Omgewingsbestuursbenadering vir oppervlakmynbou in Suid-Afrika

Abstract

Several laws and regulations, which are applicable to environmental management, regulate mining in South Africa. Different Government Departments administer these laws. The different Government Departments do not have the necessary infrastructure, or appropriately trained personnel, to enforce these laws. The Department of Minerals and Energy attempted to regulate the environmental impacts of mines by requiring environmental management documents, based on the Aide-Memoire guideline document. Environmental legislation is important to the surface-mining industry. It has important implications with regards to the profitability of the mines. If the environmental management approach is not effective, it may lead to impacts on the environment, which in turn will disadvantage the industry. In order to prevent additional pressure on this sector, it is necessary for the Environmental Management Approach to be cost-effective. In this study enquiries were made into the applicability of the existing environmental management requirements for the surface-mining sector in South Africa. The existing environmental management procedure was studied, the approach was measured against several other environmental management approaches and the study concludes with a conceptual environmental management model. It was determined that the Aide-Memoire has shortcomings that need to be addressed. A new approach, which is based on accepted and successful business practice, is suggested. The proposed model implements accepted production-, management- and environmental principles. Other existing approaches can easily be incorporated to provide a representative model to which all environmental management- and business activities can accordingly be integrated. The model ensures flexibility. Smaller terrains will require less intensive base-line studies. Simpler projects will need less complicated studies and procedures. The organisation does not have to act according to a fixed list of headings in a guideline document and the steps to reach the required environmental goals are not dictated to the user.