border of South Africa and Namibia, has been recognised as a Ramsar site – a wetland of international importance – since 1991 and is seasonally important for migrant water birds.

But what lies directly opposite this site is a diamond mine owned by the Alexkor Richtersveld Mining Company (RMC) Joint Venture (JV) in Alexander Bay with other mining operations taking place all along the river as diamond mining companies have concessions to most of the site, according to the Ramsar Site Information Services.

One of these diamond companies is the Lower Orange River (LOR) Diamonds, which operates mines along the banks of the river as part of its mining licence issued by the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) in 2018, covering 41,343 hectares about 50km from the mouth of the river, which had previously been operated by Transhex.

General manager Marius Coetzee told Daily Maverick that they contracted an independent botanist to identify biologically sensitive areas within their operations in the riparian zone of the river.

“The rest of the terrain is pretty barren. We don’t mine closer than that area… We don’t go closer than that to the river,” Coetzee said.

However, a recognised expert in the area said they had reason to believe that large parts of areas which have been identified as important for conservation were being mined.

In response, LOR CEO Chris Kimber denied that they were operating on any conservation areas identified, or in the riparian zone, but said another mining operation in their vicinity went into a riparian zone “by mistake”.

“We pointed it out to them and they moved straight out of it again… There was a company that tried to get rights to mine in that area. Our mining right is to the middle of the river, but in terms of our mineworks programme, we stay above the 100-year floodline.

“If there is anything happening [in the riparian zone], which I am unaware of… I would stop it immediately,” Kimber said.

On the mining near the mouth of the Orange River, the proximity of an unrehabilitated wasteland, where stagnant pools lie literally on the boundary between the protected area and the mine, was an obvious concern, according to Protect the West Coast.

“Sediment from coffer dams built by diamond mining companies on the West Coast is smothering the seabed and damaging the inshore reef systems, perhaps permanently, diamond divers have warned,” Schlebach said.

The relevant mining houses are legally obliged to make provision for and implement rehabilitation of affected areas. Louw said that SANParks would provide only oversight to ensure the integrity of the area.

In the case of concessions where mining rights were applicable, Louw said that SANParks dealt with the applicable mining house.

He said that these mining houses in turn were responsible for limiting their impact on the environment as much as possible and restoring it in a manner that encouraged possible future total restoration.

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE) has an intergovernmental co-ordinating forum comprising the DFFE, the Department of Water & Sanitation and the DMRP, given that several cross-cutting issues must be addressed.

“Mining in ecologically sensitive areas and challenges related thereto would be discussed in this forum and if action is required, this can be coordinated through the task team of the forum focused on compliance and enforcement,” DFFE spokesperson Peter Mbelengwa said. DM

Disclosure: Some of the travel costs to the Richtersveld in the far Northern Cape were sponsored by Protect the West Coast as part of an initiative to enable journalists to gain first-hand insight into issues in the region.

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