Modern Mining January 2024

on those families would cause socio-political grief and potential instability in the absence of a practi cable anticipatory plan. The second step, therefore, is to anticipate the effects of downscaling coal and simultaneously build up renewable projects and a critical raw mate rials (minerals and metals) exploration pipeline. Anticipating the effects of coal job losses requires significant investment in re-skilling coal workers and transforming the Mpumalanga region into a tourism and agricultural hotspot, fully cleansed from the negative impacts of coal. The tourism potential of the region is under-appreciated and therefore under-developed. Of course, this new economic vision requires radical governance transforma tion at local municipal level, but that is a column for another time. We must move away from easy “whataboutism” and not tolerate the toxic effects of coal’s negative externalities or hidden costs. The environmental and social costs are offloaded onto poor communi ties who can least afford it. Arguing against coal is hardly unjust to the poor, especially given the suf fering coming to light through the Exarro case. We must simultaneously give serious thought to what an appropriate alternative economic vision might look like. With COP28 in action, and the reality of humanity having cooked six of our nine planetary boundaries, the argument against coal could not be more urgent. Justice is nuanced; a reductionist view provides a smokescreen behind which coal apolo gists hide. We have to move beyond this and take some tough decisions that ensure a more sustain able future for all of us. 

externality burden of any economic activity on earth. Ten years ago, I reviewed a book by physician Allan Lockwood called The Silent Epidemic: Coal and the Hidden Threat to Health . What still haunts me is his point that coal-related deaths are never recorded on death certificates as “coal-induced pneumoconiosis” or related ailments that precipitate early death. While the income from coal jobs keeps extended families alive, the costs of early death directly related to those jobs are devastating and often conveniently ignored. This is tricky terrain. How does one mea sure whether coal jobs are worth the hidden social and environmental costs, especially when we con sider the deleterious impact of coal mining on fresh water supplies in Mpumalanga? The first step to resolving the conundrum is to recognise the false dichotomy. It is not a matter of coal jobs or poverty. However, it is true that a loss of coal jobs has acute, concentrated impacts. The gains to society from cleaner energy and a more diversified supply from renewables (including small modular nuclear reactors) are diffuse. Foreign investment would flow, which would in turn give con fidence to local equity and debt investors to support new projects across all sectors. Investment into new mining exploration pipelines for minerals and metals required to power global energy transitions would also flow, provided we managed to fix our mining governance landscape. However, any jobs created in renewables are likely to be far away from the areas affected by downscaling coal. And even if we were to solve load shedding tomorrow with large-scale renewables, the immediate loss of coal jobs and the negative impacts

The gains to society from cleaner energy and a more diversified supply from renewables are diffuse.

January 2024  MODERN MINING  59