An Australian Mining Company (Transworld Energy and Mineral Resources) wants to mine the titanium-rich sands under the Xolobeni Mineral Sands Project.

To this end TEM has applied for a mining right for titanium ores and other heavy minerals in the Xolobeni area, Eastern Cape. The disputed area comprises of some 2 859 hectares and comprises a strip of land over a coastal land of some 22 kilometers long and 1.5 kilometers inland from the high water mark.

The vast majority of the applicants, together with their families, live within close proximity of the proposed mining area.