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Kolwezi Tailings Project. Environmental & Social Impact Assessment undertaken by SRK Consulting for Congo Mineral Developments Limited (CMD) Overview by Rowena Smuts (Conservation International). Players.
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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.
