PUBLIC PARTICIPATION – Umhlaba Environmental Consulting

Public participation is a widely used term that describes information sharing between an applicant and various role players commonly referred to as stakeholders or interested and affected parties (I&APs). These role players encompass representatives and individuals from a diverse range of groups including:

Landowners,
NGO’s,
Decision makers on all levels of government, and
Any other individual, company or organisation that has a particular interest in the project.

The public participation process is predominantly carried out as part of a legal environmental authorisation process, such as; Mining and/or Prospecting Applications, Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), Basic Assessments, Waste Licences, Atmospheric Emissions Licences (AEL) and Water Use Licence (WUL). Although the requirements for public participation processes may differ between these environmental authorisations, the fundamental principles of transparency, fairness and reasonableness are enshrined as the core values of public participation in all environmental authorisation processes.

In an attempt to reach as many people as possible, Umhlaba Environmental Consulting has created this web site as one of the ways of making documents available to I&APs. Projects current available for review are towards the bottom of this web page, under the heading – DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE FOR PUBLIC REVIEW.

YOUR INVOLVEMENT

If you are accessing information from this web site we would like to request that you please do the following:

Register with us as an I&AP) either using the details on this web site (see contact details left of page) or by filling in your details on the web site (register here). Even if you do not wish to make any comment on the document(s) we request that you register with us to enable us to determine the public’s interest in the project/ development.
Comment: After reviewing the relevant document(s) please submit your comments to us in writing (as required by the Regulations).

Comments must be received within the timeline stated on the file name of the relevant document. Comment sheets will be e-mailed to you when you register as an I&AP but can also be download with the documents listed under each project. You may also request that a comment sheet be sent to you via alternate means using the details on this web site (see contact details left of page).

Please note that both POSITIVE and NEGATIVE comments are requested.

OUR RESPONSIBILITY

Should you contact Umhlaba and submit comments on an environmental authorisation which is being subjected to a public participation process, then it is our responsibility to;
Act as an independent environmental assessment practitioner (EAP),

Record and present all comments received and response to these comments within the documentation that forms part of the environmental authorisation submission. It is these documents that the authorities will consider to make an informed decision.

DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE FOR PUBLIC REVIEW

Please note, where I&AP comments are required to be submitted during a specified comment period, the date displayed in the file name of the report is the deadline for submission of comments. For other reports, the date displayed will refer to the audit date / date of completion of the report / the submission date.

List of acronyms:

BA – Basic Assessment
BAR – Basic Assessment Report
CA – Competent Authority
DMRE – Department of Mineral Resources and Energy
EA – Environmental Authorisation
EAP – Environmental Assessment Practitioner

EIA – Environmental Impact Assessment
EMPr – Environmental Management Program report
I&AP – Interested and Affected Parties
MPRDA – Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act
NEMA – National Environmental Management Act
RoD – Record of Decision

Crushco (Pty) Ltd – Notification of Decision to Grant an Environmental Authorization for the Prospecting Right Application GP10679PR.

Please be informed that the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has granted an Environmental Authorization (EA) for the Prospecting Right Application GP10679PR by Crushco (Pty) Ltd for Sand, Clay, Aggregate and Stone Aggregate over 576.47 Ha of a portion of the Remainder of Portion 1 of the Farm Tweefontein 19IR, Magisterial District of Kemptonpark.

The EA was signed on the 23 October 2023 and received by the applicant on 1^st November 2023, outlining the Department’s reasons for approval as well as the conditions of the approval (see below for a full copy of the EA). In terms of Regulation 4(1) of the National Appeal Regulations, 2014, should an appellant [I&APs] wish to lodge an appeal against the granting of the Environmental Authorization, a copy of the written appeal must be lodged within twenty (20) days of this notification. Please see the Notification Letter below for full details on the appeals procedure.

AfriSam (South Africa) Properties (Pty) Ltd – EMPr revision Umlaas Road Quarry:

In response to the findings of the December 2020 Environmental Audit, AfriSam (South Africa) Properties (Pty) Ltd Umlaas Road Quarry has revised their Environmental Management Program report (EMPr). The required consultation process was undertaken from the 1st July to 9th August 2022. All comments received were incorporated into the final EMPr which was submitted to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) on the 28th September 2022.

Links to the final EMPr and Appendices are provided below, with some Appendices presented as separate files to facilitate download.

If you have any further comment on the EMPr, please contact the DMRE directly, quoting the Mining Right number – KZN (258) MR.

Postal: Department of Mineral Resources, KZN Region, Private Bag X54307, Durban, 4000

Fax: 031 355 9600

(We have not been notified which official will review the EMPr and hence have no direct phone number or e-mail address at present.)

REGISTRATION

Please register as an interested and affected party (I&AP) by filling in your details below. The relevant comment sheet will be forwarded to you by your preferred method of communication.