NKOMATI ANTHRACITE (PTY) LIMITED - Sentula Mining

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Environmental Impact Assessment Report: Nkomati Anthracite (Pty) Limited, Madadeni Opencast Mining Project Page 80 water areas of the mine, and no mining must be conducted within one hundred meters from a watercourse or within the 1:100 year floodline of the nearest streams, whichever is the greatest. All dirty water management structures must be designed to handle water from flood events (1:50 and 1:100 year flood event). 7.1.4 Re c o m m e n d a t i o n s R e l a t i n g t o I m p a c t s o n g r o u n d w a t e r Impacts that would result on groundwater will be the drawdown during mining and the migration of the pollution plume after mining. However, structures of preferred groundwater flow, like dolerite dykes and local fault zones or fissures could increase the effect considerably if encountered. In view of the above it is recommended that the static groundwater levels and ground water quality be monitored during the mining operation in order to confirm the predicted impacts and to determine if any unacceptable decrease of the yield or pollution of any affected boreholes, occurs. In such a situation the affected groundwater users must be compensated for the affected boreholes. 7.1.5 Re c o m m e n d a t i o n s R e l a t i n g t o I n t e r e s t e d a n d Af f e c t e d P a r t i e s Nkomati Anthracite (Pty) Limited held several meetings with the leaders of community who are legally occupying and using the land on which the proposed mining operation will be undertaken. These meetings were used to determine concerns that the community may have on the proposed project. Based on the outcome of the meetings an agreement was reached between the community (via their leaders) and Nkomati Anthracite (Pty) Limited regarding the proposed mining operation. See Appendix 4 for a copy of the agreement between the Mawewe Royal Family Trust and Mawewe Community Trust and Nkomati Anthracite (Pty) Ltd. The objectives for this report were outlined in Section 1.4. These objectives were as follows: Present information to the authorities about the proposed project. Provide information regarding alternatives that have been considered by Nkomati Anthracite (Pty) Limited. Show how interested and affected parties will be afforded the opportunity to contribute to the project, to comment on the findings of the impact assessment and show that their issues were considered. Describe the baseline environment. A description of the receiving environment is given in Section 3. Describe the extent of environmental consequences for the construction, operating and closure phases. A summary of the impact assessment findings, for construction, operation and closure, is given in Section 6 and is supported by the specialist assessment reports. Proposed Mitigation Measures for impacts that are considered significant. Mitigation Measures are outlined in Section 6 and presented in more detail in the specialist reports and the EMP. A summary of recommendations is given in Section 7.1 above. Describe the environmental feasibility of the proposed project – the potential negative impacts relating to environment can be mitigated appropriately while significant socio-economic benefits to the country, could be realised if the project proceeds. Present findings of the EIA in a manner that facilitates decision-making. The completeness of information for decision-making is outlined in Section 7.4 below. 7.2 E N V I R O N M E N T A L FEA S I B I L I T Y O F T H E PRO P O S E D PRO J E C T Based on the environmental assessment conducted as described in this EIA Report, there are no significant environmental impacts associated with the proposed project that cannot be mitigated. NKOMATI ANTHRACITE (PTY) LIMITED COMPILED BY GEOVICON ENVIRONMENTAL (PTY) LTD
Environmental Impact Assessment Report: Nkomati Anthracite (Pty) Limited, Madadeni Opencast Mining Project Page 81 The overall significance of environmental impacts of the proposed infrastructure, with Mitigation Measures as described in Chapter 6 and the EMP, is assessed to be low. 7.3 S E C T I O N 39(3)(B) ( I) O F T H E MPRD A A N D R E G U L AT I O N 50(G) O F T H E R E G U L AT I O N S U N D E R T H E MPRDA: C O M P L E T E N E S S O F I N F O R M AT I O N The environment that is likely to be affected by the proposed Madadeni mining project was detailed in section 3. Specialists were commissioned to conduct detailed surveys and studies on the environment. These studies include soil survey, vegetation study, geological reports, geohydrological study and surface water studies etc. These studies have covered most of the prevailing conditions of the environmental aspects that were studied. Hence no knowledge gaps exist in terms of the current state of the environment. There is however some limitations with regard to the determination of the future state of the studied environmental aspects. During the assessment of the prevailing geohyrological conditions of the Madadeni Opencast mining project area, several limitations were encountered. It is a well-known fact that coal mining has an impact on the groundwater. These impacts are substantial after the mined area has been rehabilitated i.e. post mining phase. These impacts are the result of the chemical interactions and migration of the groundwater from the mined area. The samples of the bedrock and overburden material have been submitted for acid base accounting tests, which will determine their acid generation and neutralisation potential hence determining what type of chemical reactions is likely to occur after mining within the rehabilitated opencast pits. The results of the tests will be included in the final draft of the Environmental Impact Assessment report. Determination of the extent of the impact in the post closure phase cannot be conducted due to the limited amount of data. Modelling (predictive methods) was, in this case, used to estimate the groundwater behaviour after mining. These estimations represents a limitation e.g., assuming that a fractured aquifer will behave as a homogeneous porous medium, can lead to errors. It is therefore important that the modelling exercise be repeated with a more extensive data acquisition phase in order to obtain improved estimates of the groundwater flow and thus narrowing the existing uncertainties. Predictive methods were also used to estimate groundwater levels in areas where no data existed, to estimate regional groundwater types and overall quality. It must be mentioned that these predictive methods were used for reasons e.g., not enough data was available. However the adequacy of the methods has been proven. The same methods were used for several years at different coal mining projects with good results. These estimations will however improve with acquisition of more data gathered from the monitoring programme. NKOMATI ANTHRACITE (PTY) LIMITED COMPILED BY GEOVICON ENVIRONMENTAL (PTY) LTD
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NKOMATI ANTHRACITE (PTY) LIMITED - Sentula Mining

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