William Berry - Amazon S3

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William Berry

From: Matthew Hemming

Sent: 30 March 2017 02:34 PM

To: bcmhlongo00

Cc: William Berry

Subject: RE: LANDOWNER: ZIMBUTHU COMMUNITY TRUST

Attachments: 2017-02-24_Rhino KZN 317 ER - EIR Draft_Executive Summary (IsiZulu).pdf

Follow Up Flag: Follow up

Flag Status: Flagged

Good day Mr Thwala

Thank you for the correspondence from the ZIMBUTHU COMMUNITY TRUST.

Unfortunately as we have reached the end of the formal consultation period for the current EIA process there is not

opportunity for further meetings at this point in time.

I have attached a copy of the executive summary of the Environmental Impact Report in isiZulu. You will note that at

this point in time the application is limited to the undertaking of an aerial survey and no access will be required to

any parcel of land. Should Rhino Oil and Gas propose to undertake ground-based work in the future then it would be

required to seek further approval from PASA in terms of the MPRDA and NEMA. Any further approval would be

subject to an additional environmental assessment process with further public consultation as is required by

NEMA. During that process Rhino Oil Gas would consult with land owners (possibly such as the Zimbuthu

Community Trust) to discuss the aspects such as access.

You are more than welcome to contact us to raise further questions and or to submit any comments that you may

have on the Environmental Impact Report.

Kind regards

Matthew Hemming

African ESIA Technical Discipline Manager

SLR Consulting

Email: [email protected]

Mobile: +27 82 940 8274 Tel: +27 33 343 5826 Fax: +27 11 467 0978

From: bcmhlongo00 [mailto:[email protected]]

Sent: 28 March 2017 05:18 PM

To: Matthew Hemming Subject: LANDOWNER: ZIMBUTHU COMMUNITY TRUST

I Thwala SE, chairman of the above-mentioned trust wishes to inform the SLR Consultation (South Africa)

(Pty) Ltd my availability on the matter stated on your project reference 723.18034. 00006. -PASA Ref:

12/3/317 ER - file reference number 2017-02-16 _Rhino KZN 317 ER on further talks engagement.

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Having not received your previously correspondence from SLR on your project. But willingly ready to

engage talks with you on your proposed project.

We as ZIMBUTHU COMMUNITY TRUST have the following title deed under our name which are as

follows:

1. Farm Zwartkop no.91

2. Farm Berouw no.179

3. Farm Hartebeestspruit no.111

4. Farm Waaikraal no.153

5. Farm Vaalbank no. 154 ect.

Hopefully you will find the above in order. Thank you.

Yours faithfully

Thwala SE

082 264 7631

P.O Box 51003

Osizweni

2952

Sent from my Samsung device

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William Berry

From: Bronwyn Howard <[email protected]>

Sent: 30 March 2017 09:01 PM

To: Matthew Hemming; William Berry

Subject: COMMENTS ON APPLICATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AUTHORISATION IN

SUPPORT OF AN EXPLORATION RIGHT APPLICATION FOR PETROLEUM PRODUCTS

- NORTHERN KZN (12/3/317 ER):

Attachments: RHINO - 317 ER B HOWARD - REVISED EIA COMMENT LETTER.doc; MINING IN

PROTECTED AREAS JUDGEMENT.pdf

Dear Matthew and William,

Attached please find our comments on the revised EIR for the above application.

Please note that we are in the process of establishing a smallscale agricultural business, which will

contribute to rural livelihoods and our regional economy (which it is already), and are extremely concerned

as regards the broader implications of these applications, should economically viable resources be found,

regardless of the method of extraction used for production.

We are particularly concerned about the potential longer-term effects of significant water abstraction, water

and soil pollution, groundwater impacts, potential human health impacts (we are growing food) and

infrastructure impacts, especially roads. Our area is already experiencing significant negative impacts from

the coal mining industry, which may well be exacerbated by the development of an oil and gas industry in

addition to this.

I am also attaching some supplementary information, which I refer to in my submission. Please ensure that

this is submitted, they form part of our comment letter.

Regards

Bronwyn & Jock

Bronwyn Howard & Jock Tame Urban Eco Life P O Box 349, Utrecht, KZN, 2980 Cell: 084 246 9223 | Tel: 034 331 4377

E-mail: [email protected]

P O Box 349, Utrecht, KZN, 2980

Tel: 034 331 4377 | Cell: 084 246 9223 | E-mail: [email protected]

30 March 2017

To:

SLR Consulting (Pty) Ltd

Metago House (Block 7)

Fourways Manor Office Park

Cnr Roos and Macbeth Streets

Johannesburg

Rhino Oil & Gas (Pty) Ltd

Petroleum Agency of South Africa

ATTENTION: MATTHEW HEMMING / WILLIAM BERRY

Dear Matthew/William,

COMMENTS ON ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORT: RHINO OIL & GAS

APPLICATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AUTHORISATION IN SUPPORT OF AN EXPLORATION

RIGHT APPLICATION FOR PETROLEUM PRODUCTS ON VARIOUS FARMS IN THE

MAGISTERIAL DISTRICTS OF UBOMBO, SIMDLANGENTSHA, UTRECHT, NGOTSHE,

NEWCASTLE, VRYHEID, NONGOMA, HLABISA, DANNHAUSER, MAHLABATINI, NQUTU,

DUNDEE, GLENCOE, KLIPRIVER, BABANANGO, LOWER UMFOLOZI, MTONJANENI, MSINGA,

ESTCOURT, WEENEN, KWAZULU-NATAL PROVINCE (Ref No. 12/3/317 ER)

Introduction

Bronwyn Howard and Jock Tame are residents of Utrecht in northern KZN; we are also

sustainability practitioners and advocates, and provide agronomy services.

