Cookie Preferences

Tronox Namakwa Sands West Mine Residue Storage Facility 7 EIA and WULA, Western Cape

Short Project Title

Tronox Namakwa Sands WRSF 7 EIA and WULA

Project Title

Tronox Namakwa Sands West Mine Residue Storage Facility 7 Scoping and Environmental Impact Reporting Process and Water Use Licence Amendment Application

SRK Project Reference Number

610493

EA Holder

null

Official Reference Number

DMRE: WC-00099-MR/102; DWS (WULA): WU40062

SRK Project Manager

Sam Leyde

Contact Person

Yakira Naina

Contact Email

ctpp@srk.co.za

Contact Number

021 659 3060

PROJECT SYNOPSIS

Tronox Mineral Sands (Pty) (Ltd) (Tronox) operates a heavy minerals mining business which includes the existing Namakwa Sands Mine (“the Mine”) at Brand se Baai and a Mineral Separation Plant (MSP) near Koekenaap, on the West Coast of South Africa. At the Mine, heavy mineral sands are mined using open-cast strip-mining methods at the East Mine and West Mine.

Material from both mines produce a Heavy Mineral Concentrate (HMC) at the Primary Concentration Plants (PCP East and PCP West), which is pumped to the Secondary Concentration Plant (SCP) which is also located at the Mine. Waste products from primary processing at the PCP West include tailings (coarser material) and fines (material) / residue. Tailings are backfilled into the mining void(s) and also used to construct the retaining walls of the Residue Storage Facilities (RSFs) into which fines are deposited. No chemicals are used in processing, but seawater is used resulting in a high seawater content of tailings and fines.

There are six West Mine RSFs (WRSFs), two of which are currently operational: WRSF 6, where fines are disposed during normal operations, and WRSF 4 used for emergency disposal. WRSF 6 is projected to reach capacity by early 2030. Tronox propose to construct an additional RSF, viz. West Mine Residue Storage Facility 7 (WRSF 7). All infrastructure proposed for the project will be installed within mined out areas (or areas approved for mining).

Tronox require the following for the project: an amendment of their Water Use Licence (WUL) in terms of the National Water Act 36 of 1998 (NWA); a Waste Management Licence (WML) in terms of the National Environmental Management: Waste Act 59 of 2008 (NEM:WA); Environmental Authorisation (EA) in terms of the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 (NEMA); and an amendment to their approved Environmental Management Programme (EMPr) in terms of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002 (MPRDA).

SRK Consulting (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd (SRK) has been appointed by Tronox to undertake the WUL amendment application process, as well as the Scoping and Environmental Impact Reporting (S&EIR, also referred to as Environmental Impact Assessment [EIA]) process in accordance with the EIA Regulations, 2014, as amended, to inform the other above-mentioned applications.

PROJECT LOCATION

Graauwduinen 152, Remainder of Portion 1, Brand se Baai (located within the West Mine at Tronox Namakwa Sands)

STATUS OF PROJECT

Water Use Licence Amendment Application 

The Water Use Licence Application (WULA) Summary Report and Technical Reports for the project were released for public review and comment between 6 June 2025 and 6 August 2025. A Public Open Day was held in Lutzville on 8 July 2025. 

The public participation process conducted to date has provided stakeholders the opportunity to submit their comments on the Technical Reports. Comments received during the commenting phase have been incorporated into a WULA Stakeholder Engagement Report, which was submitted with the Technical Reports to the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) on 29 August 2025 for their decision making. 

Once a decision is taken by authorities, this decision and the associated appeal procedure will be communicated to all registered stakeholders. 

The Technical Documents are included below for information only. 

S&EIR Process  

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report, and Executive Summary of the EIA Report, for the project were released for public review and comment between 23 June 2025 and 23 July 2025. A Public Open Day was held in Lutzville on 8 July 2025. 

The public participation process conducted to date has provided stakeholders the opportunity to submit their comments on the EIA Report. Comments received during the EIA Phase have been incorporated into the Final EIA Report, which was submitted to the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR) on 28 August 2025 for their decision making. 

Once a decision is taken by authorities, this decision and the associated appeal procedure will be communicated to all registered stakeholders. 

The Final EIA Report is included below for information only.