PROPOSED MAIZE WET MILL PLANT, VEREENIGING, GAUTENG PROVINCE Basic Assessment Report Erf 188 and a portion of Portion 237 of the farm Leeuwkuil 596 IQ Prepared for: Project Jordan Holding Company (Pty) Ltd GDARD Reference No.: Gaut 002/18-19/E2290 SLR Project No. 720.19124.00001 November 2018 For Interested and Affected Party Review Proposed Maize Wet Mill Plant, Vereeniging, Gauteng Province November 2018 DOCUMENT INFORMATION Title Proposed Maize Wet Mill Plant, Vereeniging, Gauteng Province Applicant Project Jordan Holding Company (Pty) Ltd Project Manager Alex Pheiffer Project Manager e-mail [email protected] Authority Reference No. GDARD: Gaut 002/18-19/E2290 SLR Project No. 720.19124.00001 Keywords Maize wet mill, Emfuleni, Sedibeng, Vereeniging, Basic Assessment, environmental authorisation, controlled emitter Report Date November 2018 Report Status For Interested and Affected Party Review REPORT COMPILATION REPORT COMPILED BY: Alex Pheiffer ………………………………………………… Alex Pheiffer Senior Environmental Consultant REPORT REVIEWED BY: Jonathan Crowther ………………………………………………… Jonathan Crowther EMPA: Operations Manager BASIS OF REPORT This document has been prepared by an SLR Group company with reasonable skill, care and diligence, and taking account of the manpower, timescales and resources devoted to it by agreement with Project Jordan Holding Company (Pty) for part or all of the services it has been appointed by the Client to carry out. It is subject to the terms and conditions of that appointment. SLR shall not be liable for the use of or reliance on any information, advice, recommendations and opinions in this document for any purpose by any person other than the Client. Reliance may be granted to a third party only in the event that SLR and the third party have executed a reliance agreement or collateral warranty. Information reported herein may be based on the interpretation of public domain data collected by SLR, and/or information supplied by the Client and/or its other advisors and associates. These data have been accepted in good faith as being accurate and valid. SLR disclaims any responsibility to the Client and others in respect of any matters outside the agreed scope of the work. The copyright and intellectual property in all drawings, reports, specifications, bills of quantities, calculations and other information set out in this report remain vested in SLR unless the terms of appointment state otherwise. This document may contain information of a specialised and/or highly technical nature and the Client is advised to seek clarification on any elements which may be unclear to it. Information, advice, recommendations and opinions in this document should only be relied upon in the context of the whole document and any documents referenced explicitly herein and should then only be used within the context of the appointment. i Proposed Maize Wet Mill Plant, Vereeniging, Gauteng Province November 2018 PROPOSED MAIZE WET MILL PLANT, VEREENIGING, GAUTENG PROVINCE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction The applicant, Project Jordan Holding Company (Pty) Ltd, is facilitating the environmental application process for the proposed maize wet mill plant which would be developed and operated as a majority Black Owned (>51%) plant. The proposed maize wet mill plant would be located on Erf 188 of Leeuwkuil Ext 5 and a portion of Portion 237 of the farm Leeuwkuil 596 IQ, on Stout Close (off Lager Road) in the Emfuleni Local Municipality in the Sedibeng District Municipality. The proposed plant would occupy an area of approximately 16.2 ha. The proposed wet mill plant would process raw non-GMO maize to produce glucose and starch products. Glucose and starch are used as ingredients in the manufacturing of beverage and food products. A number of by-products would also be produced that can be used for animal feed or in the paper and textile industry. The proposed plant would have a capacity to process between 1 200 and 2 000 tons of maize per day. The development and operation of the proposed maize wet mill plant includes activities listed under the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Regulations 2014 (as amended), promulgated in terms of Chapter 5 of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (No. 107 of 1998) (NEMA). Such listed activities are prohibited from commencing until authorisation is obtained from the competent authority, which in this case is the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD). The activities that are triggered require a Basic Assessment (BA) process to inform the GDARD’s decision on the application for environmental authorisation. In addition, the proposed project also requires authorisation from the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) for specific water uses under