Australian mining company Coal of Africa Ltd (CoAL) has announced that their Vele project has gained its long-awaited water license, moving the company closer to resuming output which was stopped last year.

On Monday, CoAL said that they had received the integrated water license from the Department of Water Affairs, after civil society groups, the Green Scorpions and the Department of Water Affairs had put a halt to their mining activities in August last year. CoAL was granted a mining right for Vele, six kilometres from the Mapungubwe World Heritage Site, at the beginning of 2010.

Despite being granted their water license, CoAL said the rectification process for other environmental transgressions, as well as the compliance notice, was continuing. Chief Operations Officer of CoAL Mr Riaan van der Merwe confirmed that construction processes at the Vele site will not start immediately. Final approval from the Department of Environmental Affairs is still outstanding and this could take several months.

The approval of the license was welcomed by CoAL CEO John Wallington, who said that they remained “aware of the sensitivity of the area and the significant responsibilities the approval brings.”

The granting of the license was, however, also met by severe criticism. “We believe that the Vele water studies were extremely flawed and that the license should not have been granted,” said Mr Nick Hiltermann, the chairman of the Mapungubwe Action Group on Tuesday. He added that the Save Mapungubwe Coalition was planning on challenging the approval of the water license.