While the town is demarcated as part of a protected area - and is as such not included in the

application area for proposed exploration for oil and gas resources submitted by Rhino Oil &

Gas (Pty) Ltd (Rhino) – it abuts the proposed exploration area. No protected area exists in a

vacuum; negative impacts occurring outside protected areas can impact on them just as

negatively. We note from the map provided in the BID and scoping report that there are two

sections on the south-eastern side of Utrecht that appear to be targeted for exploration, in

addition to the greater area. We are therefore concerned at the potential negative impacts of

exploration on Utrecht and its surrounds.

We have recently started a smallscale agricultural business growing culinary herbs, together

with plants suitable for essential oil production, which we hope to use in part to feed into local

community development projects, and are therefore particularly concerned at potential future

negative impacts on water and soil resources, as well as arable land within the application area.

This is a coal mining area, where there are concerns about farmland being taken out of

production due to the granting of mining rights; the same concerns hold true for oil and gas

production if commercially viable resources are found in this area.

COMMENTS

General:

Northern KwaZulu-Natal, in which application ER 317 is situated, is a somewhat unique area,

being a border area between this province, as well as southern Mpumalanga and the eastern

Free State. Many important rivers have their sources here, including the Thukela, Usutu,

Pongola and Mfolozi. Rivers such as the Buffalo, which also rise here, provide water to a vast

rural area. Water from this region also augments supply to the Vaal Basin, which provides

water to Gauteng, the country’s economic powerhouse. The area is therefore a vital source of

water provision to the eastern part of South Africa. Many people living in this area, as well as

the towns and cities contained within it, are directly dependent on the environment for their

water, as opposed to receiving water from further afield via interbasin transfers, as is the case

with Johannesburg in particular (in fact, 80% of Johannesburg’s water comes from KwaZulu-

Natal, the first phase of the Lesotho Highlands Water Scheme notwithstanding). According to

WWF-SA, this region forms part of the mere 8% of South Africa’s land area that provides 50% of

the country’s freshwater via runoff.

The region falls within South Africa’s grassland biome. According to the Amajuba District

Municipality’s IDP and Spatial Development Plan, the grasslands here are on average 30%

transformed as opposed to a national average of over 60% transformed, sometimes irreversibly.

These landscapes are home to numerous threatened mammals, such as the Oribi and Golden

Mole. Threatened birds found here (and monitored by us previously) include the Wattled and

Grey Crowned Crane, Denham’s Bustard, Southern Bald Ibis, Ground Hornbill, Secretarybird,

Western Marsh Harrier, Black Stork, Botha’s Lark, Rudd’s Lark and Yellow-breasted Pipit.

The primary economic sectors are agriculture and tourism, especially eco- and cultural tourism.

Farming focuses on rangeland livestock farming (mainly cattle and sheep) and game farming.

The area is a coal mining area (Utrecht Coalfields), although the Amajuba District Municipality

has been careful to balance the need for mining-related economic activities with the essential

ecosystem services (such as water provision) provided by the local natural environment. Coal

mining has been in decline due to dwindling resources but there is now a renewed effort to

mine further coal, particularly to supply the Majuba Power Station near Volksrust and to bring

in junior and often BBEEE mining companies. In our opinion, based on our experiences with the

sector since arriving in this area in mid-2011, many of these entities do not appear to conduct

their activities in an environmentally-friendly manner; there are several abandoned, ownerless

mines, which have not been rehabilitated adequately or at all; mines proceeding without the

requisite water use licences and depriving other users of water; as well as compromised road

infrastructure due to coal being transported by heavy vehicles. The region is generally well

aware of the pros and cons of its association with the extractive industry.

One of the region’s particular challenges is creating jobs and work opportunities for a great

number of people who are generally poorly educated with limited skills. Historically, when

mining was still very labour intensive with easy-to-reach resources, the sector was able to

employ numbers of such people. Now, however, the situation has changed dramatically; at a

public meeting regarding the potential re-opening of a former mine, 400 people arrived looking

for work and were told that only 75 new jobs would potentially be created.

These days, despite it being legislated, the extractive industry rarely provides much opportunity

for locals to learn new skills and generally gives little input (or very limited input at best) into

local economies and opportunities. As a result, when mines close, jobs evaporate overnight. We

have seen this happen in the broader area around Utrecht.

Amajuba District Municipality, together with smaller municipalities such as Emadlangeni

(Utrecht) are working to develop sectors such as agriculture and ecotourism in places where

mineral resources such as coal are unlikely to be particularly large or long-term. Such non-

extractive economic activities can be done on a sustainable basis, with minimal and managed

environmental impact, rely on a healthy environment for their continued viability, and have the

potential to employ more people. They also have the potential to feed into the local economy.

While the development of an oil and gas industry in South Africa has allegedly been hailed as a

potential ‘game changer’ for the country by the South African government, according to various

media reports, the reality on the ground is likely to be somewhat different. By its own

admission (at public meetings held in November 2016), Rhino Oil & Gas will not provide many

jobs, as they will require personnel with oil and gas experience and a technical background. As

the holding company, Rhino Resources, is registered in the British Virgin Islands and Nevada in

the US, both tax havens, it is our opinion that it would be unlikely that profits will accrue much

to South Africans but rather to international shareholders. This has been a trend in the South

African mining sector too, particularly in recent years. The South African government will

certainly benefit – due to its legislated stake in oil and gas ventures in accordance with the

Mineral & Petroleum Resources Development Act 2002 (MPRDA), VAT, company tax, etc.

Regular South Africans will likely see little benefit.

According to information furnished to us by two Dundee geologists, it is highly likely that many

petroleum or gas resources occurring in the application area would be ‘tight’ resources,

requiring technologies such as highly controversial hydraulic fracturing (aka ‘fracking’) to

extract. Having been pioneered in the US by Mitchell Energy in the mid-1980s, horizontal

drilling techniques are particularly detrimental; although they enable a larger section of

potential reservoirs to be accessed, they also exacerbate potential impacts. These include:

High levels of water abstraction – Treasure the Karoo Action Group, an NGO working to

prevent fracking in the Cape Karoo, puts it at around 20 million litres of fresh water per

frack per well. As a dry country (the 30th driest in the world according to the UN Food &

Agricultural Organization) with water in increasingly short supply, South Africa can ill

afford such abstraction;

High levels of water pollution – A large number of highly toxic chemicals are used during

fracking, including industrial solvents, carcinogens and endochrine disruptors, kerosene

and other fuels. These may be released into groundwater during the fracking process.

