The Mapungubwe World Heritage site in Limpopo has been hit by a coal rush, with scores of mining companies applying for permission to exploit the area's coal deposits.

Some have proposed to mine as far as the core of the environmentally sensitive area.

Department of Environmental Affairs deputy director-general Fundisile Mketeni yesterday confirmed that the department had received applications to mine the area.

He said the department would be guided in its consideration of applications by data collected during mining in the area over the years.

"Environmental impact assessments were conducted and there should be some baseline information to inform better planning," Mketeni said.

He was speaking at the signing of the memorandum of understanding between the department, SANParks and Australian mining company Coal of Africa, which has been granted rights to operate its Vele Colliery in the area.

The mine is 7km from Mapungubwe, declared a world heritage site in 2003 by the UN's Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation, which raised concerns at the "potential adverse impact of the approved mining site on the outstanding value of the property".

Mketeni dismissed assertions that the area risked losing its international heritage status because of mining, saying the chances of this were zero because of the 7km buffer zone between the mine and the site.

"There are countries where the buffer zone is just 2km," he said.

The agreement to ensure the preservation and protection of the integrity of the heritage site is one of the requirements of the environmental authorisation granted to the company in July.

The parties undertook to "champion and monitor" the development and implementation of biodiversity offset programmes .

"This development ensures that the [ecological] sensitivity of those areas gets the attention it deserves," Coal of Africa CEO John Wallington said.

"This agreement ensures that we raise the bar for future [mining] development."

The Mapungubwe Action Group, a civil society coalition opposing mining in the area, said the agreement was negotiated without input from the public.

Its chairman, Nick Hiltermann, called on the department to be more transparent about future agreements, especially "when it impacts on a national and international treasure like Mapungubwe".

"The agreements being negotiated by the department and Coal of Africa do not comply with the legal requirements," Hiltermann said.