Ghana Fellowship Power Point Presentation.ppt

Center for Public Interest Law (“CEPIL”)
www.cepil.org.gh
Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (“ELAW”)
www.elaw.org
Accra, Ghana - August 3, 2010
Empowering emerging
environmental leaders to
promote sustainable mining,
forestry and climate change
practices and policies in Ghana

Environmental Impact
Assessment
(“EIA”) Process in Ghana

Overview of Environmental Impact
Assessment Process in Ghana
Goals of Environmental Impact Assessment
 Identify and disclose environmental impacts of project prior to project
being started.
 Inform permitting process of the project to minimize environmental
impacts.
 Ensure modern, precautionary controls are incorporated into design
of new mining projects and ensure self-assessment by companies.
 To develop sustainable environmental practices in industrial projects.

Overview of Environmental Impact Assessment Process in Ghana
(continued)
Legal Framework
 Constitution of Ghana
 Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Act, 1994 (Act 490)
 Ghana Environmental Assessment Regulations 1999, LI 1652
 Environmental Impact Assessment Procedures, June 1995
 Mining and Environmental Guidelines, 1994
Applicability
Projects likely to have “significant impacts on the environment” required to:
 Register with the Ghana EPA
 Obtain environmental permits prior to beginning construction and operations
Environmental Assessment Regulations 1999 require EIA for:
“mining and processing of minerals in areas where the mining lease covers a total area in
excess of 10 hectares”

Steps in Ghanaian EIA Process
1. Registration of potential mining project with EPA
2. Screening of registration by EPA within 25 days
2. Scoping and Terms of Reference
3. Development of Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”)
4. Provisional Environmental Permit

Terms of Reference
 Description of project.
 Analysis of need for project .
 Alternatives to project.
 Description of site of project, why site selected, any alternative sites considered.
 Identification of existing environmental conditions, including social, economic and
other environmental concerns.
 Potential positive and negative impacts of project on environmental, social,
economic, and cultural aspects.
 Potential impact on health of people.
 Mitigation measures and potential negative socio-economic, cultural and public
health impacts on the environment.
 Plan for monitoring predictable environmental impact and proposed mitigation
measures.
 Contingency plans to address unpredicted negative environmental impacts and
proposed mitigation measures for these impacts.
 Consultation with public affected by project.
 Maps, plans, tables, graphs, etc. to assist in understanding project.
 Provisional environmental management plan.
 Proposals for payment of compensation for possible damage to land or
property arising from project.
 Indication if any area outside Ghana likely to be affected by project activities.

Environmental Impact Statements (“EIS”)
 Clear assessment of proposed project on environment based on TRO’s (terms of
reference).
 Possible direct and indirect impact of project on environment at pre-construction,
construction, operation, decommissioning, and post-decommissioning phases
including:
 Concentrations of pollutants in environment, including air, water and land from mobile or fixed
sources
 Direct ecological changes from pollutant concentrations on communities, habitats, flora and
fauna
 Alteration in ecology from project
 Ecological consequences of direct destruction of habitats
 Noise and vibration levels
 Odour
 Impacts from vehicle traffic
 Changes in social, cultural and economic patterns
 Possible health effects of project on people within and around project
 Reclamation plans

Process for Development of EIS
 Preparation of draft EIS by project proponent/mining company.
 Engage public information programme for impacted area.
 Provision of copies of draft EIS to EPA by mining company.
 Concerns of public recorded and addressed.
 Notice of draft EIS provided to public.
 Public hearing required if strong public concern and extensive
impacts from project.
 Acceptability of draft EIS determined by EPA.
 Revisions made to draft EIS by mining company as required by EPA.
 Approval of EIS by EPA.

Limitations of Environmental
Impact Assessment

COMPARISON OF
ENVIRONMENTAL
REVIEW PROCESS
BETWEEN GHANA AND
THE UNITED STATES
Mary Marrow
Attorney
Minnesota Center for
Environmental Advocacy
mmarrow@mncenter.org

Comparison of Environmental Review Process
between Ghana and the United States
1. Similarities and differences
2. Successes and Challenges
3. Best Practices of Environmental Review
4. Opportunities for Civil Society Intervention

between Ghana and the United States
Similarities:
 Multiple government agencies involved in regulating mining
projects.
 Conflicts between agencies from different focus of
agencies.
 Civil Society experience that public hearings and EIA
process biased in favor of mining project.
 Civil Society not an equal partner in negotiations between
government agencies and mining companies.
 Environmental Impact Assessment often does not
accurately predict environmental impacts from project.

between Ghana and the United States (con.)
Differences:
 Land impacted by mining projects – (Vacant/Populated
Lands).
 Human rights impacts from mining operations in Ghana
much more problematic than those in the United States.
 Public Participation.
 Transparency and public access to information.
 US EPA required to do its own independent analysis of
project. May not rely on analysis of project proponent
alone.

