Summary
focusing mitigation planning and impact analyses on issues of concern.
The CTE also participated in consultation during 2004 when the focus
was on project disclosure and identification of issues, and late 2005
when the emphasis changed to discussing proposed mitigation.
Many issues were raised during consultation and these have been
discussed throughout the EA. As an aid to the reader, a conformity table
links the main issues raised to the sections in the EA where they are
addressed (see Attachment 2). Some key issues include:
CTE workshop 2005
•
the need to optimize employment and economic benefits for
Malagasy people;
•
concern over the need to re-settle people, especially from the tailings
area;
•
concern over possible health and safety effects on people, including
from HIV/AIDS linked to migrant workers;
•
concern that changes to water quantity and quality downstream of
the mine and tailings area could damage the environment and affect
people and agriculture;
•
concern over the level of impact the mine will have on biodiversity;
and
•
concern that the slurry pipeline will further fragment primary forest in
the Ankeniheny–Zahamena forest corridor.
Public consultation will continue during construction and operations.
The preparation of the EA also involved collaboration within the project’s
EA team, which comprised Dynatec staff, international consultants and
many specialists based in Madagascar. The EA considered baseline
conditions, construction, operations and closure phases for the project.
As required by the ToR, the EA process included the following steps:
•
identify the environmental and socio-economic resources potentially
affected by the project;
•
predict positive and negative effects and the extent to which positive
effects can be enhanced and negative effects mitigated;
•
quantify and assess the significance of effects where possible;
•
consider the need to compensate for any high residual negative
effects; and
•
identify methods to monitor resources that may be affected by the
project.
The above steps suggest a linear flow of activities. However, in many
instances, results of initial impact analyses were provided to the
engineering design team, so that negative impacts could be minimized
through improved design. The EA provides the basis for the
development of an environmental and social management plan for
construction, operation and closure.
January 2006
Ambatovy Project — 4