As most drills and boreholes leak (despite being encased in cement, which often fails on

first deployment), there is also the risk of hydrocarbons getting into groundwater from

this source. In the US, many affected landowners are able to set their water on fire due

to the high methane content. This is also now happening in Australia, which has a

growing coalbed methane (CBM) gas industry. South Africa’s geology may also

exacerbate the likelihood of water pollution due to the presence of dolerite dykes in

particular, which create migratory pathways for both water and pollutants;

Air pollution due to the burning off of liquid gas, which contains these toxic chemicals –

these are then released into the air, leading to an increase of respiratory and other

ailments;

Risk of seismic disturbances, particularly along even small fault lines, especially when

wastewater is disposed of in injection wells;

Risk of infrastructure damage, especially in South Africa, where it is envisaged that gas,

together with equipment, personnel and wastewater will all be transported by heavy

duty trucks along often rural roads, as opposed to using rail or constructing numerous

pipelines;

Dwindling biodiversity – This is likely to be exacerbated as many threatened species

tend to be specialists requiring very specific habitat and other conditions for survival.

Habitats may be disrupted through oil and gas exploration and production, disturbance

may also negatively impact on breeding, threatened species may be removed by

unscrupulous personnel, etc.

Arable land may be taken out of production, as the South African government owns the

country’s mineral rights, according to the MPRDA – this will further negatively impact

the agricultural sector with a knock-on effect on food security, rural employment and

livelihoods, ecotourism ventures (which often rely on a non-industrialised

environment), and security of tenure.

All of the above pose in our opinion unacceptable risks to the greater natural environment, rural

livelihoods, human and animal health, ecosystem integrity (which provides essential ecosystem

services for people, including freshwater and fertile soils), freshwater supply, and local

economies.

For more information on fracking and its potential dangers in South Africa, please see:

Fracking in South Africa – A Beginners Guide

We respectfully submit that exploration for oil and gas resources, if they ultimately prove to

exist and be commercially viable, will hopelessly compromise many of the country’s rural areas,

where most of the petroleum exploration applications currently lie. These resources are not

low-carbon alternatives; they are fossil fuels, which will exacerbate climate change threats (sub-

Saharan Africa is believed to become one of the world’s worst-affected regions), freshwater

availability, etc. Due to the high methane emissions from natural gas, whether fracked or

http://view.publitas.com/wild-world-books/fracking-in-sa-a-beginners-guide

conventionally produced, including gas in a so-called ‘renewable’ energy mix cannot, under any

circumstances, be construed as a low-carbon, sustainable alternative energy source.

We would therefore urge PASA and the DMR to consider these applications in the light of their

serious future implications for broader South African society and the very limited job and

economic opportunities that they are, by the applicant’s own admission, likely to create. In our

opinion, South Africa needs more real investment into rural areas to foster local economies and

sustainable livelihoods, focusing on food production, ecotourism and other viable, long-term

employment and economic drivers.

Specific comments to EIR:

Section 1.3 - Missed opportunities and extension of time

We wish to record that we were extremely surprised to discover that either the applicant or its

consultants or both appear not to have engaged properly with the Surveyor General’s office in

the first instance and that a number of potentially affected properties and/or landowners were

not informed about this application, were accordingly not previously part of the EIA process and

were not able to register as Interested & Affected Parties (I&APs) up until now. In our opinion,

identifying all potential I&APs is a basic requirement of applications for exploration and/or

mining rights and this indicates a certain lack of rigour and concern on the part of the applicant

and/or its consultants. Information on certain landowners, such as trusts, is often available at

local level.

This is of concern to us because if such a basic requirement can be overlooked, what else might

be overlooked further down the line, assuming that viable resources are discovered in the

application area?

4.1.2.2 Environmental policy of Rhino Resources

It is noted that the environmental policy has been taken directly from the Rhino Resources web

site (Corporate Responsibility section). As this company has not worked in South Africa before,

its ability to implement and stand by its environmental policy is unknown at this time.

As stated elsewhere in the EIA report, Rhino Oil & Gas (Pty) Ltd, Rhino Resources’ South African

subsidiary, would need to comply with various South African laws around mining, water,

environmental protection and the like. Further, its BBEEE partner, Glen Blue, would also need

to be compliant in the event of commercially viable resources being found and production

proceeding.

As regards ‘community development’, we wish to point out that, at public meetings we attended

in November 2016, representatives from Rhino specifically stated that no jobs would be created,

as the company would be looking for employees with experience in the oil and gas sector. As

South Africa to date has not had much of an oil and gas sector (with the exception of the Petro

SA facility offshore of Mossel Bay), this means that there is not much local expertise in this

sector. For the same reason, we must express some scepticism of the comments that Rhino aims

to partner with local communities.

4.3 Need and desirability

This section of the EIA Report reiterates the South African government’s position that gas

should be used to generate electricity, rather than coal. The rationale for this is that gas has

fewer emissions than coal, the current basis of the country’s electricity supply, with over 90% of

electricity being generated from coal-burning power stations. However, burning gas releases

methane which, while it has a shorter life in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, is much more

potent. According to the US Environmental Defence Fund, methane is 84 times more potent

than carbon dioxide in the short term and 25% of the manmade global warming being

experienced today is due to methane emissions.

Regardless of the source (i.e. natural gas, shale gas, or coalbed methane), gas is still a fossil fuel,

the burning of which is indicated in rising global temperatures and extensive climate change

impacts. The latter are now being felt extensively across southern Africa, including South Africa,

which recently experienced the most severe drought in decades. Climate research indicates that

such droughts will become the norm with increased global warming.

This will have knock-on effects for water supply and availability, food production (e.g. South

African water expert Dr Anthony Turton told Radio 702 in an interview that it is possible that

South Africa will ultimately need to chose between using water for agriculture and importing

more food) and even human and livestock health, not to mention natural aquatic ecosystems. If

South Africa continues on its drive to exploit fossil fuels for power production, it is very likely

that the country will not be able to meet its climate change commitments.