Successes and Challenges of
Environmental Review in Ghana
Success
 EPA and mining companies aware of key environmental issues and best
practices, including:
 Need for public participation in project and environmental review
process.
 Need for transparency and providing information to public.
Challenge
 Best practices not implemented by government agencies and mining
agencies.
 Conflict between what EPA and mining companies say happens and
experience of communities in impacted by mining project.

Successes and Challenges (con.)
Success
Involvement of civil society is leading to greater agency
accountability and responsiveness to community and
environmental concerns.
Challenges
 Civil society not equal partner in environmental review
process.
 Many documents still confidential between mining company
and EPA.
 Public access to information is limited.
 Government agencies need to do more to protect rights of
Ghanaians.
 Government agencies not effectively applying and enforcing
existing environmental laws.

Challenge
 Process for determining amount of compensation for land and resources destroyed
from mining project.
 Negotiations regarding compensation left to local governments, communities and
individuals who are disadvantaged in terms of power and information.
 Government agencies take active role in negotiating terms of project and permitting
project but “take a back seat” in determining how communities/individuals will be
compensated.
Challenge
 Government agencies have conflict of interest in dual roles played:
 Responsible for both permitting projects and supporting growth and development
of mineral resources and regulating them.

Challenge
 Technical expertise of government agencies limited.
 Need adequate resources for government agency to properly monitor
mining projects.
 Government agencies do not have adequate personnel or training to
monitor scope of environmental impacts.
Challenge
 No standard for public participation.
 Current process for public participation is not representative of those most
impacted by mining projects.
 Those with most to gain from mining project relied on to voice the concerns of
communities (ie. chiefs and traditional leaders).
 No requirement that those who are most impacted from mining project are
involved in process or have representation. (ie. women, children, small farmers,
etc.).

Environmental Review Best
Practices – selected
examples
(based on U.S. model)

Environmental Review Best Practices: Public
Participation
1. Financial assurance/economic bond information included in
Environmental Impact Statement.
2. Public disclosure of financial assurance/economic bond terms and
what must be completed prior to the return of the economic bond to
the company.
3. Public notice and involvement prior to return of economic bond to
mining company to assist EPA in determining if requirements for
closure are adequately completed, including opportunity for public to
raise legal challenge if company has not adequately met terms of
closure.

Environmental Review Best Practices: Public Participation (con.)
4.Environmental assessment required for mineral exploration with
public participation in environmental review process for exploratory
activities.
 Allows public to have advanced notice of potential project, provide more
time for public to organize, anticipate impacts and become engaged in
process
 Exploration has environmental impacts that must be assessed and
mitigated.
5. Minimum of 30-day comment period for public, with liberal approval
of requests for extension of time for public comment and
participation in environmental review process for large mining
projects.
6. Copies of draft and final EIS and supporting documents given free of

7. Environmental documents made available electronically and posted
on agency website.
8. Public participation for both environmental review and permitting
processes.
 Environmental review – identifies impacts from project on
environment, communities, etc. Should be used to inform the
permitting process.
 Permitting should be a separate process with its own public process
– comment, public hearing, etc. Provides public with more specific
details of project and additional opportunity for public involvement.

9. Public disclosure of documents after initial EIS, including:
 Periodic review of economic bond/financial assurance.
 Environmental monitoring reports submitted by mining company to
government
10. Opportunity for public involvement in earlier stages of process –
pre EIS.
 Determining if EIS should be required.
 Identifying or revising the terms of reference in scoping process.

Environmental Review Best Practices: Environmental
Analysis
1. Government agency develops independent EIS – often hiring an independent 3rd
party contractor to conduct work, which is also verified by individual technical
experts working within the EPA/government agency.
2. Cumulative Impacts analysis included in EIS.
 Cumulative impacts analysis includes a broader review of the impacts in a larger area
and over broader time period. Especially important when considering the regional wide
mining activity in the Western Region.
3. Analysis of alternatives to proposed mining project.
 Alternatives analysis should analyze at least 3 alternatives, including the proposed
project, a no action alternative, and another viable alternative.
 EIS should identify the “preferred alternative” so public understands which course of
action is preferred by the agency.
Note: Ghana EIA is required by law to include alternatives analysis, but review of Ghanaian EIAs shows that
EIS/EIA’s approved by Ghana EPA are legally deficient and do not include this analysis.

