The coalition consists of the Endagered Wildlife Trust, Birdlife South Africa, Wilderness Foundation South Africa, World Wide Fund for Nature South Africa, Mapungubwe Action Group and the Association of Southern African Professional Archaeologists.

As part of the agreement, Coal of Africa has agreed to share information related to the environmental impacts of its Vele project which is based near Mapungubwe.

The negotiations will address monitoring and modelling of the potential impacts of mining at the Vele colliery.

According to the Business Report a number of organisations had protested against the development of the Vele project with the development of environmental affairs suspending work at the South African located project in July 2011.

The suspension was lifted on October 19.

Upon the agreement, the coalition has agreed to hold legal proceedings and administrative appeals subject to the signature of the memorandum of agreement by the end of January 2012.

The parties will now seek to conclude the MOA, which will contain further detail concerning their commitment in managing the sustainable development of the Mapungubwe cultural landscape.

Coal of Africa chief executive John Wallington said the MOA would provide an opportunity to engage with the coalition.

“Both parties agree to progress their discussions in good faith, with the aim of setting a new best practise benchmark for managing and mitigating the impacts of mining and related activities at the Vele Colliery on the environment,” Wallington said.

The Vele open cut project is located 48km west of Musina.

Phase one is targeting 1 million tonnes per annum of coking coal while a later second phase will lift production to 5Mtpa of saleable coking coal.