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Proposed Boreholes at AAIC Elders Colliery

Short Project Title

Proposed Boreholes at AAIC Elders Colliery

Project Title

Integrated Environmental Authorisation Process for Boreholes Proposed at Anglo American Inyosi Coal (AAIC) Elders Colliery, Mpumalanga

SRK Project Reference Number

579785

Official Reference Number

MP 30/5/1/2/3/2/1 (10117) EM

SRK Project Manager

Natasha Moodley

Contact Person

Gaynor Nel

Contact Email

ganel@srk.co.za

Contact Number

011 441 1203

Borehole

PROJECT SYNOPSIS

Anglo American Inyosi Coal (Pty) Ltd (AAIC) is applying for an environmental authorisation and water use licence (WUL) for abstraction boreholes and pipelines proposed at Elders Colliery.  The water abstracted from existing and planned boreholes will be pumped to an existing concrete farm dam.  The boreholes and pipelines will be located in the AAIC mining right area.  AAIC is the landowner of the farm portions that are affected by the project.

  • Pipelines: Eight pipelines are proposed to be constructed.  To provide the project team with an appropriate area to construct or replace the pipeline, a 50 m buffer on either side of the pipeline is included in the assessment.
  • Boreholes: 26 new and existing boreholes are associated with the project.  Specialist investigations pertaining to the hydro census, borehole verification, geophysics and pumping have been undertaken to determine the potential ground and surface water impacts and mitigation measures.

Before AAIC may commence with drilling the boreholes, constructing pipelines, and storing water in the existing dam, the following environmental authorisations and licences need to be applied for in accordance with the relevant national legislation:

  • A Basic Assessment (BA) process in terms of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Regulations of the National Environmental Management Act (Act No. 107 of 1998) (NEMA).  The required documentation will be submitted to the Mpumalanga Department of Mineral Resources (DMRE).
  • A Water Use Licence Application (WULA) to be undertaken in terms of the National Water Act (Act No. 36 of 1998) (NWA) for submission and approval from the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS).

PROJECT LOCATION

The proposed project will be located about 25 km north of Bethal and 20 km east of Kriel in the Govan Mbeki Local Municipality in the Gert Sibande District Municipality of the Mpumalanga Province.  It will be situated on various portions of the farms Middelkraal 50 IS and the remaining portion of Vlakkuilen 76 IS, east of the R35.

 

In the image shown above, boreholes are shown as green dots and the pipeline as a lilac line on the farms Middelkraal and Vlakkuilen. The project location relative to Kriel is shown in the contextual area map on the right

STATUS OF PROJECT

An application has been made to the Mpumalanga Department of Mineral Resources for the Integrated Basic Assessment and Environmental Management Programme. An application was also made to the Department of Water and Sanitation for the Water Use Licence required.

SRK Consulting South Africa (Pty) Ltd (SRK) has been appointed as the independent Environmental Assessment Practitioner (EAP) to conduct a Basic Assessment (BA), WUL Application (WULA) and associated public participation process in accordance with the relevant legislation.

Hard copies of the Draft BA Report (DBAR) will be available for viewing at the following locations:

 

Public Place: Govan Mbeki Local Municipality office

Locality: 47 Chris Hani St, Bethal

Telephone: 017 624 3029

 

Public Place: Kriel Public Library

Locality: c/o Quintin & Heinrich St, Kriel

Telephone: 017 648 6249

 

Interested and affected parties are invited to register and comment on the DBAR for a period of 30 days from 19 September to 20 October 2023

If you want to ask a question, comment, or raise a concern, you can contact SRK by telephone or email at 011 441 1203 or ganel@srk.co.za