Environmental Assessment
Volume B-6
Mine
Reclamation and Closure Plan
Ambatovy Project
402
January 2006
6.7.2
Revegetation
Revegetation of disturbed surfaces is a key restoration objective in that the
vegetation provides sediment and erosion control and allows for future land uses.
Further details on revegetation of the mine site are discussed in Volume J,
Appendix 1.1, Attachment 3.
In the mining region, which includes the whole Antampombato basic intrusion
(dated at the Cretaceous), three types of forests are distinguished based on
geology and substrate, these include azonal (or atypical), transitional and mid-
altitude zonal forests.
Forest protection on the lease will be planned, implemented and enforced by
means of a forest management plan to be ratified by the Malagasy government;
this management plan is currently in preparation.
Multiple-use forestry has been chosen as the long-term land use of the mine
region because it reflects Madagascar’s regional plan to maintain the Mantadia-
Zahamena forest corridor and the Torotorofotsy Wetlands, including its
watersheds, as a long-term conservation site. The zonal forest of the mine region
constitutes the western limit of this corridor. As such, the mine region forms part
of this extended conservation landscape of the current regional conservation
strategy.
To assist in achieving the long-term reclamation goals, the following
assumptions and observations can be made:
•
In the long-term (> 50 years), the ligneous species composition of the
natural forest is expected to be similar to that of the surrounding residual
forest (transitional – zonal) that is outside the mine footprint.
•
The dominant type of substrate to be reclaimed is deeply weathered soil
that is prone to sheet and gully erosion and could produce high loads of
suspended solids if no adequate erosion control measure is being
applied.
•
The soil substrate is nutrient depleted and the creation of an organic
layer to enhance soil aggregation and plant growth is required; mulching
will be needed.
•
Mulch from native vegetation (clear-cuttings of forests on the footprint)
is of high quality but the available quantities produced will not suffice to
satisfy the demand over time; other types of mulch, such as Eucalyptus,
will have to be produced.
