analysisSouth Africa's coal mining sector, much of it opaque and shabbily regulated, is not just an environmental hazard. "There are reasons why grain has been produced in certain areas in South Africa related to the climate, the topography and the access to markets. The coal mining is destroying that land, it is making it useless," Pieter Taljaard, the CEO of industry group Grain SA, told Daily Maverick in an interview. But South Africa would produce even more summer grain crops if it were not for the coal sector. "What the coal mines do is they take out the top fertile soil and then it gets mixed with all the rubble.

Source: The North Africa Journal May 22, 2023 06:50 UTC