Fauna and Flora Baseline Study for the De Wittekrans Project Mpumalanga, South Africa Prepared for GCS (Pty) Ltd. By Resource Management Services (REMS) P.O. Box 2228, Highlands North, 2037, South Africa
[email protected] www.remans.co.za December 2008 I REMS December 2008 Fauna and Flora Assessment De Wittekrans Executive Summary Mashala Resources (Pty) Ltd is planning to develop a coal mine south of the town of Hendrina in the Mpumalanga province on a series of farms collectively known as the De Wittekrans project. In compliance with current legislation, they have embarked on the process to acquire environmental authorisation from the relevant authorities for their proposed mining activities. GCS (Pty) Ltd. commissioned Resource Management Services (REMS) to conduct a Faunal and Floral Assessment of the area to identify the potential direct and indirect impacts of future mining, to recommend management measures to minimise or prevent these impacts on these ecosystems and to highlight potential areas of conservation importance. This is the wet season survey which was done in the November 2008. The study area is located within the highveld grasslands of the Msukaligwa Local Municipality in the Gert Sibande District Municipality in Mpumalanga Province on the farms Tweefontein 203 IS (RE of Portion 1); De Wittekrans 218 IS (RE of Portion 1 and Portion 2, Portions 7, 11, 10 and 5); Groblershoek 191 IS; Groblershoop 192 IS; and Israel 207 IS. Within this region, precipitation occurs mainly in the summer months of October to March with the peak of the rainy season occurring from November to January.