AE01116

Report on the Phase 2 relocation assessment of graves and grave sites on various farms related to Xstrata Coal’s Zonnebloem Coal Mine near Middelburg
Mpumalanga Province

Summary

Archaetnos cc was requested by XStrata Coal South Africa to conduct a Phase 2 HIA Assessment of graves and grave sites located on various farms for their Zonnebloem Coal Mine development situated between Middelburg and Belfast in Mpumalanga. This is an opencast Greenfields project. The graves were identified during a Phase 1 HIA for the Coal Mine in 2007. A total of 8 graveyards and 2 individual graves were identified during the Phase 1 HIA.

The aims of the Phase 2 work were to record the total number of sites and graves that will be impacted on by the opencast mining operations and to provide recommendations regarding the successful mitigation of the impacts on the graves, including an indication of the processes involved and costing for the possible exhumation and relocation of these graves.

Report by

Anton J. Pelser
Dr. A.C. van Vollenhoven (L.AKAD.SA.)