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Coastal & Environmental
Services supports local entrepreneurial development
CES, as part of their Enterprise Development, has supported a
local community development initiative by awarding a generous
amount of money to local NGO Umthathi Training Project
to further the objectives of their “Skills Development in
Healthy Living” initiative. The grant will be used to purchase
equipment necessary for the establishment of a new business –“ Linomtha
Community Garden” (Rise
and Shine), part of a wider programme that encourages
sustainable healthy living by training community members in
cultivation, health, nutrition and livelihoods skills so they
can feed themselves and their families as well as earn an income
by selling excess produce from backyard and community gardens.
CES Financial Director Bernadette Emslie stated that “We wanted to give the money to
an Enterprise that was going to use it wisely and who really
needed it. We chose Umthathi as we like to support local and an
organisation that is training and putting something back into
the community. We also know that Umthathi is managed very well
and that the money would be monitored carefully. It felt really
great to be able to support Umthathi and hope we can do so again
in the future.”
A cheque of R33,000 was handed over by Ted Avis (CES) to Marlene
Mitchener (Umthathi Training Project) to assist a group of
previously disadvantaged individuals to establish a business out
of farming organic vegetables for resale.
Addax ESHIA - Sierra Leone ESHIA rated as outstanding
The
Environmental Social and Health Impact Assessment (ESHIA)
undertaken on behalf of Addax Bioenergy by Coastal &
Environmental Services for the Makeni sugarcane to ethanol
biofuel project in Sierra Leone has been rated as “outstanding”
in an independent review study.
The independent
study was recently commissioned by the European Commission to
assess the value of biofuel EIAs in determining a project’s
sustainability and compliance with the European Union Renewable
Energy Directive (EU RED). The independent study, which was
undertaken by Chalmers University of Sweden and the Dutch
consultancy, Ecophys, compared the analyses undertaken as part
of 19 EIAs for biofuel projects. Eight were from the America’s,
5 from Africa and 6 from Asia, Oceania and Europe. Whilst the
objective of the study was not to compare the various EIA’s, it
is clear that the Addax ESHIA scored high (above level 3) for
all criteria associated with social sustainability;
biodiversity; GHG emissions; carbon stock; air, water and soil;
ecosystem services; land use; and RED sustainability criteria.
This led the authors to conclude that the Addax Environmental,
Social and Health Impact Assessment (ESHIA) stood out in terms
of discussing all relevant impacts, in particular in comparison
to the other EIAs. They stated:
“One EIA,
the ESHIA study for the Addax Bioenergy project in Bombali
district in Sierra Leone (Coastal & Environmental Services
2009), stands out in comparison with the other EIAs. While the
average EIA described three features with quantified impacts,
the Sierra Leone report described 14 features in that way.”
The study will
form the main component of a 600 page report prepared for the
European Commission on the use of EIAs/ESHIAs for assessing the
sustainability of biofuel projects selling biofuel products in
the EU. The report is available online at:
http://publications.lib.chalmers.se/records/fulltext/local_146738.pdf
The Addax project has received funding from a group of
Development Funding Institutes, who after careful review of the
ESHIA concluded that the project was fully compliant with
Equator Principles. Construction and development of the project
has already started in Makeni, Sierra Leone.
Issued 14
October 2011.
Kenmare Moma Mine Environmental Certificate
Since
mid-2010, consultants from CES have been involved in assisting
Kenmare Resources to achieve technical completion for their
heavy mineral mining operation in northern Mozambique. Technical
completion is a requirement of the financing documents and is
achieved through the issue of four certificates, one of which
concerns environmental performance. In order to issue the
environmental certificate, Kenmare was required to demonstrate
compliance with the conditions of their environmental management
plan (EMP), Resettlement and Compensation Plan (RCP) as well as
the World Bank’s Environmental, Health and Safety Guidelines and
the African Development Bank’s Environmental Guidelines for
Mining Projects. CES assisted Kenmare’s team in both and on- and
off-site capacity on a range of environmental management issues
and the Environmental Certificate was subsequently issued in
September 2011. According to the report from the Lenders’
Independent Engineer, they “would like to commend Kenmare and
its consultants, CES, on the way in which conformance with the
environmental certificate has been evaluated and achieved”.
Heavy Minerals 2011, Eighth International Heavy
Mineral Conference 2011
5-6 October 2011, Perth, Western Australia
Ted Avis, Managing
Director of Coastal & Environmental Services was invited
by the Australasian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy to
attend the Eight International Heavy Minerals Conference
in Perth, Australia from 5 – 6 October 2011.
Ted attended the conference
as a keynote speaker and presented a paper entitled
“Environmental and social constraints to mineral mining projects
– finding the key to unlock the resource”.
The biennial International
Heavy Minerals Conference provides a forum for members of the
industry to share their experiences, gain insights into
technological advances and meet their colleagues in an
environment focused on the challenges and opportunities facing
our industry.
Key themes of Heavy Minerals
2011 were exploration, land use and social licence, drilling,
mineral separation, materials handling and post mining land use.
Efficiency and innovation have been features of the industry and
for the past 20years the Heavy Minerals Conference has continued
to be an important forum for technical interchange amongst
professionals. Overall there is significant confidence and the
industry at present, with most industry players feeling very
bullish.
More details can be found on
the following website:
http://www.ausimm.com.au/heavyminerals2011/home.asp
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