Free State Business 2022
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INTERVIEW<br />
Ensuring sustainability<br />
and a positive legacy<br />
PJ Jordaan, Closure Manager of De Beers Voorspoed Mine, gives an overview of the<br />
complex and detailed procedures that have to be followed in closing a mine.<br />
What stage in the mine closure process has been reached?<br />
The mine officially closed in December 2018 and has entered<br />
the decommissioning and rehabilitation phase. The overall<br />
rehabilitation goal is to manage the mine site and continue with<br />
rehabilitation in order to meet the end land use of agricultural and<br />
grazing for stock after final closure. A decision was taken at the end<br />
of 2019 to defer certain closure activities for two to three years, as<br />
further work is required to improve the closure cost estimate to an<br />
acceptable level and to address uncertainty regarding post-closure<br />
monitoring requirements.<br />
Petrus Jordaan, Closure<br />
Manager, De Beers Group,<br />
Voorspoed Mine<br />
BIOGRAPHY<br />
PJ Jordaan is a geologist with more<br />
than 25 years of experience in gold<br />
and diamond mining with Anglo<br />
American and De Beers. He has a<br />
passion for the diamond industry<br />
with a strong interest in all aspects<br />
of diamond mining and mine<br />
closure. In 2018 he took on the<br />
role of Closure Manager, where he<br />
leads the Voorspoed closure team<br />
by managing all closure activities,<br />
focused on reimagining asset<br />
retirement deliverables to improve<br />
communities in the company’s zone<br />
of influence.<br />
What are the remaining timelines?<br />
A three-year period of active closure and rehabilitation is planned<br />
to start in January 2023, provided an environmental authorisation<br />
(EA) has been issued by the DMRE. The intent of the closure and<br />
rehabilitation programme will be to remediate the site to the<br />
approved final closure plan standards. Follow‐up monitoring will<br />
continue beyond the rehabilitation phase, ie until 2031, as required<br />
by the various regulatory authorities.<br />
What are some considerations in a mine closure process?<br />
The key consideration of the mine closure process is to ensure<br />
sustainability beyond mine closure and to leave a positive legacy<br />
behind. Successful closure can further be defined as meeting the<br />
guidelines established by internal corporate requirements with<br />
regard to mine closure (Anglo American Mine Closure Performance<br />
Standard and associated Mine Closure Toolbox), as well as the<br />
statutory requirements in terms of the Mineral and Petroleum<br />
Resources Development Act, 2002.<br />
What are the key environmental standards that have to be<br />
met, and how is Voorspoed executing these requirements?<br />
The overarching framework governing South Africa is the<br />
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996).<br />
Various rights are entrenched in the Constitution, including the<br />
right to an environment that is not harmful to the health or wellbeing<br />
of the population, otherwise called the environmental right.<br />
The mining industry is further regulated by mining,<br />
FREE STATE BUSINESS <strong>2022</strong><br />
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