Anglo American Project GAIA - Proposed Solar Photovoltaic Project Associated with the Venetia Diamond Mine in the Limpopo Province

21 October 2024 | Client: Anglo American Plc and De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited

Anglo American in partnership with the EDF Renewables have announced their agreement to form a new jointly owned company, Envusa Energy, to develop a regional renewable energy ecosystem (RREE) in South Africa. A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), named Venetia Solar PV Project (Pty) Ltd, has been established to apply for the required permits for the proposed Venetia Solar PV Project.

Venetia Solar PV is proposing to apply for Environmental Authorisation (EA) and Water Use Authorisation (WUA) for the development of a solar photovoltaic (PV) facility and associated infrastructure. The Venetia Diamond Mine (Venetia Mine) owned by De Beers, operates 24 hours per day and therefore is a large consumer of Eskom power supply. The development of the solar PV energy facility will offset the Venetia Mine’s electricity consumption from Eskom. The solar PV facility will result in consistent power supply and a reduction in the cost of energy for the current and future mining operations at the Venetia Mine.

The proposed development site is located to the southeast of the Venetia Mine on Portion 4 of the Farm Rugen 105 MS, with associated infrastructure (electrical grid infrastructure) located on Portion 1 of the Farm Venetia 103 MS.

SLR Consulting South Africa (Pty) Ltd (SLR), an independent firm of environmental consultants, has been appointed by Anglo American to manage the environmental authorisation process.

Contact

Sharon Meyer

Email: VenetiaSolarPV@slrconsulting.com

Telephone: +27 11 467 0945

Status

Availability of Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Report, and submission of comments

Notice is hereby given in terms of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998) and the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations, 2014 (Government Notice Regulation 982 of 2014) that the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Report and the Non-Technical Summary (NTS) for the abovementioned Project has been made available to the public for comment. Should you and/or your organisation wish to be registered as an Interested and Affected Party (I&AP), please complete the NTS response sheet and forward to SLR at the email address and telephone number shown above.

By providing your personal information to be registered as an I&AP for this Project you consent to SLR managing your information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013. If you register and supply your contact details as an I&AP for this Project, you will be included in the SLR I&AP database. It is assumed that as an I&AP for this Project you authorise SLR to retain and use your Personal Information as part of a contact database for this and/or other Social and Environmental Impact Assessments (ESIA) and that you confirm your acceptance for SLR to contact you regarding this and/or other ESIA processes. SLR will not process your Personal Information, other than as permitted or required by ESIA processes, or as required by law or public policy. SLR will use reasonable, appropriate security safeguards in order to protect Personal Information, and to reasonably prevent any damage to, loss of, or unauthorised access or disclosure of Personal Information, other than as required for ESIA processes or as required by any Law or public policy. You may request for your Personal Information to be deleted from the I&AP database at any time by contacting SLR.