Heritage Cases

Mine Waste Solutions (MWS), also known as Chemwes (Pty) Ltd (Chemwes), has been in business since 1964, and conducts its operations over a large area of land to the east of Klerksdorp, within the area of jurisdiction of the City of Matlosana and JB Marks Local Municipalities (LM), which fall within the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality (DM) in the North‐West Province. The Kareerand Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) was designed with an operating life of 14 years, taking the facility to 2025, and total design capacity of 352 million tonnes. Subsequent to commissioning of the TSF, MWS was acquired by AngloGold Ashanti and tailings production target has increased by an additional 485 million tonnes, which will require operations to continue until 2042. The additional tailings therefore require expansion of the design life of the TSF. This project entails the expansion of the current Kareerand TSF to accommodate the increased tailings and final design capacity, along with additional pump stations and pipelines. The TSF expansion is proposed on the western edge of the current facility, and the final height of the combined facility (both expansion and current) will be 122 m. The expansion footprint will add 380 hectares (ha) to the TSF and approximately 93 additional ha will be cleared for supporting infrastructure. This TSF expansion requires an Integrated Environmental Assessment process under the National Environmental Management Act NEMA (Act 107 of 1998, as amended) and the National Environmental Management: Waste Act NEMWA (Act 59 of 2008, as amended).