Good afternoon. Better late than never: a government minister has finally admitted what the people of the town of Moatize have long known, that the pollution caused by coal mining in their town carried out by Vulcan Mozambique is unacceptable (see below). It should not have taken this long. The effects of open-cast coal mining in an urban area have been damaging the environment and the health of locals for years now, but people tolerated the clouds of coal dust getting into their lungs and water supply, and coating the insides of their homes in black soot. Even when Vulcan’s explosions, using bigger explosive charges than its predecessor Vale, to save money, caused rocks to fall on their houses, there was no uprising.
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It is only in the last few months, as the detonations have got closer to residential areas, that patience seems to have worn away and opposition to Vulcan has hardened. This bubbling resentment came to the surface recently, when Vulcan sought to get agreement for its plan to expropriate more local land to expand its operations. Local militancy combined with increased media coverage of the pollution seems to have forced the government’s hand.
