B.B MINERALS (SG RAIA) SDN. BHD. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORT CHAPTER 3 EXISTING ENVIRONMENT 3.1 INTRODUCTION This chapter shall look on physical environment of the Project site and its surrounding environment. The sources mainly from various published reports, authority data, articles and maps. Field works to determine the baseline values have also been undertaken for verification and confirmation purposes. 3.2 TOPOGRAPHY Topographical feature of extraction area on lot 177251 of the Project site is located in limestone hill area as northeast part of Gunung Lanno formation. The nearest prominent peak is Gunung Lanno (407 meter) about 500 meter southwest of the Project boundary. The Project site is generally consisting of undulated sloping limestone hill with elevation ranging from 80 meter to 200 meter above mean sea level (MSL). The contour relatively decline from north to south direction with limestone wall majority nearby of the boundaries except on east and part of north sections which is continued with attached hill formation. Flat land is very limited and just at toe of the limestone wall. The other lots for processing, stockpiles and administrative areas, the lands are totally under flat land formation. On the surrounding areas, topographical profile of the areas is relatively part of the same hill formation with north part of the hill currently developed by operating quarries. The flat land is available on vicinity of the surrounding limestone hills. At further distance, similar environment exist with another formation of limestone hills on the northeast and granite hills on the east. Generally, the regional topographical plan of the surrounding Project site is depicted in Figure 3-1. 3.3 GEOLOGY The Project site is located on an area where the regional rock type is limestone bedrock and limestone hills formation. It was observed during the field study that the limestone pinnacles are well exposed in some part of the hills with several quarrying operation progressively done. In order to obtain a proper understanding of the geology of the Project site, the regional geological setting includes the Gunung Lanno is shown in Figure 3-2. The limestone bedrock stretches eastwards from Ipoh town across Gunung Datuk to the hilly terrain of Gunung Lampas and the headwaters of Sungai Raia and Sungai Anak Ayer China. The area also covers southwards region past Simpang Pulai area and Gunung Lanno down to Gopeng area. Geomorphologically, the immediate area to the Project site are consists of the following features: 1. The low-lying floor of Kinta Valley, west of a north-south line defined by Gunung Rapat, Gunung Tunggal and Gunung Lengkun. AMEC1013-EIA12-01 Page 3-1 B.B MINERALS (SG RAIA) SDN. BHD. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORT F3-1 – Topography map AMEC1013-EIA12-01 Page 3-2 B.B MINERALS (SG RAIA) SDN. BHD. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORT F3-2 – Regional geological map AMEC1013-EIA12-01 Page 3-3 B.B MINERALS (SG RAIA) SDN. BHD. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORT 2. A number of isolated, pinnacle hills with precipitous sides (mogotes) that stand out prominently above the valley floor. Deep hollows or 'wangs' caused by solution are present within these hills. 3. The rugged and mountainous terrain to the east is Gunung Terendum separated by a low land where the North-South Highway is located. The rock types found in the regional area are mostly limestone with very subordinate amount of schist, and phyllite. These rocks belong to one of two lithostratigraphic units of the Kinta Limestone. The Kinta Limestone It is a predominantly calcareous unit that underlies the plains of Kinta Valley and is also well exposed in the prominent pinnacle hills (mentioned above), that stand out from the low lying areas of the valley. This unit consists mainly of pure crystalline, whitish to pale grey limestone/marble with a fine to coarse-grained texture. Mineralogically, calcite is the predominant species. Darker grey rocks to almost dark varieties occur where carbonaceous or argillaceous materials are present. The best exposures of Kinta Limestone are at Gunung Datuk, Gunung Terendum, Gunung Lanno, Gunung Rapat, Gunung Keroh, Gunung Kerang Besar and Gunung Kerang Kecil. Elsewhere in the flat areas, except in localities where tin mining has removed the overburden, limestone are not so well exposed. Minor pelitic rocks like schist and phyllite are interbedded in the limestone and become prominent enough to be mapped in a few localities as in the following: 1. A narrow tract between Gunung Terendum and the adjacent granite hills. 2. An area of less than 3.3 square km west of Gunung Rapat. 