Subscribe
A wetland inthe St Lucia estuary on thecast coast in KwaZUILI-Natalprovince was saved fromdevastation when the country's cabinet banned thedevelopment of a mineralsands project by RichardsBay Minerals (RBM). The banbrought to an end a six-yearstruggle by environmentalgroups to prevent exploitation of the area which isclaimed to be one of theworld's richest breedinggrounds for birds, and hometo the largest number of hippopotamuses in southernAfrica. The cabinet found that mining the eastern shorewould affect sustainable economic development of theregion and that the projectwas incompatible with touristdevelopment at St Lucia. Theregion will be registered as aWorld Heritage Site and promoted as a tourist attraction.The decision was accepted byRTZ-CRA, joint owner Of RBMwith Gencor of South Africa.The joint venture companyproduces titanium dioxide,used as a whitener in paintand other surface coatings.