Final Scoping Report for the Proposed ... - SRK Consulting

SRK Consulting: 408836 Tubatse FSR Page ix
Environmental management: All environmental management measures will be incorporated into
the current environmental management system and EMP.
Health and safety, security and emergency preparedness: Security measures and emergency
preparedness procedures are already in place and will continue to be handled as per the current
system.
Social responsibility: Samancor Chrome‟s social responsibility initiatives include literacy training,
building of schools and clinics, water supply to communities, rural and agricultural development,
youth and women development and capacity building and small business development.
Alternatives considered
Several project alternatives were considered, including:
Location alternatives: The proposed activities will be located within the existing plant site, where
space, infrastructure and support are readily available. Other potential sites within the plant are
restricted mainly by technical constraints related to distance from existing infrastructure.
Furnace technology alternatives: An alternative to the proposed DC closed furnace is an AC
closed furnace. However, the DC furnace can smelt finer material directly, and has increased
reaction and production rates. It also has lower reductant costs.
Energy recovery plant technology alternatives: Alternatives to an off-gas energy recovery plant
include a gas turbine, or a boiler and steam turbine combination. However, the efficiency of the
alternatives is too low and cost too high to be justified.
Waste heat plant technology alternatives: Alternatives to the waste heat recovery plant include
Organic Rankine Cycle technology; however this is a much more expensive and not widely used
technology. The waste heat plant technology is based on standard steam boiler technology.
De-ionised water treatment plant alternatives: No alternative to an electro-deionization plant will
be considered, as electro-deionization plants are the best practice method used to produce the
ultrapure water needed at a steam turbine waste heat recovery plant.
Product alternatives: The choice to produce ferrochrome alloy as an additive to the production of
stainless steel is due to stainless steel‟s market demand (it is versatile, resistant to corrosion and
staining and 100% recyclable) making other alternatives (such as wrought iron and plastic) less
desirable.
The no-go alternative: Should the project not proceed, Samancor Chrome would not be able to
capture the opportunity of energy recovery, thereby mitigating the high cost of energy and
reducing environmental impacts in terms of greenhouse gasses. The opportunity for additional
job creation represented by the project would also be lost.
Motivation for the proposed project
The motivation for the proposed project and infrastructure is described below:
Need and desirability of a furnace and transformer upgrades: Additional smelting capacities are
required to meet the available market capacity (8% growth prediction projected until 2012);
Need and desirability of an energy and waste heat recovery plants: The energy and waste heat
recovery plants are proposed as it will assist in the supply of the energy needs for the proposed
expansion and current operations, and it will make use of the waste streams in order to generate
electricity. This will reduce Samancor Chrome‟s dependence on coal-produced energy.
Anam/ Mol 408836_Tubatse FSR October 2011