In a recent climate change-related court case, the first of its kind in South Africa, the North Gauteng High Court ruled in favour of environmental justice organisation, EarthLife Africa Johannesburg (ELA). The court referred the appeal against the environmental authorisation for a new coal-fired power station in Limpopo Province back to the Minister of Environmental Affairs on the basis that its climate change impacts had not properly been considered.

ELA challenged Environmental Affairs’ Minister Molewa’s rejection of its appeal against the approval given to the proposed Thabametsi coal-fired power station. The approval was granted by the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) even though there had been no comprehensive assessment of the climate change impacts of this new coal-fired power station.

The court ordered that the Minister reconsider the appeal, now taking into account a full climate change impact assessment report and all public comments received. The judgement makes it clear that the DEA and the Minister should have given proper consideration to the climate change impacts of the proposed power station before a decision could have been made to allow it to go ahead. (from: Centre for Environmental Rights press release - 8 March 2017)

In the light of this, climate change impacts will very likely need to be factored in when new fossil fuel developments are planned, including oil and gas.

While South Africa has recently re-committed to the roll-out of renewable energy and a continued roll-out of the Independent Power Producer Plan for renewable energy, it still appears to be pursuing business-as-usual energy sources (i.e. coal), as well as gas and nuclear.

http://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Judgment-Earthlife-Thabametsi-Final-06-03-2017.pdf

http://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Judgment-Earthlife-Thabametsi-Final-06-03-2017.pdf

According to Greenpeace Africa, South Africa is ideally placed to take advantage of renewable energy options, including wind and solar. There is already significant wind energy development taking place in South Africa, especially in the Eastern and Western Cape.

The executive summary of the organization’s Powering the Future report states: “Very often it is

argued that renewable energy technology cannot provide the necessary ‘baseload’ electricity

capacity because of its intermittent nature... The key to sustaining the energy supply is via

smart technology that can track and manage energy use patterns and provide flexible power

that follows demand through the day. A fully optimised smart grid system would be a solution

for a climate conscious, job creating, pollution lowering, and sustainable energy system. It is

not technology, resources nor economics that prevent this but rather misconceptions of the

capability and lack of political will to move to a clean energy future. South Africa faces electricity

price hikes in order to finance the new build programme. If South Africans are to finance

Eskom’s capacity expansion programme, then Eskom should be investing in renewable energy

sources for a sustainable future.”

The report further states: “Fossil and nuclear based power is strongly lobbied for and political

interests further promote those industries. Less than 4GW of RE have thus far been approved by

the South African government. Local governments have not changed their revenue structure to

make an Energy [R]evolution possible. Coal and nuclear have been subsidised for many years

(Koplow & Kretzmann, 2010), resulting in an uneven playing field, and yet RE is often touted as

too expensive... In South Africa, the development of the RE Industry is held back by a lack of an

ambitious policy that would encourage investment. Ultimately, it is the perception of renewable

energy capacity that is the barrier and not practical constraints. Committed political will from

the South African government is necessary to set processes and policies in place that would

eliminate the barriers and foster the right economic conditions to stimulate a competitive

renewable energy industry.”

“Ultimately, it is the perception of renewable energy capacity that is the barrier and not

practical constraints. Committed political will from the South African government is necessary

to set processes and policies in place that would eliminate the barriers and foster the right

economic conditions to stimulate a competitive renewable energy industry.”

The full report can be downloaded at:

http://www.greenpeace.org/africa/Global/africa/publications/climate/RenewableEnergyRepo

rt_PoweringTheFuture.pdf

With particular reference to point 4.3.3.1 regarding the KZN Provincial Growth & Development

Strategy and the paragraph: Within the context of the proposal by Rhino Oil and Gas to explore for

petroleum products, this application does not directly contribute toward the PGDS goals of

economic upliftment for the province as employment opportunities are limited, we were, as

mentioned previously, informed at a public meeting that no jobs would be created as Rhino

would seek personnel with oil and gas experience, of which this area has very few, if any.

Therefore, no jobs will be created in this region, either now or in the future, as a result of

Rhino’s activities.

http://www.greenpeace.org/africa/Global/africa/publications/climate/RenewableEnergyReport_PoweringTheFuture.pdf

http://www.greenpeace.org/africa/Global/africa/publications/climate/RenewableEnergyReport_PoweringTheFuture.pdf

In a Parliamentary debate on hydraulic fracturing held on 1 December 2016, various ANC

representatives stated that advancing gas development in South Africa would create 700 000

jobs. We do not know how these figures were arrived at; Jonathan Deal of the NGO Treasure the

Karoo Action Group told the media that a mere 2 500 jobs would be created at best and it now

appears that Rhino Oil and Gas will not create many jobs, if any (see above).

Section 4.4.1 – Legal exclusions from the right area

According to this paragraph, protected areas of various kinds are excluded from the extent of a

right application area, together with residential areas, public roads, railways or cemeteries, and

land being used for public or government purposes or reserved in terms of any other law... We

have been following developments with regards to a coal mining right granted in the Mabola

Wetlands in Mpumalanga, which falls within a recently declared protected area (a protected

environment) and which was approved by the Department of Environmental Affairs as well as

the Department of Mineral Resources, notwithstanding its protected area states. An appeal

process has been lodged by a coalition of NGOs, community and environmental justice

organizations to have the mining right decision overturned.

As there are certain protected areas included in the area under the ER 317 application, such as

Chelmsford Dam Nature Reserve, as well as the town of Utrecht and surrounds, we would

request a guarantee from the applicant that, should further exploration and/or extraction go

ahead, the provisions of the NEM Protected Areas Act 2003, as well as Section 48(1) of the

Mineral & Petroleum Resources Development Act 2002 (MPRDA) be adhered to. It is the law.

