Interim Comment
The SAHRA Archaeology, Palaeontology, and Meteorites (APM) Unit notes the submission of the HIA report, however, the SAHRA cannot accept it as it is, the report must be amended to include the following:
A tracklog of the field survey must be provided in the report as a map, containing the identified heritage resources and the proposed mine layout.
The impact assessment must include the distances of the closest infrastructure to the identified heritage resources.
In addition, the area is in a very highly sensitive palaeontological zone and there has been no assessment of palaeontological resources. SAHRA also requires an assessment of palaeontological resources by a suitably qualified palaeontologist. The amended HIA and the Palaeontology Impact Assessment (PIA) must be provided to SAHRA for commenting along with the environmental documents compiled for the EA application. All these documents will be assessed by SAHRA and the comments issued must be included in the final environmental reports to the competent authority.
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