African buzz
The BME team is well established in Zambia.
Blasting grows into DRC
Zambia’s copper mining focus is gradually shifting west from
Kitwe, Ndola, and Chingola to the growing operations at
Solwezi and Kalumbila, and further into the DRC. According
to Deon Pieterse, BME regional manager SADC, this is one
of the world’s most exciting regions for copper mining. “First
Quantum Minerals’ established Kansanshi mine and its large
new Sentinel mine — as well as Barrick’s Lumwana operation
— counts as some of the largest copper operations in Africa,”
says Pieterse.
“While we have on-site manufacturing plants at the larger
mines, the smaller mines are serviced from our plants in Ndola
and Lusaka,” Pieterse adds. Pieterse says that BME’s electronic
detonation systems have been well accepted in the Zambian
market, with some of the largest ever electronically initiated blasts
being conducted at Kansanshi mine in 2017. Kansanshi then
initiated 6 690 electronic delay detonators (EDDs) using BME’s
AXXIS digital initiation system.
Pieterse says that Zambia’s large copper mines remain at the
cutting edge of blasting practice. BME is currently making
its drone technology and high-speed photography available
to calculate rock response time and expects take-up to be
enthusiastic.
Compulsory community development for Malawi
A new Mining Act anticipated to be promulgated in Malawi
this year, will make it compulsory for all mining companies to
undertake Community Development Agreements (CDAs).
Describing it as an “important change”, Aecom senior
specialist Karien Lotter explains that companies must commit
a predetermined percentage of their profits to community
development. This can range from building infrastructure such
as roads, schools, and boreholes, to implementing education and
awareness programmes, or providing training. As an integrated
infrastructure delivery company, Aecom has experience in the full
suite of environmental and social assessments required for a variety
of permitting purposes, planning resettlements, and compiling
Resettlement Action Plans (RAPs) for development projects that
require land acquisition, and which will result in the displacement
of people and their assets.
“We also advise clients during the pre-construction phase about
environmentally- and socially-sound development options and
solutions,” says Lotter, whose speciality is the ‘social’ aspects of
environmental and social impact assessments (ESIAs).
This includes conducting social impact assessments (SIAs),
resettlement planning, stakeholder management, and due diligence
studies. Lotter comments that the social aspects of development
12 AFRICAN MINING JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2019
projects are often the most challenging and can pose a significant
risk to the successful implementation of projects, “by virtue of the
fact that one is dealing with people with complex emotions, hopes,
concerns, and expectations”
She continues: “Assessing a project’s impact on the biophysical
environment does not require the scientist to establish and
maintain a relationship with his subjects; assessing impacts on
people depends on this, rendering the assessments rather complex
and risky at times.
“People have the ability to actively oppose projects and prevent
them from being implemented if they feel that they will suffer as
a result. People have expectations of benefiting from projects and
have a need for their concerns to be heard about developments
taking place around their home.”
Aecom is currently providing the core social services for Sovereign
Metals’ Malingunde graphite project in Malawi’s Lilongwe
District. Its scope of work encompasses stakeholder engagement,
a SIA, and resettlement planning. The ESIA process will run
for about 18 months, as from November 2017. “The aim is to
submit the ESIA report to the Malawian Environmental Affairs
Department during quarter one 2019, in support of an application
for environmental authorisation,” Lotter concludes.
www.africanmining.co.za