Further, in a recent court appeal regarding an application to prospect in Mpumalanga’s

Barberton Nature Reserve, the Supreme Court of Appeal handed down judgment on 14 March

2017 in the matter of Barberton Mines vs Mpumalanga Tourism & Parks Agency (MTPA) and

others. The Court set aside an order of the North Gauteng High Court interdicting the MTPA

from interfering with the prospecting activities of Barberton Mines within the Barberton Nature

Reserve. The Court found that the Barberton Nature Reserve, established in 1985, was indeed a

nature reserve and was a protected area as contemplated under the Protected Areas Act, which

means that mining is not permitted.

Attorneys for the MTPA noted on their Facebook page: “The mine and the DMR have insisted

throughout that the Barberton Nature Reserve had not been properly established under the old

Transvaal Nature Conservation Ordinance. This protects a very valuable environment that is in

the running for world heritage states... and puts an end to Vantage Gold’s plans to mine

Barberton Nature Reserve.” (Please see copy of the judgement attached.)

Sections 4.5.6 and 4.5.7 – Core Borehole Drilling and Seismic Testing

The amendments to these sections, as requested in our previous submission in December 2016,

are noted.

Section 4.7.5 – The “No-go” Alternative

In our opinion and bearing in mind the extreme environmental sensitivity of at least parts of the

application area due to water provision, the enabling of rural livelihoods, high biodiversity

(especially botanic diversity) and the presence of threatened bird and animal species, the ‘no go’

alternative is one which should also be considered. This, as the current version of the EIR

points out, would avoid all potential future negative impacts from either further exploration

phases or eventual resource extraction/production.

Bearing in mind the environmental sensitivity of large parts of the application area (as detailed

in the first section of this letter), we believe that a ‘no go’ alternative should be considered.

Section 5.1.6 Hydrology

From a reading of this detailed section of the current EIR, together with the maps contained

therein, the high value of the application area for water provision is set out. Note that it

includes two Water Management Areas (WMAs), together with essential catchments, including

those for the Thukela, Usutu and Pongola Rivers and larger tributaries.

We note that while the area around Chelmsford Dam, an essential water provider and a source

of emergency water for surrounding towns and farmers in addition to the city of Newcastle, is

excluded from the application area by virtue of being a protected area, the Ngudane River

catchment near Normandien is not. This catchment mainly supplies Chelmsford Dam, and

should accordingly be excluded from the application area.

As regards groundwater, it should be noted that, following a three year drought in the region

(from summer 2011/12 to November 2016), there has been increased reliance on boreholes for

water provision. Many people and communities living in rural areas outside the cities and

towns in the application area have no access to piped water and rely directly on the

environment for their water supply. With weather and rainfall patterns increasingly being

disrupted due to climate change, the importance of groundwater to augment surface supplies or

provide an emergency supply during times of drought cannot be over-estimated.

As groundwater is replenished gradually from surface water supplies, it should be borne in

mind that oil and gas exploration and/or production activities that should happen to negatively

impact surface waters would therefore ultimately compromise groundwater as well.

Section 6.4 - ‘No go’ Alternative

As previously stated in this letter, South Africa should ideally be moving towards a low-carbon

future in order to help reduce the increasing impacts of climate change. As a developing

country, we have a unique opportunity to develop a less carbon-intensive economy than has

happened in developed countries, particularly in the global north. South Africa needs to move

from an industrial development model to a more holistic, inclusive model, providing more

opportunities, especially at the local economic level.

The mining industry in South Africa has, in the longer-term not in fact created opportunities for

most South Africans but has led to the enrichment of a few (mainly overseas-based mining

companies) with events such as Marikana highlighting the situation. It is unlikely that the

development of an oil and gas industry would uplift the majority, especially those who are

unskilled and/or poorly educated.

See my article, which explores these ideas in more depth: The Final Frontier

http://editor192.wixsite.com/sense-sustainability/single-post/2017/01/24/The-Final-

Frontier

6.5 Cumultative Impacts

While the aerial FTG surveys proposed in the current EIR are, on their own, unlikely to result in

cumulative impacts (and to have very low impact, as stated elsewhere in the revised EIR

document), we wish to place on record our concern that, should viable oil and/or gas resources

be found during the surveys, this would result in increasingly invasive forms of exploration

taking place (e.g. seismic testing, core borehole drilling, experimental hydraulic fracturing), at

least some of which could well result in negative impacts.

In addition, it should be borne in mind that the application area falling under ER317 is a historic

and current coal mining area where significant impacts from coal mining have historically and

are presently being experienced. This includes issues such as acid mine drainage and other

pollution of local water sources and resources; unsustainable water abstraction, sometimes

depriving other users of water; lack of adequate or any mine rehabilitation; stock theft; the

migration of indigent people into the area in search of perceived jobs; infrastructure damage,

especially to roads (due to heavy coal trucks plying the roads between mines and coal washing

facilities, power stations, etc); and increased fatal accidents on roads.

Should exploration result in production, in the event of commercially viable resources of oil

and/or gas being found in the application area, this poses serious risks to the local population –

as mentioned in the first part of this submission - and, in our opinion, is highly likely to increase

the negative impact already being experienced by the extractive industry (in the form of coal

mining).

For more information on the impacts of the coal mining industry and water resources in this

region, please see the WWF-SA report: Coal and Water Futures in South Africa:

http://awsassets.wwf.org.za/downloads/wwf_coal_water_report_2011_web.pdf

Yours faithfully

Bronwyn Howard & Jock Tame

http://editor192.wixsite.com/sense-sustainability/single-post/2017/01/24/The-Final-Frontier

http://editor192.wixsite.com/sense-sustainability/single-post/2017/01/24/The-Final-Frontier

http://awsassets.wwf.org.za/downloads/wwf_coal_water_report_2011_web.pdf

1

William Berry


Sent: 13 March 2017 11:02 AM

To: Willoughby St Leger Denny

Cc: Amelia St Leger Denny; William Berry

Subject: RE: Scan from a Samsung MFP

Thank you Willoughby

I acknowledge receipt of your correspondence dated 7 March 2017.