Section 21 of the National Water Act, 1998 (No. 36 of 1998) (NWA). SLR Consulting (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd (SLR) has been appointed as the independent environmental consultant to undertake the BA process for the proposed maize wet mill plant. This executive summary provides a synopsis of the Basic Assessment Report (BAR). Opportunity to comment on the bar This BAR has been distributed for a 30-day comment period from 09 November to 10 December 2018 in order to provide Interested and Affected Parties (I&APs) with an opportunity to comment on any aspect of the proposed project and the findings of the BA process. Copies of the full report have been made available on the SLR website (at https://slrconsulting.com/za/slr-documents/) and at the Vereeniging Public Library. Electronic copies (compact disk) of the report can be requested from SLR, at the contact details provided below. Any comments should be forwarded to SLR at the contact details provided below. For comments to be included in the updated BAR that is submitted to GDARD for decision-making, comments should reach SLR by no later than 10 December 2018. SLR Consulting (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd Attention: Alex Pheiffer or Clive Phashe PO Box 1596, Cramerview 2060 (if using post please call SLR to notify us of your submission) Tel: (011) 467 0945 Fax: (011) 467 0978 E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected] ii Proposed Maize Wet Mill Plant, Vereeniging, Gauteng Province November 2018 Basic Assessment process Steps undertaken to date during the Basic Assessment process are outlined below. An I&AP database has been compiled using information obtained during a social scan of the project area, a deed search of adjacent landowners, responses to the advertisements, site notices and notification letter, and attendance at meetings. A notification background information document (BID) was distributed for a 30-day registration and comment period. Press advertisements were placed in two local newspapers (namely Sedibeng Ster and Vereeniging Ster). Site notices were placed at the site boundary and along Lager Road. Focused stakeholder meetings and a public information sharing meeting were held. An application form and declaration of interest were submitted to GDARD. Specialist input was provided on the likely impact of the proposed project on the biophysical, socio- economic and cultural aspects of the environment. Draft BAR has been made available to I&APs for a 30-day comment period. A copy of the executive summary was enclosed with the notification letter sent to all I&APs registered on the project database. The following steps will be undertaken in the remainder of the Basic Assessment process: All comments received during the review period will be included in the BAR submitted to GDARD for consideration and decision-making. After GDARD has reached a decision, all I&APs on the project database will be notified of the outcome of the application and the reasons for the decision and the statutory appeal period. Project timelines Should environmental authorisation be granted it is anticipated that construction of the facility would take approximately two years to complete. The intended timing is to start with detailed design and construction in second quarter of 2019. Construction activities are expected to take place 24 hours a day for seven days a week. Construction facilities would be removed at the end of the construction phase (unless incorporated into the operational phase facilities). The plant is expected to be operational by Year 2021. The minimum operational life of the plant would be for 20 years, however, the opportunity exists to extend this period. The plant would operate 24 hrs a day, with 4 x 8 hour continuous shifts to allow for a changeover of shifts without interrupting the processing operations. Overview of the project The plant would process a maximum of 2 000 tons per day of non-GMO maize which would be cleaned, steeped, ground and refined to produce approximately 1 710 tons of glucose and starch products as well as various by-products (corn oil, fibre, gluten, and germ). A conceptual process flow is provided below. iii Proposed Maize Wet Mill Plant, Vereeniging, Gauteng Province November 2018 Main facilities associated with the proposed maize wet mill plant C - Contractors area - Security and access control - Corn off-loading, cleaning and storage silos - Steeping, milling and drying area - By-product load out area - Refinery plant, tank farm and load out area - Chemical intake and storage tanks - Warehouses and spent carbon storage area - Boiler house (including coal storage and dosing) - Access, weigh-bridges and guard houses - Internal roads - Workshops and truck wash O - Treatment plant (for water supply) - Waste