Marula Platinum - The proposed establishment of a 33 MW Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Facility at the Marula Mine, Limpopo Province

Marula, an existing platinum producer and a subsidiary of Impala Platinum Holdings Limited, owns and operates Marula Mine. The Marula Mine is situated along the R37, approximately 30 km to the north-west of the town Burgersfort and has been operational since 2001. The mine holds the following authorization:

A converted Mining Right 42/2008 (Ref No.: LP 30/5/1/2/2/61 MR), issued by the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) in January 2008.

• A converted Mining Right 23/2008 (/ref: LP 30/5/1/2/2/63 MR), held under Cession 32/2008, issued by the DMR in January 2008.
• An Environmental Authorisation (Ref No.: 16/1/7/2-GS29) issued by the Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism on 16 September 2008 and an approved amended Environmental Management Programme report (EMPr) (Ref No.: 6/2/2/649EM) issued by the Department of Minerals and Energy on 24 January 2008 for the extension of the Merensky operations.
• An amended EMPr (Ref No.: LP30/5/1/3/2/1(61) EM and LP30/5/1/3/2/1(63) EM) issued by the DMR on 10 June 2014 for the proposed tailings scavenger plant, two additional ventilation shafts and the extension of underground mining activities.
• An Integrated Water Use License (IWUL) (Ref No.: 06/B71E/GACIJ/8841) issued by the Department of Water and Sanitation on 29 March 2019.

An Environmental Authorisation (Ref No.: LP30/5/2/3/2/1 (061& 063) EM ) issued by the Department of Minerals and Energy on 11 October 2022 for additional infrastructure at the Marula Mine.

Marula now proposes to change their approved surface infrastructure layout, through the establishment of a Solar Photovoltaic (PV) facility, with a generation capacity of up to 33 Megawatt (MW), within its existing Mining Right Area (MRA) for self-generation only (the solar PV facility is hereafter referred to as the proposed Project, or just Project). The proposed solar PV facility will be connected through the expansion of the Marula Mine’s existing transmission infrastructure and substation.

Prior to the commencement of the proposed Project, the following is required:

• An amended EMPr in terms of Section 102 of the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002 (No. 28 of 2002) (MPRDA)from the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE).
• An EA is required in terms of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (No. 107 of 1998) (NEMA).

In order to apply for the above listed authorisations, a Scoping and Environmental Impact Assessment process is required. SLR Consulting (Africa) (Pty) Ltd (SLR), is an independent firm of Environmental Assessment Practitioners, that has been appointed by Marula to manage the environmental authorisation process.

The proposed Project will also require an amendment to the existing IWUL from the DWS for specific water uses listed under Section 21 of the National Water Act, 1998 (No. 36 of 1998) (NWA). It is important to note, that this will be managed through a separate process and does not form part of this application.

Status

Notice is hereby given, in terms of the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations, 2014 (GN R 982 of 2014) (EIA Regulations, 2014) promulgated under NEMA, that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report prepared for the above-mentioned proposed Project is available for a 30-day public review and comment period from 23 August 2023 – 21 September 2023.

Should you and/or your organization wish to comment on any aspect of the EIA report, comments should be forwarded to SLR at the email address and telephone number shown above. For comments to be included in the EIA prepared for the decision-making purposes, they should reach SLR by no later than 21 September 2023.

By providing your personal information to submit a comment, you will be included in the SLR database as an Interested and Affected Party (I&AP), 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.