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PROVISION OF CONSULTING SERVICES
OF ISLAND WIDE STRATEGIC
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT (SEIA)
FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF MINING
ZONES IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
Monday 9 December 2013
David Jarvis
PROJECT OVERVIEW:
• Objectives:
–Recommend Mining Zones for all surface-won minerals to be established to comply with Minerals Act 2000
–Identify 25 years’ supply of construction materials for the nation
PROJECT OVERVIEW:
Work elements
• LiDAR survey of key areas where minerals are quarried
• Supply (resources and current production) study and demand forecasts
• Creation of GIS bringing together spatial data from a range of Government sources
• SEIA to establish areas of deposit without primary environmental and social constraints
• Use of SEIA results to establish MZs
• Formal and informal training of counterparts
PROJECT OVERVIEW:
Outcomes
• Recommended Mining Zones providing 25 years’ supply of principal construction materials
• A GIS for MEEA as a resource they can use and develop in the future in their role as regulator and for managed minerals supply
• Some high quality imagery and 3D survey information that can be made available to operators applying for licences and CECs and used as a basis for monitoring and inventory
PROJECT OVERVIEW:
Outcomes
• A more robust database of quarries and pits in Trinidad and Tobago
• Institutional strengthening and facilitation of cooperation between Ministries and Agencies who have a stake in minerals planning and regulation
• An emerging framework for better regulation of the industry in the future and planning for future needs
What is a Mining Zone?
• As defined in the Act
– Outside a Mining Zone: mining/quarrying is not allowed under any circumstances
– Inside the MZ: mining/quarrying is allowed, subject to compliance with strict rules imposed and enforced through Licences and CECs
What is a Mining Zone?
• Some MZs created simply to allow managed closure and rehabilitation
• Standalone processing plants included in MZs to ensure that this activity is properly regulated (especially in relation to discharges to water)
What is a Mining Zone?
• A spatial planning unit – but not a permanent one. Once resources are depleted and rehabilitation is complete, a Mining Zone has no further relevance and will cease to exist – the ‘new land’ can be used for something else (after-use)
• New MZs will be needed in future
What is a Mining Zone?
• Functions of Mining Zones include:
–Providing clarity for mineral operators and the public as to where mineral working will be allowed, and where it will not
–Providing rules to underpin planning and regulation of activity within MZs
–Maintaining a ‘land bank’ of construction materials to meet the needs of Trinidad and Tobago for a defined time horizon (25 years)
The supply and demand
study• Supply (current production and capacity):
– Current production not systematically recorded. Estimates made from available royalty information, industry sources (supplied confidentially) supplemented by using indirect information (explosives use, cement production) to ‘reality check’
– Validation of current production by extrapolating from 2006 and 2007 published figures for the sector using construction GDP
The supply and demand
study• Future demand:
– Extrapolation on a ‘straight line’ basis assuming 2% growth on average over the 25 years to give total demand (data insufficient to be more sophisticated or predict trends)
• Establishing MZ areas to meet future demand for 25 years– Available resources per km² estimated for each material type
using best available geological information with generous contingencies for uncertainty
• Future demand/resource per km² = total MZ area needed
What is a Mining Zone?
• Functions of Mining Zones include:– Integration of mineral planning with other
aspects of spatial planning in Trinidad and Tobago in the context of NSDS, particularly:
• Safeguarding areas underlain by valuable deposits to prevent other development that might sterilize the mineral before it can be recovered
• Long term planning for ‘after minerals’
• Preventing conflict between quarries and other land-uses
What is a Mining Zone?
• Special functions of the initial Mining Zones include:– Legalising all current quarrying (and primary
processing) activity by bringing it inside an MZ
– Safeguarding the deposit area of Tar Sand for future potential exploitation
– Designating areas of current mineral activity where the only ongoing extraction that will be permitted will be in the context of a rehabilitation plan
What is the SEIA Process?
