Sibanye Gold Limited (Sibanye-Stillwater): Proposed closure of the underground workings for Ezulwini Operations – Appeal Decision & Additional Requirements
05/03/2020
Ezulwini Mining Company (Pty) Ltd
PROPOSED CESSATION OF PUMPING AND ASSOCIATED DECOMMISSIONING OF THE UNDERGROUND WORKINGS OF THE EZULWINI MINING COMPANY (PTY) LTD (EMC) (COOKE 4 SHAFT), GAUTENG
MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS APPEAL DECISION AND ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
Ezulwini Mining Company (Pty) Ltd (“EMC”) appealed to the Minister of Environmental Affairs (“Appeal Authority”) against the Regional Manager: Mineral Regulation for the Gauteng Regional office of the Department of Mineral Resources’ (“DMR”) negative environmental authorisation decision dated 30 April 2018. EMC’s application to the DMR was for the decommissioning of the underground mine workings and associated cessation of pumping operations at Ezulwini mine, Gauteng Province under reference GP 30/5/1/2/2 (38) MR. The Appeal Authority issued a decision on the appeal on 6 March 2019, received on 11 March 2019, which was duly made available for public review on our website at https://www.jaws-int.compublic-document/sibanye-gold-limited-sibanye-stillwater-proposed-closure-of-the-underground-workings-for-ezulwini-operations-ea-appeal-decision/ on 15 March 2019.
Based on the appeal decision, the DMR issued a letter to the EMC on 19 March 2019 (a copy of the letter and its attachments are included below) directing EMC to:
- Submit four hard copies of the Final Basic Assessment (FBAR) and appendices to the DMR, for distribution to the commenting authorities,
- Conduct a further consultation process with the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) the Principal Inspector of Mines (PIOM) and the Council for Geoscience to solicit comments, and
- Determine the financial provision that caters for any environmental liability, pollution or ecological degradation, the pumping and treatment of polluted or extraneous water, and the management and sustainable closure of the mine.
Further to the above, all registered Interested and Affected parties are granted another 30 calendar days (excluding public holidays) to comment on the FBAR and appendices, as well as the following additional documents:
In addition to the documents listed in the above table, an updated financial provision estimate has been included in the submission, for review.
The public review period will be from 16 April 2019 to 20 May 2019.
The FBAR and appendices, as well as the additional documents listed in the table above, can be found below.
Please forward any comments you may have to Jones & Wagener at gina@jaws.co.za and/or vanzyl@jaws.co.za.
After the commenting period, all the comments received, including the minutes of the meetings with the DWS, PIOM and Council for Geoscience, will be collated in a Supplementary Comments and Response Report and submitted to the DMR. The Comments and Response Report will also be made available for public review and additional comments on the Supplementary Comments and Response Report may be submitted directly to the DMR at that time.
(as submitted and made publically available on 12 October 2017)
Appendix F – Public Participation Documents
Appendix H4 - Cooke 3 Risk Assessment and Cooke 3 Emergency Response Plan 3 MB 13 downloads
...WUL Amendment
DMR Directive
Appendix A
Appendix B