Black Mountain Mining – Proposed Eskom Aggeneys Substation Expansion, Northern Cape

Black Mountain Mining (Pty) Ltd operate the Gamsberg Zinc Mine within the Khâi-Ma Local Municipality, Namakwa District in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. One of the key pieces of infrastructure for the opencast Gamsberg Zinc Mine is the Gamsberg Smelter which processes 680 000 tpa of zinc concentrate to produce special high-grade zinc metal (zinc-in-concentrate).

The ESKOM grid substation nearest to the plant site is the Aggeneys substation which now requires minor upgrades to be able to supply the approved Gamsberg Smelter power requirements.

Prior to the commencement of the proposed Project, an environmental authorisation (EA) in terms of the NEMA for activities in Listing Notice 1 and 3, 2014 (GN R 983 and R 985 of 2014) from the Northern Cape Department of Agriculture, Environmental Affairs, Rural Development and Land Reform (DAEARDLR) is required. The Regulations being followed are the EIA Regulations, 2014 (GN R 982 of 2014). The environmental assessment process includes an application phase and a Basic Assessment Process to apply for the EA in terms of the EIA Regulations, 2014.

SLR Consulting (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd (SLR), an independent firm of Environmental Assessment Practitioners, has been appointed by Black Mountain Mining (Pty) Ltd to manage the environmental authorisation process.

Status

Notice is hereby given of the intention to make an application for Environmental Authorisation and undertake a public participation process in terms of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Regulations, 2014 (GN R 982 of 2014) promulgated in terms of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (No. 107 of 1998) (NEMA).

A Background Information Document is available for download below in English and Afrikaans.

If you register and supply your contact details as an I&AP for this Project, you will be included in the SLR I&AP database. 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 EIA and that you confirm your acceptance for SLR to contact you regarding this and/or other EIA processes. SLR will not process your Personal Information, other than as permitted or required by EIA processes, or as required by law or public policy. SLR will use reasonable, appropriate security safeguards in order 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 EIA 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.