Exxaro – South Africa’s largest black-empowered resources group – officially handed over the Ga-Nala landfill site to the Emalahleni Local Municipality and Ga-Nala communities yesterday (ED: 28 May 2019) at the Ga Nala Landfill Site, Thubelihle Township, Kriel, Mpumalanga.

Exxaro is proud to transfer the landfill site after three (3) years to the capable hands Emalahleni Local Municipality.

Established in 1990 and permitted in 1995, the landfill site caters for the general domestic waste of.

Ga-Nala, Eskom and surrounding mining houses. Due to an initial lack of resources that caused the landfill to be non-compliant with environmental legislation, Exxaro’s Matla Coal Mine stepped in and contributed R2.4 million towards site upgrades for compliant operations.

Managed by Exxaro, external specialist service providers were appointed, and the project was completed in February 2018. During that time, a 140m access road, sliding gate and access control office were constructed. A weighbridge was also installed to weigh all material to be offloaded at the site, as per the landfill site operating permit. Additionally, Exxaro provisioned the water system and installed a septic tank, donated by Sasco, and set up operating hardware and training by Gijima.

Furthermore, Matla Coal is considering the donation of an additional R500 000 to the municipality in the fo‌rm of drilling monitoring boreholes and installation of high-mast light. The monitoring boreholes will help assess the pollution plume that may develop underneath the landfill site as well as the potential impact o‌n ground water and downstream water users; while the lighting will ensure safety o‌nsite and added visibility for security to effectively respond to criminal activity after hours.

Exxaro’s Matla Coal Business Unit Manager, Stephen Badenhorst, explains, “We are proud to have played an instrumental role in this community project, and remain hopeful that the municipality and broader community will not o‌nly put the landfill to good use, but also take care of it.”

This project fo‌rms part of Exxaro’s overarching commitment to power better lives for the communities in which we operate.