This information will be provided to the applicant and the Petroleum Agency South Africa.

In terms of section 48 (1a) of the MPRDA “land comprising a residential area” may not have an exploration right

issued over it.

Kind regards

Matthew Hemming


SLR Consulting


Mobile: +27 82 940 8274 Tel: +27 33 343 5826 Fax: +27 11 467 0978

From: Willoughby St Leger Denny [mailto:[email protected]]

Sent: 08 March 2017 11:12 AM

To: Matthew Hemming Cc: Amelia St Leger Denny

Subject: FW: Scan from a Samsung MFP

Good day Matthew

Please see attached letter.

Please acknowledge receipt.

Regards

-----Original Message-----

From: Willoughby St Leger Denny

Sent: 08 March 2017 10:54

To: Willoughby St Leger Denny <[email protected]>

Subject: Scan from a Samsung MFP

Please open the attached document. It was scanned and sent to you using a Samsung MFP. For more

information on Samsung products and solutions, please visit http://www.samsungprinter.com

Disclaimer

2

This e-mail and any attachments thereto may contain confidential and proprietary information. This e-mail is intended for the addressee only and should only be used by the addressee for the related purpose. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are requested to delete it immediately. Any disclosure, copying, distribution of or any action taken or omitted in reliance on this information is prohibited and may be unlawful. The views expressed in this e-mail are, unless otherwise stated, those of the sender and not those of the Investec Group of Companies or its management. E-mails cannot be guaranteed to be secure or free of errors or viruses. No liability or responsibility is accepted for any interception, corruption, destruction, loss, late arrival or incompleteness of or tampering or interfering with any of the information contained in this e-mail or for its incorrect delivery or non-delivery or for its effect on any electronic device of the recipient. For more information on the Investec Group of Companies see www.investec.com.

1

William Berry


Sent: 13 March 2017 09:17 AM

To: thysleeuwner1

Cc: William Berry

Subject: RE: CD van EIR en appendices

Attachments: 2017-02-24_Rhino N-KZN 317 ER - revised DEIR EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AFR.pdf

Goeie more Thys

Please find attached an Executive summary of the environmental impact report in Afrikaans.

A CD with the full report and appendices will be posted.

Kind regards

Matthew Hemming


SLR Consulting


Mobile: +27 82 940 8274 Tel: +27 33 343 5826 Fax: +27 11 467 0978

From: thysleeuwner1 [mailto:[email protected]]

Sent: 11 March 2017 01:28 PM To: Matthew Hemming

Subject: CD van EIR en appendices

Kan u asb die bogenoemde in CD vorm aanstuur na Posbus 30 Ingogo 2944. Verkieslik in Afrikaans asb.

Ons hier is nie goed in swart tale nie. Dankie by voorbaat.

Thys Leeuwner.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

1

William Berry


Sent: 13 March 2017 08:57 AM

To: Peggy Malele

Cc: William Berry

Subject: RE: 12/3/317ER

Attachments: Regional Locality Map_Retained Area_317ER NKZN.jpg; Appendix 2-Properties

included in the ER.pdf; 317 ER Retained area properties.kmz

Good morning

Apologies. Please find these attached.

Kind regards

Matthew Hemming


SLR Consulting


Mobile: +27 82 940 8274 Tel: +27 33 343 5826 Fax: +27 11 467 0978

From: Peggy Malele [mailto:[email protected]]


Subject: 12/3/317ER

Dear Sirs,

We refer to the attached letter which was received by our office yesterday, 08 March 2017.

Under Section 2 of your letter, you state that “The application area is indicated in the attached Figure and includes

properties detailed in the attached list”. We confirm that neither the referred to ‘Figure’ nor the detailed list of

properties was included in the attached letter.

We therefore request that you kindly forward us a copy thereof.

Kind Regards,

Peggy Malele Risk, Legal and Governance Manager

Physical Address: Unit 12b, 2nd Floor, 3 Melrose Boulevard, Melrose Arch, Melrose North, 2196 Direct Line: (+27) 11 684 0148 | Cell: (+27) 82 825 2841 | Email: [email protected]

� Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.

1

William Berry


Sent: 10 March 2017 01:45 PM

To: Terry Worley

Cc: William Berry

Subject: RE: From Terry Worley, Dundee

Attachments: 20170308_RHINO_EIA feedback Presentation_NKZN 317 ER.pdf; 2017-02-24_ Rhino

KZN 317 ER_ 2nd Review of draft EIR.pdf; 2017-02-24_Rhino NKZN 317 ER - revised

DEIR for public review_Executive Summary.pdf

Hi Terry

Sorry to have missed you. Please find attached a copy of the letter sent to IAPs, a copy of the executive summary of

the revised EIR and a copy of the presentation made at the meeting in Dundee.

I hope that this helps. If you have any further questions I’d be happy to try and assist.

Kind regards

Matthew Hemming


SLR Consulting


Mobile: +27 82 940 8274 Tel: +27 33 343 5826 Fax: +27 11 467 0978

From: Terry Worley [mailto:[email protected]]

Sent: 10 March 2017 10:01 AM

To: Matthew Hemming Cc: William Berry

Subject: From Terry Worley, Dundee

Good Day Matthew

Due to an oversight we missed covering the public meetings in Dannhauser and Dundee this week

regarding the oil and gas exploration proposal.

Is there anyway you could kindly give feedback on what unfolded at the meetings and what the latest info

is regarding what the extent of the land is where the company wishes to carry out exploration.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated

kind regards

Terry

2

TERRY WORLEY

EDITOR

NORTHERN NATAL COURIER

Cell: 082 655 5937

Tel: 034 218 2534

Fax: 034 218 2536

Address: 28 Beaconsfield Street, Dundee, 3000

_____

#####################################################################################

DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this e-mail is the property of CTP Ltd and/or its associate

companies and is confidential and intended for the addressee only. If you are not the addressee and receive

this e-mail by mistake, please notify the sender and delete this email immediately as any disclosure,

copying, distribution or use thereof may give rise to a claim against you. The sender and/or the CTP Group

accept no liability for any damages caused by this email by interception, interference, error, virus or other

cause. Views and opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender unless clearly stated to be those of

a company in the CTP Group. The Company reserves the right to lawfully monitor e-mails.

