Some of the land given away to black communities under white rule has emerged to be rich in minerals that were unsuspected at the time of South Africa’s segregation. Now, there is a scramble to access those minerals with investors looking for the cheapest possible ways to get onto the land involved. The LARC Mining Research Team looks at the impact of mining on communities in former apartheid homelands, where land ownership is usually held in a form of trust, and where Traditional Leaders hold inordinate sway. Our research focuses on the agreements struck between mines and land owners, the forms of consultation claimed and conducted and the benefit, if any, to ordinary members of these communities.
