"#MineAlert: A digi-savvy tool to make mining activities more transparent in South Africa", 25 May 2016

Imagine that you were an ordinary South African citizen living in an area rich in coal, iron ore, or gold. You wake up every day to collect semi-clean water from the nearest river bank... A few hours later...you notice a group of locals...staring at an A4 sheet of white paper on the wall...[and] hear talks about submitting CVs, relocation of graves, compensation, etc. You...see a notice of a proposed mine...not far away from the river... The notice says there are only two weeks for you to give input to the mine’s developers... Do you draft a letter?... Do you know your rights?...

In 2011 the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) introduced the South African Mineral Resources Administration Online System (SAMRAD)...to help the general public access information on mining and prospecting applications. Oxpeckers Centre...found it difficult to access information and navigate the website...[so] we created #MineAlert to create ease of access to crucial mining documents for communities... [This] mobile and web based app...is free, fast, and easy to use. It is designed to equip mining-affected communities with the right amount of information...such as: mining licences, water use licences, and social and labour plans... We want to encourage a generation of proactive communities who do their own investigations and compliance monitoring...

#MineAlert [is] at mine-alert.oxpeckers.org