• Collect baseline data
• Collate these data into a GIS database
• Give appropriate weightings
• Search the GIS database for the desired demand volumes (expressed as tonnes/km²)
• Refine the outcomes
Baseline data
• 40 subject matters:
1. Locations of licensed quarries
2. Quarry permissions
3. CECs for licensed quarries 4. End of Year surveys for
quarries 5. Production statistics
6. Locations of unlicensed
quarries 7. Geology
8. Seismic risk 9. Watercourses/bodies
10. Aquifers
11. Water catchments 12. Built areas
13. Built development (sensitive) 14. Proposed development
15. Local, regional and national plans
16. Roads/Rights of Way
17. Rail 18. Ecology
19. Agriculture 20. Soils
21. Electricity
22. Telephones 23. Sewerage
24. Water supply 25. Natural oil/gas
26. Military
27. Transmitters/aerials 28. Airports/protected zones
29. Ports/import related infrastructure
30. Tourism areas
31. Archaeological/cultural 32. Forestry
33. National parks 34. Topography
35. Flood/soil erosion 36. Slope stability
37. Earthquake
38. Subsidence 39. Hurricane/storms
40. Tsunami
Baseline data
• Existing data sources:
CANIRI
Civil Aviation Authority
Commissioner of Police Commissioner of State Lands
Coosals CSO
EMBDC
First Citizen Bank Forestry Division
Lands and Surveys Division MEEA
Meteorological Office
Ministry of Arts and Multiculturism Ministry of Environment and Water
Resources Ministry of Finance
Ministry of Housing and Environment Ministry of Local Government
Ministry of National Security
Ministry of Tourism Ministry of Works and Infrastructure
National Stone Quarries National Gas Company
National Energy Corporation
OPDM Petrotrin
PLIPDECO Powergen
T and TEC
TCPD TEMA
THA including Division of Agriculture, Marine Affairs, Marketing and the Environment
Trinidad Cement Company Ltd TSTT
WASA
Water Resources Agency
Baseline data
• The process begins with the geology
Where are the proposed
MZs?
Based on geological occurrence
Geological formations in which quarrying currently takes place in Trinidad
• Existing quarrying activity and the LiDAR survey areas
Baseline data
• The geology, principal quarrying activity and LiDAR survey area for Tobago
Baseline data
Searching the GIS database
• Sieve Mapping:
“The overlay of all of the levels of collected baseline data together with any stand-offs, buffers and exclusions to identify unconstrained (or minimally constrained) areas of relevant geology to fulfil the projected 25 year demand requirements”
What are the on-the-ground
boundaries?
• Roads
• Rivers
• Built Development
• Straight lines across open ground (e.g. Tar Sands)
Control in Mining Zones
• Parameters
• Thresholds
• Requirements
Why are they needed?
Mining Zones
• MZs only define where quarrying may take place
• Not where, in detail, it should happen
PTRs
• Indicate distances from sensitive receptors
• Schedule assessments that must be done before CECs can be issued and licences applied for
• Indicate basic operator and application process requirements
PTRs
• Schedule of PTRs in 16 sections:
LEGAL HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT
SITE LANDSCAPE AND VISUAL
SOILS NOISE
WATER ENVIRONMENT AIR QUALITY
BUILT DEVELOPMENT VIBRATIONS
INFRASTRUCTURE HEALTH AND SAFETY
ROADS AND TRANSPORT FORESTRY
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT OTHER ITEMS
Annual review of MZs
• Performance against strategic masterplan
• Performance against PTRs and individual Licence and CEC Obligations
• Total tonnage produced in the year/reconciliation against royalty payments
• Area of new land disturbed
• Area of land rehabilitated
5 year review of MZs
• Additional/replacement Mining Zones will be needed as the initial 25 year supply is depleted
• Areas of search will need to be determined for this purpose
• GORTT will need to consider how these can be safeguarded from other development, which might sterilize mineral deposits.
Periodic review of MZs
• It may sometimes be necessary for new Mining Zones to be designated on an opportunistic basis when major development is planned which would sterilize valuable potential reserves which could be removed before or during the construction phase.
Development of:
• Guidance
• Codes of Practice
• Functional trade and professional bodies encouraging good practice and raising industry standards
• Improved standards of environmental and safety performance – higher aspirations
• Improved professional and technical skills in government to allow better monitoring of compliance and more consistent enforcement
Some headline figures
• Total area covered by Mining Zones - Trinidad:– Sand and Gravel (3 MZs) 96.85 km²
– Blue Limestone and sandstone (12 MZs) 10.58 km²
– Plastering sands (9 MZs) 27.36 km²
– Clay (2 MZs) 3.47 km²
– Yellow Limestone (2 MZs) 3.52 km²
– Porcellanite (6 MZs) 1.70 km²
– Tar Sand (1 MZ) 39.44 km²
– Trinidad Total 182.92 km²
– (approximately 3.8% of total land area of Trinidad
or 2.97% excluding Tar Sand)
Some headline figures
• Total area covered by Mining Zones - Tobago:– Tobago Total (andesite) (1 MZ) 1.88 km²
– (approximately 0.96% of total land area of Tobago)
• Trinidad and Tobago combined:– All materials (36 MZs) 185.80 km²
(approximately 3.62% of total land area of T&T)
– All materials excluding Tar Sands (35 MZs) 146.36 km²(approximately 2.80% of total land area of T&T)
• A further 2 MZs to capture 7No. standalone processing plants that exist outside MZs within which extraction takes place.