Opportunities for Civil Society
Intervention and Advocacy

Opportunities for Civil Society
Advocacy and Intervention
Legal Intervention
 Identify strategic cases to ensure current laws and regulations
enforced adequately by government agencies.
 Development of “Public Trust Doctrine” to ensure that actions
of government agencies protect the public trust and human
rights of Ghanaian citizens.
 Focus cases on improving status of civil society as equal
partner with government agencies and mining companies.
 Challenge to confidentiality of documents and exclusion of
public from process.

Opportunities for Civil Society Intervention (con.)
Advocacy with Government Agencies
 New EPA project to develop standard rates for financial
compensation for individuals losing land and crops as result of
mining activity.
 EPA to hire contractor to establish standardized rates of compensation.
 Community involvement supposed to be part of this process.
 Advocacy by civil society groups essential to ensure rates accurately
reflect true value of land, crops, and other resources impacted by mining
projects.
 Environmental performance and public disclosure document rating
environmental performance of mining companies.
 Scheduled to be released in August 2010, with annual updates beginning
March 2011.
 Advocacy by civil society essential to ensure information is accurate and
public’s experience reflected.
 May provide access to information which has not previously been
publicly available (environmental monitoring reports of companies).

TECHNICALITIES OF
TAILINGS, CYANIDE
CONTAINMENT, AND EIA’S
Patrick Freeze,
Technical and Policy Analyst Intern
Great Basin Resource Watch
University of Nevada, Reno
Environmental Science

A technical look at mining….

So, what are tailings made of?
 Small rock particles after the mineral ore has
been extracted
 Cyanide (which volatizes fairly quickly in
sunlight)
 Salts
 Water
 Suspended and dissolved solids (soil and
salts)
 Whatever mineral ore was not picked up by
carbon (CIL)

Advantages of Tailings
Impoundment
 Economical methods of disposal (compared to
backfilling)
 Manages storm and waste water flow, pH (metals),
TDS, and TSS
 Removes suspended particulate matter and solids
 Treatment of effluent from tailings
 Heavy metals will precipitate out as hydroxides
 Holding area for oxidizable material not separated as
PAG (potential acid generating) rock
 Storage and stabilization of process recycle water
Technical Report, Design and Evaluation of Tailings Dams, US EPA, August 1994

…and MOST IMPORTANTLY
Permanent containment of contaminants,
potentially acid generating waste, as well
as unsettled and settled particulates
(TDS/TSS)

Some disadvantages…
 Large area of surface disturbance
 Some difficulty in re-vegetation and reclamation,
particularly with acid-generating tailings (as well
as heap leach sites)
 Potential for surface and ground water
contamination
 Inefficient chemical treatment due to
environmental factors (precipitation, volatilization
capacity, etc)
 Costly and difficult collection and treatment of
seepage through impoundment structures
 Dispersion of dust and other fine particulate
matter unless surface reclaimed

Some Methods of Tailings
Disposal
 Subaqueous (under-water) disposal
 Backfill in underground mines
 Backfill in pitmine
Backfilling is the most desirable method as it
frees up land space but it is very costly (which
is why it is rarely utilized).

Types of Tailing Disposal
In-Pit
 Disposing tailing material in previously mined
pit or current pit post-production
 Tailings placed above water table
 Usually in PAG (potentially acid generating)
cell to avoid acid generation, lined with
counteracting basic material

Valley design (most popular)
 Utilizes natural valley depression
Single and Multiple Cross-Valley Impoundments Single and Multiple Side-Hill Valley Impoundments

 Other designs include
 Ring-Dike and
 Specially Dug Pit

Water Retention
Embankments/Dams
 Retention dam embankments built in four
successive lifts based on:
 The life of the mine
 Production
 Environmental factors (precipitation)
Embankments can use natural soil, tailings, and
waste rock in any combination.
Local materials are most economical

Types of Embankments
Upstream Construction
Method
(most common and

Downstream
Construction Method

Centerline Construction Method

Best Management Practices
 Facility Monitoring
 Visual
 Peizometers (to monitor effluent flow through ground)
 Liner and drainage analysis
 Water Control
 Flow
 Precipitation Monitoring
 Regular and Major (unforeseen) Storm Events
 Ground/surface water contamination monitoring
 Infiltration
 Evaporation rates
…and Accurate Modeling and Predictions (difficult)

…and very important
Good soil compaction and design of tailings
embankments and facility!
Sufficient compaction of the soil during the
construction of the embankment is key in
minimizing infiltration of tailings effluent to
surface and groundwater supplies.