3. Two narrow tracts east and west of the southern part of Gunung Datuk. Kinta Limestone has previously been called 'Calcareous Series' by Ingham & Bradford (1960) who assigned a Carboniferous age to it, based on correlation with similar rocks of this age in Pahang. This unit was later renamed Kinta Limestone and its age revised to Silurian-Permian, based on more reliable correlation with similar rocks in Chemor, Batu Gajah and Kampar. At Chemor (Gunung Kanthan), conodont microfossils indicate a Silurian-Devonian age while many species of macrofossils ranging from corals- gastropods-brachiopods-nautiloids at Batu Gajah and at Kampar indicate a Devonian - Carboniferous-Permian age. The Kinta Limestone extends north where it peters out near Sungai Siput. Towards the south in Tanjung Tualang area it has also been called 'Tualang Limestone'. 3.3.1 Local Geology The Project site is located at north part of Gunung Lanno and its surrounding area, which is made up entirely of the crystalline limestone/marble component of the Kinta Limestone. At this hill the rock consists entirely of massive, recrystallised limestone/marble of a white to grey colour with some dark colour and minor pink varieties. Its texture ranges from fine to medium to coarse-grained. Whether fine or coarse-grained, most have a homogenous texture; pattern textured types are present only in lesser. In terms of chemical composition this limestone is of the high calcium, low magnesium and low iron type and therefore has a very wide range of uses. Due to their favourable chemical composition of the rocks of the hills, the limestone hills areas are well known for their commercial use. The relatively number of existing quarries and approved Project areas, both of which cover a large part of the entire acreage of the hill, are evidences of this. The known uses of this limestone include rock aggregates for construction, terrazzo; ornamental stones such as vases, table tops, floor tiles; calcium carbonate powders for pharmaceuticals, fillers, paints, paper; quicklime and cement manufacturing. The derived products are of a quality acceptable for the export market. AMEC1013-EIA12-01 Page 3-4 B.B MINERALS (SG RAIA) SDN. BHD. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORT 3.4 SOILS The Great Soil Group classified by Panton (1964) has given a broad description of Malaysian soils. More detailed description was done by Leamy and Panton (1966) where soil in Peninsular Malaysia has been divided conveniently into four major groups which are Steepland Soils, Sedimentary Soils, Alluvial Soils, Peats and Organic Soils. Based on Malaysian soil map produced by the Department of Agriculture, the primary soil of the extraction area of the Project site falls into Steepland soils category, a regular soil found in mountainous range. Soil in vicinity of the hilly area and other quarry facilities area consists mainly of sand, clay and sandy clay of alluvial Holyrood – Lunas type of soil which mainly occurs in between of intermediate and higher terraces land. Regional soil setting of the Project is shown in Figure 3-3. Description of those soil type categories is as follows; Steepland Category Areas with slopes in excess of 38% are designated as steepland on the soil map. In fact, the extraction area of the Project site is marked as steepland in the soil map. These areas are considered to be unsuitable for agricultural development as they are subjected to severe soil erosion when cleared for development. Holyrood-Lunas Category The main properties of Holyrood Series are yellowish brown to brownish yellow with soil structures in form of coarse clayey sand and mainly found on sub recent terraces in the Peninsular Malaysia. The soil size is small at a lower grade. It is medium impermeable and mostly occurs at flat to undulated terrain. Under USDA Soil Taxonomy, the series specifications are Typic Kondudult, fine loamy, kaolinitic and isohyperthermic. Normally, this soil type is applicable for plantation such as oil palm, cocoa, rubber trees, coconut, fruits and also short term plantation. 3.5 CLIMATE The Project area experiences an equatorial type of climate, which is characterized by warm and humid weather all the year round. As with the rest of the country, it is under the influence of Asian Monsoon system. There are two distinct monsoon seasons, the Northeast Monsoon (from November to March) and the Southwest Monsoon (from May to September) between which are the inter-monsoon or transition months. 3.5.1 Source of Data No meteorological observations are available at the Project site. However, Malaysian Meteorological Department has maintained a principal meteorological station at Ipoh station as representative for the Project site meteorological observation. The station is located at latitude N 040 34', longitude E 1010 06' at elevation 40.1 meter above mean sea level (MSL). The meteorological data taken at the station include surface winds, temperature, rainfall and relative humidity as attached in Appendix 3-1. 3.5.2 Rainfall The average annual rainfall measured at Ipoh station for 30 years period in between of 1982 until 2011 is about 2,631.2 mm. The lowest level of 1,827.7 mm and highest level of 3,528.8 mm was recorded in 1992 and 2008, respectively.