#####################################################################################

_____

1

RHINO OIL AND GAS EXPLORATION (SOUTH AFRICA) (PTY) LTD

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT FOR THE PROPOSED PETROLEUM EXPLORATION

ON VARIOUS FARMS IN THE NORTHERN KWAZULU_NATAL (317 ER)

VRYHEID

DATE 13h00, 09 March 2017

VENUE: Vryheid Public Library Hall, Vryheid

PROJECT: Rhino Petroleum Exploration Project 317 ER

SLR COMPANY: SLR Consulting (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd

PROJECT NUMBER: 723.18034.00006

PURPOSE: The purpose of the meeting was to:

Give you feedback on:

o Status of the Scoping and EIA process,

o Changes to the exploration project since Scoping,

o Missed landowners,

o Results of the environmental assessment.

Hear and record additional comments.

Detail the way forward for EIA/EMP process.

ATTENDANCE: An attendance register is presented in Appendix 2

1. OPENING AND INTRODUCTION

Mr Matthew Hemming (Project Manager) opened the meeting and then went on to introduce Mr William

Berry and Mr Thulani Mseleku representing SLR Consulting (Pty) Ltd (SLR); and Mr Travis Smithard

(Project Geoscientist) from Rhino Oil and Gas Exploration (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd (Rhino).

Ms Hemming then explained that the meeting would be held in English and isiZulu with translations

done by Mr Mseleku.

2. PRESENTATION

The presentation is attached in Appendix 1.

2

3. DISCUSSION

The issues that were raised in the meeting and the responses that were given have been documented

in Table 1 below. Where direct responses were not provided in the meeting these are marked as such

and a response will be provided in the Comments and Responses section of the Final EIA/EMP Report.

3

1. TABLE 1: RECORD OF ISSUES RAISED AND RESPONSES GIVEN

ISSUE RAISED NAME RESPONSE GIVEN BY SLR UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED.

Process related Issues

Is there a chance that I could gather the community so that SLR can explain all this to the community and not me only?

Busisiwe Mthethwa Today was intended as such meeting. It is possible but a future meeting will not fall within the EIA timeframes. In the interim we can provide you will summary documents in isiZulu, so that you can distribute it to the community and they can contact us should there be an interest for further meetings.

What is the distance of the proposed project area to communities?

Siyanqoba Sibaya. Since Rhino is proposing to conduct FTG surveys only, there is no distance to or from the project area for the communities and any other receptor.

I will be more involved in the future when there is ground work taking place.

Busisiwe Mthethwa Noted.

When will any resources be taken from the ground? Siyanqoba Sibaya. Assuming a successful process, it will probably take longer than 10 years before any extraction can take place.

Won’t the grass be affected at the distance of 200m when doing the seismic surveys?

Siyanqoba Sibaya. All the risks with regards to the ground based work will have to be assessed in the future when these ground based activities are applied for.

What type of skills will be required to be considered for employment?

A wide range of skills, for instance borehole drilling requires mechanics, welders, and accommodation, retail and food outlets. Road building. Piping contractors, builders etc. All of this will only be required if a resource is found, but that will take more than 10 years. The skills required for the proposed FTG are specialised, examples include pilots to fly the plane and geologists to review the results on a desktop level.

4

4. THE WAY FORWARD

Mr Hemming highlighted the following as part of the way forward on the process:

Public review of EIR until 31 March 2017

SLR to update based on comments.

EIR to be submitted by 10 April 2017

PASA decision on Environmental Authorisation within 107 days.

Notice to IAPs of decision & appeal process.

Decision on Exploration Right thereafter.

5. EIA REVIEW

Full EIA report available in English

On SLR website (go to: http://www.slrconsulting.com/documents) and available at:

Summaries available in English, Afrikaans & IsiZulu

Distributed via e-mail /post on request

Comments to SLR by no later than 31 March 2017

2. CLOSE

Mr Hemming invited attendees to submit their comments to SLR using the contact details provided. He

then thanked everybody for attending the meeting and participating in the discussions and closed the

meeting.

Name and Location Physical Address

Newcastle Library 66 Scott Street, Newcastle

Dundee Library Boundary road (next door to Municipality), Dundee

Vryheid Library Corner Mark and High Street, Vryheid

Utrecht Library Voor street, Utrecht

Dannhauser Library 8 Church Street, Dannhauser

Nqutu Library 1139 Mangosuthu Drive, Nqutu

http://www.slrconsu/

5

APPENDIX 1: PRESENTATION

6

APPENDIX 2: ATTENDANCE REGISTER

1




DUNDEE


VENUE: Dundee High School Hall, Dundee








o Missed landowners,









Ms Hemming then explained that the meeting would be held in English with the option of translating to

Afrikaans and isiZulu where required.

2. PRESENTATION

Mr Hemming gave a presentation on the Scoping and EIA process for the Rhino Oil and Gas

Exploration Right Project. The presentation included an a summary of the issues that were raised

during the scoping process and the results of the related impact assessment that was undertaken,

including proposed mitigation measures. Most importantly, the presentation highlighted the change in

2

scope of the project and the implications thereof, as well as the reason for the missed landowners. As

part of the meeting, Mr Smithard gave a presentation outlining the details of the aerial survey using Full

Tensor Gravity Gradiometry (FTG) as the only method that will be used for the exploration due to the

change in scope.


3. DISCUSSION




3




Why did Rhino not amend the 291 ER applications to

include the other properties from 317 ER and 291 ER?

Is there a reason why there are two applications in one

province?

Niven Reddy,

Groundwork

This is likely due to the land division in South Africa. However, why Rhino chose to apply

for two different areas in one province is not sure.

If it’s not the same application then are you restarting

the process?

Vicky Williams The EIA for the other project (291 ER) was started in 2015 and completed last year. The

final EIR has already been submitted and is awaiting an answer from PASA.