Common failure mechanisms
 Overtopping (flood waters)
 Erosion (also from heavy rains)
 Sliding (sloughing of areas of tailings material)
 Liquefaction (movement of liquefied solid
mass- most common)
 Mass density, soil composition, water table,
seismic activity, and internal stress of tailings
facility
 Saturation of embankment

Tailings Seepage
 Detected through visual analysis as well as
such instruments as Peizometers
 Chemical analysis required
 Contaminants such as salts, metals, and cyanide
could interact with groundwater as well as flow-
through areas, contaminating entire groundwater
supplies

Seepage Control Methods
 Sufficient Liners (either synthetic or composed
of impermeable clays)
 Slimes (moderately impermeable layers evenly
distributed amongst tailings material. Used to
slow down infiltration of tailings)
 Embankment Monitoring
 Pumpback Systems

Guidelines for Proper Tailings Impoundment
Construction in Nevada
 Typically highly-dense synthetic liner
 Leak detection system
 System of drains beneath the reservoir
 Preferably downstream construction
 Enough free room to accommodate the "100 year"
24-hour storm (including the added pressure on
embankment)
 Liquefaction and slope stability analysis
 Independent permitting of tailings facility
*State of Nevada, Division of Water Resources

Technical look at some EIA’s
A general analysis (with comments much like
those seen in US EIS’s and EA’s) of two
Ghanaian EIA’s. A fuller analysis could be
conducted….

Kibi Goldfields Limited,
Osino-Pusupusu Alluvial Gold Project
EIA
Re-establishment of alluvial gold mine at Osino in Fanteakwa District of East Region
A few of the general areas of improvement upon review….
 Gold reserves should be in project description. Slightly difficult trying to locate.
 No clear outline of chemical process used to extract gold.
 A clearer contour map should be included.
 No alternatives proposed other than the proposed action. For the sake of impact
mitigation, all alternatives and options should be included and considered.
 Fairly adequate field analysis
 Only “comments” included are two letters of consent from the Chief of Osino and the
Chief of Saaman. Comments from any and all parties should be included for public
disclosure.
 Socio-economic impacts outlined i.e. added financial strain on communities, schools,
utilities, employment, etc., but with no definite mitigation plan.
“…will also contact and assist, where possible the District Assembly to provide more social
amenities, such as places of convenience, schools, to which is the direct responsibility
of the District Assembly.” (page 48)

Tailings Analysis
The predicted life of this mine is 9+ years and is located in one
of the wetter areas of the region. There is no mention of any
embankment management plan, even with a prediction of
increased production.
“Thus the design has in-built provisions to ensure non-stop and
efficient tailings handling, and to prevent plant or dam
failures”
(page 46, 5.7.1)
Although there is ‘mention’ of a figure or diagram of the tailings
facility and dam, one could not be located. There is also no
mention of cyanide in the tailings composition. What
chemicals will actually be present or predicted?
This disclosure statement and mitigation plan is
unacceptable.

Newmont Ghana Gold Limited
Ahafo Project (South) EIA
A 15 year old gold project located in the Brong Ahafo Region
What this particular EIA has and is missing:
 The alternatives listed lacks sufficient consideration of alternatives necessary to fulfill
both purpose of an EIA as well as avoiding significant impacts
 Adequate maps of area and predicted gold reserves
 Sufficient analysis of environmental chemistry of mining area
 Lose and easily misconstrued language with no definite reason or explanation. Needs
to be more concise and direct (too many “should’s”):
“Monitoring of tailings moisture contents and densities, and survey of the tailings beach
and supernatant pond locations should be conducted four times a year.” (section
2.18.1)
“The local environment should be protected from seepage that may escape the TSF
(tailings storage facility) over time.” (section 2.18.2)
“Groundwater resources in the area are not suitable to supply adequate quantities of water
for a major industrial project, however, there should be no major problems to find the
requirements for drinkable water.” (section 3.2.6.1)

Tailings analysis
 Adequate layout of tailings handling management plan:
“The TSF designed by Knight Piésold will comply with national (Ghana
Minerals and Mining Law, 1986, Ghana's Mining Environmental
Guidelines, Final Draft 1994) and State of Nevada (U.S.)
Administrative Code Chapter 445A – Water Controls and Mining
Facilities (Appendix II.7)” (section 2.17.3)
 Flood control related to precipitation included with spillway design:
“An emergency spillway will be constructed at the south embankment for
each annual raise to control the discharge of any extreme storm
events exceeding the design event.” (2.17.2)
 Included adjustments to embankment correlating to production and life
of mine as well seepage control, leachate collection systems, and liner
monitoring.
Impacts and analysis fully disclosed and is acceptable.

Some points to think about…
 Tailings impoundment construction is and
should be a critical part of a DYNAMIC
process. One tailings facility will not work for
every mining site.
 Good intentions alone do not make an
adequate mitigation plan. ‘Loose’ language
tends to remove accountability.
 EIA’s are action-forcing disclosure documents
to assess impacts.

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