SERITI COAL (PTY) LTD: ARNOT COLLIERY NOTICE OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL AUTHORISATON APPLICATION FOR THE PROPOSED MINING RIGHT RENEWAL APPLICATION FOR ARNOT COLLIERY

This letter gives notice to potential Interested and Affected Parties (“I&APs”) about where information can be obtained in respect of the Environmental Authorisation (“EA”) Variation applications, as well as the opportunity I&APs have to comment on the draft Scoping Report.

BACKGROUND TO THE PROJECT

Arnot Colliery is the holder of the converted Mining Right (Reference No: MP 30/5/1/2/2/410 MR).  The Mine was constructed in the early 1970’s to supply a total of 6,18 million run of mine tons of coal per annum to the Arnot Power Station, comprising of 1,98 million tons from an underground mine and 4,20 million tons from an opencast mine. The Mine exploited bituminous coal from two pits, namely Pit 1 and Pit 2 (West and East).  Mining of the open cast pits ceased in 1992, followed by backfilling and rehabilitation. Arnot Colliery proposes to renew their existing Mining Right and mine Seam 4 (S4L&S4UA), 2 seam and 1 seam situated on Braamspruit 465 JS, Arnot West 983 JS and Tweefontein Farms through the open cast and underground mining Methods.

LOCATION OF THE PROJECT

The Arnot Colliery is located on farm Portion Braamspruit 465 JS, Portion of Arnot West 983 JS, A Portion of Portions RE 2, 3, 5 and 11 of Bosmansspruit, A Portion of Farm RE Bult en Dal 997 JS and a Portion of Portions RE 1, 2, 4 and 5. The Arnot Colliery is approximately 43 km by road from Middleburg, 65 km from Carolina and 25 Km from Hendrina within Steve Tshwete Local Municipality, Nkangala District Municipality in the Mpumalanga Province.

LEGISLATIVE REQUIREMENTS

Procedure applied to the application

The proposed Renewal of the Mining Right will trigger the following authorisation processes:

• A Scoping and Environmental Impact Assessment (“S&EIA”) is required in compliance with the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998) (“NEMA”) and the NEMA Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations, 2014 (GN R982 of 4 December 2014) (“GN R982”), as amended.
• The National Environmental Management Waste Act, 2008 (Act No.59 of 2008) (NEMWA) for the authorisation of waste management activities contained in GNR 921 of 29 November 2013 (GNR 921), as amended, published in terms of Section 19(2) of the NEMWA.
• Water Use Licence (“WUL”) in terms of the National Water Act, 1998 (Act 36 of 1998), Section 21 (a), (b), (c), (g), (i) and (j).

Applications submitted to competent authority

The application for an EA and WML was submitted to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy on 30 August 2023.

Listed activities applied to the application.

The listed activities that are being applied for include NEMA  GNR 983 Listing Notice 1: Activity 9, Activity 10, Activity 11, Activity 12, Activity 14, Activity 19, Activity 21D, Activity 24, Activity 25; GNR 984  Listing Notice 2: Activity 6, Activity 15,  GNR 985 Listing Notice 3 : Activity 12,Activity 14 and Activity 18; NEM: WA Category B Activity 10 and Activity 11 and NWA Section 21 (a), (b), (c), (g),(i) and (j).

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

South Africans have a right to be informed about potential decisions that may affect them and to be afforded an opportunity to influence those decisions. This advertisement forms part of a Public Participation Process as part of the project. It describes the various components of the project to enable I&APs to get a better understanding of the potential environmental and social impacts that could be expected from the proposed project. It also outlines the process and the opportunities for the public to become involved during the study.

Register as an Interested and Affected Party (I&AP)

You may register as an I&AP. To register as an I&AP of this project, or to obtain more information or submit comments, please request a Registration Form from Shangoni and return it together with any comments to Shangoni by no later than Tuesday, 03 October   2023 at the details provided below.

Availability of the draft Scoping Report

The draft Scoping Report will be made available to the public for review for a period of 30 days from 01 September to 03 October 2023 at the following public viewing stations: Alzu Community Hall and Middleburg Library, and on the Shangoni’s website (www.shangoni.co.za). E-mail or fax your comments to Shangoni (details provided below) by no later than

Where to obtain more information

To obtain additional information please contact the EAP at the details provided below.

Environmental Assessment Practitioner (EAP): Shangoni Management Services (Pty) Ltd

Contact person: Seli Mahlangu

Tel: 012 807 7036

Cell: 076 025 8684

E-mail: seli@shangoni.co.za

Fax: 012 807 1014

Postal Address: P. O. Box 74726, Lynnwood Ridge, 0040