Transcript Kolwezi Tailings Project

Kolwezi Tailings Project
Environmental & Social Impact Assessment
undertaken by SRK Consulting for Congo
Mineral Developments Limited (CMD)
Overview by Rowena Smuts
(Conservation International)
Players
• Congo Mineral Developments Limited (CMD) proposed the
reworking of tailings deposited in the Musonoi River and on the
Kingamyambo Tailings Dam in Kolwezi in order to extract remaining
cobalt and copper.
• SRK Consulting (SRK) an environmental consulting and
engineering company were employed to undertake the
Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) in accordance
with the Mining Code. This was the first mining project to be
assessed in accordance with the new legislation
• International Finance Corporation (IFC) were involved in ensuring
that the ESIA was undertaken in accordance with World Bank/ IFC
Performance Standards (one of the first projects to be assessed in
accordance with new Performance Standards) since the developer
was investigating the possibility of obtaining equity finance from the
IFC.
Economic Context
• Value of project (capital required) ~ US$ 320 million.
• IFC approached for 5-7% equity (US$ 16 million)
• SRK needed to ensure that studies undertaken were to
the highest possible standards in order to obtain equity
finance from IFC
– despite the fact that from an environmental perspective the area
was already extremely degraded – previous mining capital of
DRC for copper and cobalt and (was the first place that Laurent
Kabila seized when he took over from Mobutu Sesu Seku in
1994)
– and from a social perspective their was a desperate need for
jobs and alternative sources of income to communities living in
the area.
ESIA – The value of a good team
• Very strong relationships
– between ESIA team (SRK-Rowena Smuts) and
Developer’s Environmental Advisor (CMD/Adastra Kate Harcourt based in UK);
– between ESIA team and engineers (AVEC) – ideally
environmental impacts should be avoided through
good design.
• Very strong ESIA team with SRK (people with
up to 30 years working experience).
• Capacity building with government
representatives of DPEM on site – participation
in specialist studies and public consultation.
Public Consultation
• Extensive Planning Process to develop inclusive list of Interested
and Affected Parties (I&APs).
• Background Information Document (BID) sent to all IAPs prior to
information-sharing meetings (using local reps of chiefs).
• Information sharing meetings held in all villages surrounding the
proposed project area.
• Protocol meetings with the Mayor and three local chiefs in the area
for every visit.
• Posters presentations given in French and Swahili in all villages in
Kolwezi
• PowerPoint Presentations (also of posters) given to government
officials and NGOs in Lubumbashi and Kinshasa.
• Capacity building of government officials by making sure they were
there for the initial week of public consultation meetings and also on
site for specialist studies.
• Feedback meetings to discuss findings of the project with all the
same people who were initially consulted and enable comment
before final document produced.
Specialist studies
• Guided by issues raised during public consultation.
• Bring in best experts.
• Archaeology (university professor from Lubumbashi),
Fauna and Flora (Belgian expert on Copper and Miombo
woodland Flora), Water experts (surface, ground), Soil
studies to assess impact of new tailings dam, Noise, Air
Quality etc.
• Impact assessments undertaken and information shared
with design engineers to make amendments where
necessary.
• Sharing of findings with IFC team.
Conclusions
• This project was undertaken at a very high level due to the need for
IFC equity.
• The project set a benchmark for future ESIA’s in the DRC.
• However the project was extremely expensive (~ 12 million SA
Rands to environmental consultants) and typically such a
development in this type of degraded area would not require such
an extensive/expensive study.
• The Public Consultation and Specialist studies were all very
thorough.
• The good communication with DPEM government officials, design
engineers, IFC representatives and bringing the best people on
board up front all contributed towards making this project a success.
• The Project has subsequently been sold onwards by Adastra to First
Quantum, although the IFC still remains a shareholder in the project.