Conflict In Small South African Town Over Copper Mine

Conflict has erupted in Concordia, a small and rocky town of 5,000 people in the copper district of the Northern Cape. Copper 360, a JSE-listed mining company, has started mining in the town through its subsidiary Shirley Hayes-IPK. Over the next few years, the company intends to extract thousands of tonnes of copper. This comes after Copper 360 announced a massive increase in its copper resources in the area, GroundUp reports.

This marks the latest incident where private mining interests have encroached on residents wellbeing, as seen previously when the homes of residents were damaged by mine blasting along the Eastern Cape province's Wild Coast, where communities have been battling for years against industrial projects that threaten the region's environment and community members' land rights.

InFocus

A protest took place at Jubilee mine in August.

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