Johannesburg — FIRST Uranium subsidiary Mine Waste Solutions says it is withholding information from the Federation for a Sustainable Environment on the potential effect of its controversial Klerksdorp waste dump, 1km from the Vaal River.

This appears to contravene environmental regulations as affected stakeholders are not able to evaluate the risks of the planned development, the federation said.

But the dump is also critical to First Uranium, which this week had to close its Ezulwini uranium plant for repairs.

Earlier this year, the environmental authorisation for Mine Waste's dump, which would reprocess mine waste, was withdrawn, provoking a financial crisis for First Uranium and a C150m recapitalisation plan.

The federation fears the mine dump, set to be on-stream next May, could pollute the Vaal River system, contaminate groundwater and create acid mine drainage. "Land owners will have to carry the long- term risks, so they have the right to know about these risks," federation CE Mariette Liefferink said. There was insufficient information in the environmental impact assessment and in the environmental management plan to support the facility, she said.

But Mine Waste said it conducted independent environmental studies as part of the environmental impact assessment, including the potential effect on groundwater.

The company's chief operating officer, Scot Sobey, said extra studies of the facility's effect had been undertaken, but would not hand this information to the federation. He said it was the company's policy "not to hand over documents in isolation to prevent interest groups from raising issues out of context".

Mr Sobey said a community forum had been set up to address concerns. But Ms Liefferink said Mr Sobey's position was in contravention of environmental impact assessment regulations.