Hillside Aluminium Section 21 Minimum Emission Standard Amendment

South32 Limited (South32) is a global mining and metals company producing a range of metallurgical commodities. Their Hillside Aluminium (Pty) Ltd (Hillside) facility, located in Richards Bay, South Africa, is the largest aluminium smelter in the southern hemisphere.

Hillside Aluminium (Pty) Ltd (Hillside) intends to lodge an application for a Minimum Emission Standard (MES) amendment for hydrogen fluoride (HF) emissions from their Primary Aluminium Production facility in Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal. The application is made in terms of Section 12(A) of the Listed Activities and Associated Minimum Emission Standards (GNR 893 of 2013, as amended) identified in terms of Section 21 of the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act, 2004 (Act No. 39 of 2004).

The application in made in respect of plant stacks regulated under Listed Activity Category 4 (Metallurgical Industry) Subcategory 4.3: Primary Aluminium Production.

SLR Consulting (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd (SLR), an independent firm of Environmental Assessment Practitioners, has been appointed by South32 to manage the Minimum Emission Standard Amendment process.

Status

Notice is hereby given, in terms of the EIA Regulations, 2014 promulgated under NEMA, that the Atmospheric Impact Report prepared for the above-mentioned project has been made available for a 30-day public review and comment period from 21 November 2025 – 12 January 2026. 

Should you and/or your organisation wish to comment on any aspect of the Atmospheric Impact Report, comments should be forwarded to SLR at the email address and telephone number shown above. For comments to be included in the Atmospheric Impact Report prepared for the decision-making purposes, they should reach SLR by no later than 12 January 2026.

By providing your personal information to submit a comment, you will be included in the SLR an Interested and Affected Party (I&AP) database, and you consent to SLR managing your information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013. It is assumed that as an I&AP for this Project you authorise SLR to retain and use your Personal Information as part of a contact database for this and/or other Social and Environmental Impact Assessments (ESIA) and that you confirm your acceptance for SLR to contact you regarding this and/or other ESIA processes. SLR will not process your Personal Information, other than as permitted or required by ESIA processes, or as required by law or public policy. SLR will use reasonable, appropriate security safeguards to protect Personal Information, and to reasonably prevent any damage to, loss of, or unauthorised access or disclosure of Personal Information, other than as required for ESIA processes or as required by any Law or public policy. You may request for your Personal Information to be deleted from the I&AP database at any time by contacting SLR.