JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) − ASX- and TSX-listed Minemakers has submitted a draft environmental-impact assessment (EIA) and draft environmental management plan (EMP) for the marine component of its proposed Sandpiper phosphate project, in Namibia.

The report, lodged with the Namibian Ministries of Mines and Energy and Environment and Tourism, covers governance; the EIA process; biogeochemical impacts; benthic impacts; marine fauna/flora impacts; cumulative impacts; socioeconomic impacts; and project impacts, the company said in a statement on Friday.

Minemakers, together with joint venture partners UCL Resources and Tungeni Investments, appointed consultants J Midgley and Associates and Namibian environmental consultants Enviro Dynamics to investigate the potential impacts of dredging marine phosphate-enriched sediment at the proposed Sandpiper project.

While there were no environmental issues identified, the company and its subcontractors would implement management and mitigation measures, said Minemaker executive chairperson Andrew Drummond.

The EIA also included the full reports and findings of four independent specialist studies that were undertaken to deal with any specific potential impacts, including fish and fisheries, seabirds and marine mammals, water column dynamics, macrobenthos, and jellyfish.

“The draft EIA report provided the necessary information to permit the authorities, as well as interested and affected parties, to verify that matters of concern have been addressed comprehensively,” said the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Consulting and Analytical Services - Environmental Management Services, following a review of the reports.

An initial study into the Sandpiper project found that the operation could cost as much as $144-million to develop, to produce three million tons a year of saleable rock phosphate, over a 25-year mine life. The project was estimated to host a total phosphate resource of 1.5-billion tons, at 18.8% phosphate.
 

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