Environmental Assessment
Volume E-5.3
Tailings Facility
Land Use
Ambatovy Project
211
January 2006
Construction and operations of the tailings facility will occur in three phases;
impacts on downstream water basins may not occur until many years into the
project, but impacts described in Table 5.3-2 account for all of the effects of the
project, including impacts to all lands within the property line around the tailings
facility and along the footprint of the enlarged access corridor.
The most valuable land use areas within the tailings facility LSA at present are
agroforestry areas, lowland rice paddies, eucalyptus woodlots/plantations, and
villages. Within the LSA, 41% (27 ha) of agroforestry areas will be impacted
during the operations phase and 29% (19 ha) of agroforestry areas will be
permanently removed by the project. Twelve percent (10 ha) of rice paddies will
be impacted during the operations phase and eleven percent (9 ha) of rice paddies
will be impacted permanently by the project. Thirteen percent (7 ha) of
woodlots/plantations will be affected by the project, both in the operations phase
and permanently. No village areas will be affected by the tailings facility.
Land owners and land users will be compensated though re-settlement to
properties of equivalent capability for agriculture; however, the process of
relocation may have other effects. These subjects are addressed in the
socioeconomic section (Volume E, Section 5.1).
Changes in Agriculture due to Hydrologic Effects
Changes in hydrology (surface water flow volumes) due to the project are
discussed in Volume E, Section 3.8. The project has the potential to result in
declines in water flow in specific watersheds, which may affect rice paddies and
other agricultural activities in these watersheds. Between 0% and 67% of the
flow into each sub-watershed where rice fields were surveyed is eliminated
during operations (Table 5.3-3).
Table 5.3-3 Rice Areas Affected Downstream of Tailings Facility
Sub-Watershed
(a)
Affected (ha)
Not Affected (ha)
Flow Reduction in Affected Area
(b)
A1
0.44
0.06
67%
A2
11.32
0
51%
A3
13.92
0
44%
A5
0.29
0
35%
A6
0.65
0
37%
B1
5.32
1.33
63%
B3
2.72
0
0%
C1
0
0.25
59%
C2
2.24
0
48%
C3
11.09
1.15
39%
(a)
Map of watershed sub-basins provided in Volume E, Section 3.8.
(b)
Reduction in flow along the mainstem of the stream at the downstream end of the reach, during operations phase.
