ASSESSMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS ON FLORA BIODIVERSITY FOR THE INTENDED COAL OPENCAST BERENICE MINE, LIMPOPO PROVINCE The vegetation of the area of the proposed Berenice Opencast Coal Mine, Limpopo Province July 2016 Office 108, Domus Building, 57 Kasteel Street, Lynwood Glen, Pretoria, 0181. Tel: 073 406 8051/083 524 8738. Fax: 086 636 2035. Email: [email protected] The vegetation of the area of the proposed Berenice Opencast Coal Mine, Limpopo Province By GJ Bredenkamp DSc PrSciNat Compiled for EcoAgent CC PO Box 23355 Monument Park 0181 Tel 012 4602525 Fax 012 460 2525 Cell 082 5767046 Berenice July 2016 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE ..................................................................... 5 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................... 6 2 BACKGROUND AND ASSIGNMENT .............................................................. 10 2.1 Scope of the study ............................................................................ 10 2.2 Assumptions and Limitations ............................................................ 11 3 RATIONALE ..................................................................................................... 12 3.1 Definitions and Legal Framework ..................................................... 12 4 STUDY AREA .................................................................................................. 14 4.1 Location and the receiving environment ........................................... 14 4.2 Regional Climate .............................................................................. 18 4.3 Geology, Land types and Soil ........................................................... 18 4.4 Topography and drainage ................................................................. 18 4.5 Land-use ........................................................................................... 18 4.6 Regional Vegetation Types ............................................................... 18 4.7 Conservation Status ......................................................................... 18 5 METHODS ........................................................................................................ 19 5.1 Initial preparations: ........................................................................... 19 5.2 Site visit and vegetation survey ........................................................ 19 5.3 Ecological Sensitivity ........................................................................ 21 5.4 Plant Species Status ......................................................................... 22 5.5 Plant Species Richness .................................................................... 22 6 RESULTS: VEGETATION AND FLORA .......................................................... 23 6.1 Classification of the vegetation ......................................................... 23 6.2 Description of the plant communities ................................................ 23 6.2.1 Mixed Thornveld .................................................................................................. 26 6.2.2 Open Shrubveld ................................................................................................... 28 6.2.3 Open Calcareous Areas ...................................................................................... 30 6.2.4 Dense Calcareous Areas ..................................................................................... 31 6.2.5 Vegetation on small Hills ..................................................................................... 33 6.2.6 Dense Terminalia prunioides Bush on red sand ................................................. 35 6.2.7 Open Thornveld along Brak River ....................................................................... 37 6.2.8 Mixed Bushveld on yellow sand .......................................................................... 38 6.2.9 Mixed Mopaneveld ............................................................................................... 40 6.2.10 Old Fields ......................................................................................................... 43 6.2.11 Pan ................................................................................................................... 44 6.2.12 Brak River vegetation ...................................................................................... 45 6.3 Species of Conservation Concern .................................................... 48 6.4 Protected species ............................................................................. 48 6.5 Alien species ..................................................................................... 48 6.6 Medicinal plants ................................................................................ 50 6.7 Vegetation importance and Ecological sensitivity ............................. 50 7 IMPACT ASSESSMENT: IMPACTS ON VEGETATION AND FLORA............. 53 7.1 General Ecological impacts of coal mining ....................................... 53 7.1.1 Topography .......................................................................................................... 53 7.1.2 Soil ....................................................................................................................... 53 7.1.3 Animals and plants .............................................................................................. 53 7.1.4 Water ................................................................................................................... 54 Berenice July 2016 3 7.1.5 Air quality ............................................................................................................. 55 7.1.6 Noise .................................................................................................................... 55 7.2 Methods ............................................................................................ 55 7.3 Impacts on the vegetation and flora .................................................. 56 8 GENERAL DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ................................................ 60 9 REFERENCES ................................................................................................. 64 10 ABRIDGED CURRICULUM VITAE: ............................................................. 66 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1: THE LOCATION OF THE STUDY AREA (MAP PROVIDED BY ENVIRONET CONSULTING). .............................................................................................................. 16 FIGURE 2: THE PROPOSED INFRASTRUCTURE FOR THE MINE .................................... 17 FIGURE 3: VEGETATION MAP OF THE STUDY SITE ......................................................... 24 FIGURE 4: SENSITIVITY MAP OF THE STUDY SITE ........................................................... 25 FIGURE 5: (ENLARGED SITE LAYOUT) TO RELATE THE LAY-OUT PLAN WITH THE VEGETATION AND SENSITIVITY MAPS. ..................................................................... 26 LIST OF IMAGES IMAGE 1: THE MIXED THORNVELD ON THE SITE ............................................................. 27 IMAGE 2: AN EXAMPLE OF OPEN SHRUBVELD ................................................................. 29 IMAGE 3: EXAMPLE OF OPEN CALCAREOUS AREAS. ..................................................... 30 IMAGE 4:A COLLAGE OF DENSE CALCAREOUS BUSH .................................................... 33 IMAGE 5: THE DENSE BUSH ON THE HILLS ....................................................................... 33 IMAGE 6: A COLLAGE OF PHOTOS OF DENSE TERMINALIA PRUNIOIDES BUSH ON RED SAND ..................................................................................................................... 35 IMAGE 7: OPEN THORNVELD ON BRAK RIVER FLOODPLAINS ....................................... 38 IMAGE 8: MIXED BUSHVELD ON YELLOW SAND ............................................................... 39 IMAGE 9: MIXED MOPANEVELD ........................................................................................... 42 IMAGE 10: AN OLD FIELD ..................................................................................................... 44 IMAGE 11: THE PAN. NOTE THE DOMINANCE OF VACHELLIA TORTILIS ....................... 45 IMAGE 12: THE BRAK RIVER ................................................................................................ 47 LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1: THE FOLLOWING TWELVE VEGETATION MAPPING UNITS WERE IDENTIFIED WITHIN THE STUDY AREA: ............................................................................................ 7 TABLE 2: WEIGHTING SCORES. ......................................................................................... 21 TABLE 3: CATEGORIES OF PLANT SPECIES RICHNESS ARE AS FOLLOWS: ............... 22 TABLE 4: MAPPING UNITS .................................................................................................... 23 TABLE 5: MIXED THORNVELD SUMMARY .......................................................................... 27 TABLE 6: MIXED THORNVELD NUMBER OF SPECIES ...................................................... 28 TABLE 7: OPEN SHRUBVELD SUMMARY ........................................................................... 28 TABLE 8: OPEN SHRUBVELD NUMBER OF SPECIES........................................................ 29 TABLE 9:OPEN CALCAREOUS AREAS SUMMARY ...........................................................