NKOMATI ANTHRACITE (PTY) LIMITED - Sentula Mining

Environmental Impact Assessment Report: Nkomati Anthracite (Pty) Limited, Madadeni Opencast
Mining Project Page 53
dam has been designed and will be constructed to ensure that storm water runoff from all the dirty
water areas will be retained in the pollution control dam. The runoff water will include the water from a
1:50 24-hour storm event. Topsoil from the pollution control dam area will be stripped and stockpiled
as per recommendation from the soil specialist report. Any other usable material from the excavation
area will be used for the construction of the pollution control dam wall, and if no suitable material is
available, material will be collected elsewhere.
Construction of the Storm Water Diversion Trenches
All storm water diversion trenches will have a basal width of 1,5m, to a maximum depth of 1,0m. All
material excavated during the construction of the clean and dirty water trenches will be used to
construct a 1,0m high berm on the downslope (clean water diversion trenches) and upslope sides
(clean water diversion trenches) of the trenches. These will be used to divert clean water away from
the mining area and dirty water from the mining area into the pollution control dams.
6 . 2 . 1 . 2 P r o c e s s es
No activities warranting a process will be undertaken at the proposed Madadeni Opencast area during
its construction phase.
6.2.2 O p e ra t i o n a l P h as e
6 . 2 . 2 . 1 Act i vi t i e s
6 . 2 . 2 . 1 . 1 . P r i m a r y Ac t i vi t i e s
Systematic Removal of the No. 1 and No. 2 Coal Seams
Following the opening of the initial box cuts, the opencast pit will migrate forward in both directions as
per the mining plan with the successive cuts not exceeding the width of 40m. Following removal of
the extractable coal, material from successive cuts will be used to backfill preceding cuts (Refer to
Figure 17). Each cut will be systematically filled with overburden first, subsoil second and topsoil last
viz. In each opencast mining area, hard overburden from cut 1 will be drilled, blasted and placed in
the box cut, subsoil from cut 2 will be used to cover the hard overburden placed in the box cut, and
topsoil from cut 3 will be placed over the subsoil in the box cut area at a minimum thickness as per the
soil specialist’s recommendation. Only three successive cuts will thus be open at any time at each
opencast area, and rehabilitation of the opencast pits will be ongoing during the operational phase. In
view of this, six cuts will be open at any given time during mining at the proposed mining areas.
Transportation and Stockpiling of R.O.M and product coal
R.O.M. coal from the opencast pits will be transported via the access ramps and the haul roads by
means of dump trucks to the R.O.M. coal stockpiling area. The stockpile will contain no more 100 000
tonnes of R.O.M. coal and will not exceed a height of 4m. Besides the use for loading coal from the
mining area, the other reason for the R.O.M. coal stockpile will be to cater for coal if any breakdowns
or work stoppages within the workings occur, resulting in a cease in production (financial
implications).
Use of Mine Infrastructure, Access and Haul Roads
The constructed mine infrastructure will be used for services that will be required during the
operational phase. These services include refuelling of machinery, maintenance of mine machinery,
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