PROVISION OF CONSULTING SERVICES

OF ISLAND WIDE STRATEGIC

ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT (SEIA)

FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF MINING

ZONES IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

Monday 9 December 2013

David Jarvis

PROJECT OVERVIEW:

• Objectives:

–Recommend Mining Zones for all surface-won minerals to be established to comply with Minerals Act 2000

–Identify 25 years’ supply of construction materials for the nation

PROJECT OVERVIEW:

Work elements

• LiDAR survey of key areas where minerals are quarried

• Supply (resources and current production) study and demand forecasts

• Creation of GIS bringing together spatial data from a range of Government sources

• SEIA to establish areas of deposit without primary environmental and social constraints

• Use of SEIA results to establish MZs

• Formal and informal training of counterparts

PROJECT OVERVIEW:

Outcomes

• Recommended Mining Zones providing 25 years’ supply of principal construction materials

• A GIS for MEEA as a resource they can use and develop in the future in their role as regulator and for managed minerals supply

• Some high quality imagery and 3D survey information that can be made available to operators applying for licences and CECs and used as a basis for monitoring and inventory

PROJECT OVERVIEW:

Outcomes

• A more robust database of quarries and pits in Trinidad and Tobago

• Institutional strengthening and facilitation of cooperation between Ministries and Agencies who have a stake in minerals planning and regulation

• An emerging framework for better regulation of the industry in the future and planning for future needs

What is a Mining Zone?

• As defined in the Act

– Outside a Mining Zone: mining/quarrying is not allowed under any circumstances

– Inside the MZ: mining/quarrying is allowed, subject to compliance with strict rules imposed and enforced through Licences and CECs

What is a Mining Zone?

• Some MZs created simply to allow managed closure and rehabilitation

• Standalone processing plants included in MZs to ensure that this activity is properly regulated (especially in relation to discharges to water)

What is a Mining Zone?

• A spatial planning unit – but not a permanent one. Once resources are depleted and rehabilitation is complete, a Mining Zone has no further relevance and will cease to exist – the ‘new land’ can be used for something else (after-use)

• New MZs will be needed in future

What is a Mining Zone?

• Functions of Mining Zones include:

–Providing clarity for mineral operators and the public as to where mineral working will be allowed, and where it will not

–Providing rules to underpin planning and regulation of activity within MZs

–Maintaining a ‘land bank’ of construction materials to meet the needs of Trinidad and Tobago for a defined time horizon (25 years)

The supply and demand

study• Supply (current production and capacity):

– Current production not systematically recorded. Estimates made from available royalty information, industry sources (supplied confidentially) supplemented by using indirect information (explosives use, cement production) to ‘reality check’

– Validation of current production by extrapolating from 2006 and 2007 published figures for the sector using construction GDP

The supply and demand

study• Future demand:

– Extrapolation on a ‘straight line’ basis assuming 2% growth on average over the 25 years to give total demand (data insufficient to be more sophisticated or predict trends)

• Establishing MZ areas to meet future demand for 25 years– Available resources per km² estimated for each material type

using best available geological information with generous contingencies for uncertainty

• Future demand/resource per km² = total MZ area needed

What is a Mining Zone?

• Functions of Mining Zones include:– Integration of mineral planning with other

aspects of spatial planning in Trinidad and Tobago in the context of NSDS, particularly:

• Safeguarding areas underlain by valuable deposits to prevent other development that might sterilize the mineral before it can be recovered

• Long term planning for ‘after minerals’

• Preventing conflict between quarries and other land-uses

What is a Mining Zone?

• Special functions of the initial Mining Zones include:– Legalising all current quarrying (and primary

processing) activity by bringing it inside an MZ

– Safeguarding the deposit area of Tar Sand for future potential exploitation

– Designating areas of current mineral activity where the only ongoing extraction that will be permitted will be in the context of a rehabilitation plan

What is the SEIA Process?

• Collect baseline data

• Collate these data into a GIS database

• Give appropriate weightings

• Search the GIS database for the desired demand volumes (expressed as tonnes/km²)

• Refine the outcomes

Baseline data

• 40 subject matters:

1. Locations of licensed quarries

2. Quarry permissions

3. CECs for licensed quarries 4. End of Year surveys for

quarries 5. Production statistics

6. Locations of unlicensed

quarries 7. Geology

8. Seismic risk 9. Watercourses/bodies

10. Aquifers

11. Water catchments 12. Built areas

13. Built development (sensitive) 14. Proposed development

15. Local, regional and national plans

16. Roads/Rights of Way

17. Rail 18. Ecology

19. Agriculture 20. Soils

21. Electricity

22. Telephones 23. Sewerage

24. Water supply 25. Natural oil/gas

26. Military

27. Transmitters/aerials 28. Airports/protected zones

29. Ports/import related infrastructure

30. Tourism areas

31. Archaeological/cultural 32. Forestry

33. National parks 34. Topography

35. Flood/soil erosion 36. Slope stability

37. Earthquake

38. Subsidence 39. Hurricane/storms

40. Tsunami

Baseline data

• Existing data sources:

CANIRI

Civil Aviation Authority

Commissioner of Police Commissioner of State Lands

Coosals CSO

EMBDC

First Citizen Bank Forestry Division

Lands and Surveys Division MEEA

Meteorological Office

Ministry of Arts and Multiculturism Ministry of Environment and Water

Resources Ministry of Finance

Ministry of Housing and Environment Ministry of Local Government

Ministry of National Security

Ministry of Tourism Ministry of Works and Infrastructure

National Stone Quarries National Gas Company

National Energy Corporation

OPDM Petrotrin

PLIPDECO Powergen

T and TEC

TCPD TEMA

THA including Division of Agriculture, Marine Affairs, Marketing and the Environment

Trinidad Cement Company Ltd TSTT

WASA

Water Resources Agency

Baseline data

• The process begins with the geology

Where are the proposed

MZs?

Based on geological occurrence

Geological formations in which quarrying currently takes place in Trinidad

• Existing quarrying activity and the LiDAR survey areas

Baseline data

• The geology, principal quarrying activity and LiDAR survey area for Tobago

Baseline data

Searching the GIS database

• Sieve Mapping:

“The overlay of all of the levels of collected baseline data together with any stand-offs, buffers and exclusions to identify unconstrained (or minimally constrained) areas of relevant geology to fulfil the projected 25 year demand requirements”

What are the on-the-ground

boundaries?

• Roads

• Rivers

• Built Development

• Straight lines across open ground (e.g. Tar Sands)

Control in Mining Zones

• Parameters

• Thresholds

• Requirements

Why are they needed?

Mining Zones

• MZs only define where quarrying may take place

• Not where, in detail, it should happen

PTRs

• Indicate distances from sensitive receptors

• Schedule assessments that must be done before CECs can be issued and licences applied for

• Indicate basic operator and application process requirements

PTRs

• Schedule of PTRs in 16 sections:

LEGAL HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT

SITE LANDSCAPE AND VISUAL

SOILS NOISE

WATER ENVIRONMENT AIR QUALITY

BUILT DEVELOPMENT VIBRATIONS

INFRASTRUCTURE HEALTH AND SAFETY

ROADS AND TRANSPORT FORESTRY

NATURAL ENVIRONMENT OTHER ITEMS

Annual review of MZs

• Performance against strategic masterplan

• Performance against PTRs and individual Licence and CEC Obligations

• Total tonnage produced in the year/reconciliation against royalty payments

• Area of new land disturbed

• Area of land rehabilitated

5 year review of MZs

• Additional/replacement Mining Zones will be needed as the initial 25 year supply is depleted

• Areas of search will need to be determined for this purpose

• GORTT will need to consider how these can be safeguarded from other development, which might sterilize mineral deposits.

Periodic review of MZs

• It may sometimes be necessary for new Mining Zones to be designated on an opportunistic basis when major development is planned which would sterilize valuable potential reserves which could be removed before or during the construction phase.

Development of:

• Guidance

• Codes of Practice

• Functional trade and professional bodies encouraging good practice and raising industry standards

• Improved standards of environmental and safety performance – higher aspirations

• Improved professional and technical skills in government to allow better monitoring of compliance and more consistent enforcement

Some headline figures

• Total area covered by Mining Zones - Trinidad:– Sand and Gravel (3 MZs) 96.85 km²

– Blue Limestone and sandstone (12 MZs) 10.58 km²

– Plastering sands (9 MZs) 27.36 km²

– Clay (2 MZs) 3.47 km²

– Yellow Limestone (2 MZs) 3.52 km²

– Porcellanite (6 MZs) 1.70 km²

– Tar Sand (1 MZ) 39.44 km²

– Trinidad Total 182.92 km²

– (approximately 3.8% of total land area of Trinidad

or 2.97% excluding Tar Sand)

Some headline figures

• Total area covered by Mining Zones - Tobago:– Tobago Total (andesite) (1 MZ) 1.88 km²

– (approximately 0.96% of total land area of Tobago)

• Trinidad and Tobago combined:– All materials (36 MZs) 185.80 km²

(approximately 3.62% of total land area of T&T)

– All materials excluding Tar Sands (35 MZs) 146.36 km²(approximately 2.80% of total land area of T&T)

• A further 2 MZs to capture 7No. standalone processing plants that exist outside MZs within which extraction takes place.