ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORT for EXCLUSIVE PROSPECTIVE Licenses (Epls) 6561 & 5992 OTJOZONDJUPA REGION
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EIA for Exploration Activities EPL6561 & 5992 held by Kunene Resources (Pty) Ltd April 2019 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORT FOR EXCLUSIVE PROSPECTIVE LICENSEs (EPLs) 6561 & 5992 OTJOZONDJUPA REGION April 2019 Prepared by: Philip Hooks p.1 EIA for Exploration Activities EPL6561 & 5992 held by Kunene Resources (Pty) Ltd April 2019 p.2 EIA for Exploration Activities EPL6561 & 5992 held by Kunene Resources (Pty) Ltd April 2019 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Kunene Resources (Pty) Ltd holds EPLs 6561 & 5992 which are roughly 164 939 hectares in extent located on communal land south and east of Grootfontein town. The licenses are granted for the exploration of precious metals, base and rare metals, dimensions stones as well as industrial minerals. This Environmental Impact Assessment Report, once complete, will be submitted for an application for Environmental Clearance to conduct mineral exploration work. In this document the receiving environment is described, the envisaged activities are listed and described and the potential environmental impacts are explained. A Draft Environmental Management Plan has been compiled for Ministry approval. The EIA Report & Draft EMP describes mitigations to be applied, the aspects to be monitored and reported on, as well as delegate responsibilities to designated officials. Interested and Affected Parties are hereby requested to review the Draft EIA Report and Draft EMP and provided input prior to the submission of this report to the Ministry of Environment and Tourism. The potential environmental impacts were assessed as being of medium to low significance if the suggested mitigations are strictly implemented. Stakeholder relations must be well developed, and specific conditions adhered to as per any negotiations with the interested and affected parties. p.3 EIA for Exploration Activities EPL6561 & 5992 held by Kunene Resources (Pty) Ltd April 2019 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................ 3 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 6 2 OBJECTIVES ....................................................................................................................................... 7 3 ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK ....................................................................... 8 4 PROJECT MOTIVATION ............................................................................................................... 10 5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY .................................................................................................................. 10 6 PROJECT DESCRIPTION ............................................................................................................... 11 6.1 PROSPECTING.................................................................................................................................................................. 11 6.2 EXPLORATION DRILLING, SAMPLE EXTRACTION AND ANALYSIS ...................................................................................... 12 6.3 PITTING, TRENCHING, BULK SAMPLING AND TRIAL MINING ........................................................................................... 13 7 DESCRIPTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT................................................................................... 15 7.1 LOCATION ....................................................................................................................................................................... 15 7.2 GEOLOGICAL SETTING ..................................................................................................................................................... 16 7.3 CLIMATE .......................................................................................................................................................................... 17 7.3.1 Rainfall and Temperature ..................................................................................................................................... 17 7.3.2 Topography and hydrology/drainage ................................................................................................................... 18 7.4 BIOLOCAL ENVIRONMENT ............................................................................................................................................... 20 7.5 SOCIO-ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT ................................................................................................................................. 22 8 STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION .............................................................................................. 24 9 IMPACT ASSESSMENT .................................................................................................................. 26 10 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN ............................................................................... 51 11 REPORTING AND MONITORING ................................................................................................ 51 12 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................... 52 13 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................... 52 APPENDIX A: PROOFS OF ECC APPLICATION REGISTRATIONS & EPL LICENCES ........ 53 APPENDIX B: PUBLIC PARTICIPATION DOCUMENTS ............................................................... 77 APPENDIX C: DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR KUNENE RESOURCES (PTY) LTD WITHIN EPLS 6561 & 5992 ............................................................. 105 p.4 EIA for Exploration Activities EPL6561 & 5992 held by Kunene Resources (Pty) Ltd April 2019 Table of Tables Table 1: List of laws applicable to the EIA for EPLs 6561 & 5992 ........................................................ 8 Table 2. International law to which Namibia is signatory .................................................................... 10 Table 3. Climatic data provided by national database .......................................................................... 18 Table 4. General Flora Data (Atlas of Namibia) .................................................................................... 20 Table 5. General Fauna Data (Atlas of Namibia)................................................................................... 25 Table 6: Assessment methodology for evaluating potential impacts .................................................... 26 Table 7: Dust Impacts ............................................................................................................................... 29 Table 8: Noise Impacts ............................................................................................................................. 31 Table 9: Health & Safety Impacts ........................................................................................................... 33 Table 10: Health & Safety Impacts ......................................................................................................... 35 Table 11: Visual Impacts .......................................................................................................................... 38 Table 12: Land Use Impact ...................................................................................................................... 40 Table 13: Waste Impact ............................................................................................................................ 41 Table 14: Ecological Impacts ................................................................................................................... 43 Table 15. Groundwater and Surface Water Impacts ............................................................................ 45 Table 16. Heritage ..................................................................................................................................... 48 Table 17: Socio-Economic Impact ........................................................................................................... 52 Table of Figures Figure 1: Location of EPLs 6561 & 5992 within Northern Namibia and Otjozondjupa Region, and their relative size. ...................................................................................................................... 6 Figure 2: Maps of EPLs with corner coordinates. ................................................................................. 16 Figure 3. Map of the river systems of the Otjozondjupa Region relative to the EPLs ....................... 19 Figure 4. Map showing registered boreholes of the Omatako River Catchment within EPL6561 and registered boreholes within EPL5992 ................................................................................... 19 Figure 5. A map of the farms found within EPLs 6561 and 5992. ........................................................ 23 p.5 EIA for Exploration Activities EPL6561 & 5992 held by Kunene Resources (Pty) Ltd April 2019 1 INTRODUCTION Kunene Resources Namibia (Pty) Ltd is planning to carry out exploration activities on their Exclusive Prospecting License (EPL) 6561 & 5992, located in Otjozondjupa region, Grootfontein magisterial district, registration division B; south and east of Grootfontein. The two EPLs are roughly 164 939 hectares