Environmental Impact Assessment Of The Mountain Pine Ridge ...

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Ac Acres (area) AIA Archaeological Impact Assessment BEL Belize Electricity Limited BERT Belize Emergency Response Team BNMS Belize National Meteorological Service BP Before Present BRL Barrier Reef Lagoon BTU British Thermal Units COD Chemical Oxygen Demand CG Confluent growth DOE Department of the Environment EIA Environmental Impact Assessment ft Feet, Foot gal Gallon(s) GPM Gallons per Minute ha Hectares (area) HPA High Probability Area hr, hrs Hour(s) (time) in Inches kg Kilograms km Kilometers kW Kilowatt lb Pound (weight) M Millions, Meters mg Milligram min Minute (time) mm Millimeters mph Miles per Hour MSW Municipal Solid Waste mt Metric Ton mW Megawatts LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS NEMO National Emergency Management Organization NICH National Institute of Culture and History NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration PFR Preliminary Field Reconnaissance ppm parts per million RBA Rapid Biological Assessment RWS Rudimentary (Rural) Water System TNTC Too Numerous To Count TSS Total Suspended Solids xii
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY DEVELOPMENT PROFILE The project planned for development is being proposed by Caribbean Marble and Concrete Manufacturing Limited (CMCML), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Caribbean Investors Limited, both of which are limited liability companies duly registered in Belize (see Addenda 2 - 3). The company is proposing to extract granite boulders and blocks from a 40-acre (16-Ha) parcel of land measuring 200 x 810 meters that is located in the northwest quadrant of the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve, approximately 12.5 miles (20 Km) southeast of San Antonio Village in the Cayo District of Belize. The site extends southwest from Oak Burn Line Road, along an unnamed track between two upper branches of Pinol Creek, which discharges directly into the Macal River, upstream and across the divide from Vaqueros Creek, which supplies nearby San Antonio Village (see Illustrations 1-3). Tenure of the site is effected by a license to occupy the site from the Belize Forestry Department (pending environmental review), and Mining License No 20 dated 5 October, 2007 (see Addendum 4), the latter of which conveys the right to enter, occupy and mine the subject property for a period of 5 years. The overall mining plan will entail removal of soil and overburden from the quarry zone using heavy machinery to push off the soil fraction and weathered overburden that has been cut away from the underlying fresh granite. Fresh, solid and/or fracture free granite blocks averaging 12 cubic meters (15 tons) each will subsequently be cut and blasted from the basement granite batholith to a mean depth of < 55 meters below the surface of the southwestern half of the mining site and thereafter transported to the factory in Belmopan for cutting and polishing into export grade product. Extracted, 15 ton granite blocks will be transported from the mining site to a milling factory located at Mile 46.2 on the Western Highway (Belmopan City), cut & polish the boulders and blocks into finished floor tiles, bricks, counter-tops and other building products, and subsequently export them for sale in the US and other international markets. Block-laden tractor-trailers will travel along the unsurfaced Oak Burn Line and Chiquibul Roads for a distance of approximately 20 miles (30 Kms) to Georgeville, and thereafter for a distance of approximately 15 miles (25 Km) to Mile 46.2 on the Western Highway at the entrance onto George Price Boulevard, and a short distance along the Boulevard to CMCML’s factory site. Transportation load at maximum development is estimated on the basis of an assumed mining yield of 300 cubic meters per day, which at a specific gravity for granite of 2.69 would translate to 807 tons per day, 5 days a week, 52 weeks per year, for an overall annual extraction rate of approximately 210,000 tons per annum. Given a mean depth to fresh granite in the area of 12 meters, the total soil and overburden volume likely to be removed from the fresh granite surface of the mining site would be expected to be on the order of: 200 x 405 x 12, or approximately 1 million cubic meters; while the total fresh granite yield is expected to be on the order of 200 x 405 x 43, or 3.5 million cubic meters. Approximately 75% of the quarried block is lost to handling and processing waste (which is recycled into concrete mix and chip stone), indicating the export grade yield from half the mining site is on the order of 875,000 tons. Hence, the mining life of half of this area is on the order of 4. 2 years. The Mountain Pine Ridge Granite Quarry EIA / Ecoworks Page 1 of 167
Page 1 and 2: Environmental Impact Assessment Of
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS TITLE PAGE COVER PAGE II E
Page 5 and 6: CONTENTS (Continued) TITLE PAGE Wat
Page 7 and 8: CONTENTS (Continued) TITLE PAGE Mat
Page 9 and 10: LIST OF TABLES PRESENTED NUMBER TIT
Page 11: LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PRESENTED (Co
Page 15 and 16: ILLUSTRATION 2: 2000 LANDSAT-7 SATE
Page 17 and 18: TABLE 1 PRIMARY CHARACTERISTICS OF
Page 19 and 20: ILLUSTRATION 4: WILDLIFE OF THE PRO
Page 21 and 22: TABLE 2 LEGISLATION RELEVANT TO THE
Page 23 and 24: The Environmental Protection Act (C
Page 25 and 26: 1. THE PROJECT DESCRIPTION Maps at
Page 27 and 28: ILLUSTRATION 6: LOCATION MAPS OF TH
Page 29 and 30: ILLUSTRATION 8: GROUND VIEW OF THE
Page 31 and 32: ILLUSTRATION 9: GROUND VIEW OF THE
Page 33 and 34: The Mountain Pine Ridge Granite Qua
Page 35 and 36: ILLUSTRATION 12: THE FACTORY FLOOR
Page 37 and 38: Water Supply & Treatment Total pota
Page 39 and 40: ILLUSTRATION 13: MANAGEMENT STRUCTU
Page 41 and 42: ILLUSTRATION 14: HURRICANES & TROPI
Page 43 and 44: ILLUSTRATION 15: ANNUAL PROBABILITY
Page 45 and 46: Surface Water Quality Two water qua
Page 47 and 48: ILLUSTRATION 18: GEOLOGICAL MAP FOR
Page 49 and 50: ILLUSTRATION 19: PRINCIPLE FAULT SY
Page 51 and 52: Topsoil textures in the Pinol subsu
Page 53 and 54: ILLUSTRATION 23: SOIL PERCOLATION T
Page 55 and 56: FLORA AND FAIUNA Aquatic Habitat &
Page 57 and 58: Terrestrial Habitats Assessment Met
Page 59 and 60: ILLUSTRATION 25: AERIAL VIEW OF THE
Page 61 and 62: Tiger Fern Thicket This ecosystem i
Page 63 and 64:
TABLE 5: PLANT SPECIES OF THE 40-AC
Page 65 and 66:
ILLUSTRATION 27: IMPORTANT FLORA TY
Page 67 and 68:
TABLE 8: BIRD SPECIES ENCOUNTERED I
Page 69 and 70:
ILLUSTRATION 28 TERRESTRIAL FAUNA O
Page 71 and 72:
TABLE 10: SPECIES OF CONSERVATION V
Page 73 and 74:
A map study (see Illustration 29) a
Page 75:
ILLUSTRATION 30: HPA SITE 4 NORTH V
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Environmental Impact Assessment Of The Mountain Pine Ridge ...

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