Which department would get involved in the decision

making process?

Andrew Adams PASA are the decision making authority on the EIA and the ER. But if the project were ever

to get to on-the-ground exploration activities then approvals would likely be required from

the DWS, DAFF, District and Local Municipalities, Conservation organisations and heritage

authorities etc Many approvals are likely to be required due to the complex legislative

framework regulating such work.

As many as 9 different departments may be involved in decision making once it gets to the

phase of listening and making decisions on a project (sic RMDEC). What is critical is that if

you object you need to put it on paper and you will need to present to these departments in

RMDEC and at the end of the day they will make a decision thereon (Herman de Wet).

If you don’t need land owner permission to fly a plane

over someone’s property why do you need to do an

EIA?

Niven Reddy,

Groundwork

In South Africa, the law only allows a person to hold a right over an area of land. To

acquire a mineral right an environmental authorisation is required, to inform this an EIA is

required.

With regards to the significant public opposition to this

project, Does that count in your assessment?

Andrew Adams Yes, all of the objections are recorded and presented to the authorities. A challenge has

been to give weight to those opinions where the opinion is not towards the scope of the

current project activities being applied for.

In the comments, if we say “NO TO FRACKING” will you Niven Reddy, Such comments will be included, but not given direct consideration , because it is not

4


include them in your report and just say it is irrelevant? Groundwork relevant to this project. The scope of the EIA is aligned to the activities being applied for.

My advice would be to submit comments that are applicable to the proposed project

activities.

All our comments to this point in the process seem to

have changed Rhino’s mind. The meeting today is due

to a surveyors area because some farms were left out

Herman de Wet Yes, Rhino have had to change their approach to the EIA process due to public

involvement (change in scope of activities). In terms of the application area, the extent

hasn’t changed (Rhino).

We as farmers farm with soil, oxygen and water.

Anything you do that will affect us will affect our lives.

Your comments have been noted. The assessment does not predict any impacts of the

current scope on these environmental features.

Part of the exploration phase was the seismic activity

which was removed. What we see is the next phase will

be for drilling the core holes. The process to be followed

will be an impact on land rights and user’s rights. In this

phase Rhino will not be invasive but what it will do is

open up doors for them to do further work in the future.

We need to mobilise the communities.

Samuel , Ground

work

Landowners need to understand your rights. Mineral and Landowner rights are equally

strong and they can conflict with each other. MR is a legal right. It does grant the holder

legal rights however for access to private land there has to be an agreement with the

landowner.

We export minerals but we do not create any jobs in SA.

We Import at a higher inflated rate. Our people will not

benefit with this project. Eskom is planning to put down

4 power stations. Our education is system is bankrupt.

Our minerals are all extracted and nothing is put back

into the economy.

Phillip Strauss Your comments are noted,SA Refineries are built to take very light crude oil, that’s why we

have to import so much crude oil so if we can extract our own crude this eliminates the

importing of crude oil to South African refineries (Rhino).

Maps – email to Andrew. Live file of all properties. Vicky Williams MH emailed the requested files to Andrew Adams.

Rhino is doing this to identify areas of oil and gas

pockets and once those areas have been identified it

Samuel, Ground

Work

Your comments are noted.

5


will be sad if those farmers still affected woudl have to

fight this battle alone, that’s why there has to be an

agreement that all farmers will continue to support the

opposition and other farmers even if they are not

included in those future pocketed areas.

The national development plan is moving away from this

kind of energy creation. Our government is shooting

itself by policy that is in contradiction with the bigger

picture.

The last time we were here we experiencing the worse

drought. So water is very important for us. Even after all

the rain, nothing has changed.

Jan Labusche,

Wasbank

Thank you for your comment. We agree water is important however it is not impacted by

this project scope.

I went to the library and no one there knew where the

report is.

Herman de Wet

(comments copied

from minutes of

previous meeting

as requested)

The report was couriered to the library with a letter asking the librarian to make the report

available for review. We will speak to the librarians to explain to them what it is about and

make it available. We can also make the report available electronically via email or on CDs

on request.

[SLR visited the library after the meeting and confirmed that the EIR is available. The

librarian is aware of its presence.]

Can we make the decision to distribute the executive

summary?

We have hard copies available here and you are welcome to take as many as you require.

It is possible to distribute electronic copies on request. The full report is available on our

website.

Is this document the summary of the entire document? Yes. The executive summary is a summary of the EIA report. Attached to the report (as

Appendices) are all of the supporting documents and emails that have been received

6


regarding the project, and that is not included in the summary.

We have confidence in you so far, but if you sell it off to

someone else then all of that goes out of the window.

Your comment has been noted. The conditions of the right and environmental authorisation

will remain in place regardless of who the holder is.

What is the duration of this exploration phase? If the exploration right is granted, it will be valid for three years. The applicant will still be

eligible to extend it for a maximum of two years at a time - twice.

Technical related Issues

The last time I was here, I showed you an article that

showed that you need every landowner’s permission of

every landowner to fly a plane over their property; did

you find out if this is true?

Carl Simpson,

Wasbank Farmers

Association.

The article reported on a University research project. They were doing the surveys as part

of research (no mineral right). Tthere is actually no law that requires you to obtain the

permission from every landowner to fly a plane over their property.

Are these corehole’s 3 km in depth? Andrew Adams The sediment package is quite shallow in this area, however only with the FTG we will be

able to show exactly how deep the sediment package is and this will determine the depth

of the coreholes. At this point, 1000 to 2000 m is an estimation (Rhino).

Would it be possible to do angle drilling (horizontal) if

the low density area has been identified under a

wetland? Will they still be able to extract this oil.

Andrew Adams There are ways of accessing a mineral from a different area through different methods of

drilling however there are regulations preventing drilling at specific distances from a

wetland which protects the wetlands.

If wetland is laying on your oil pocket and the oil is

extracted wont this cause a sinkhole?

Phillip Strauss The oil sits in rock so when oil is extracted it won’t cause a sinkhole; this is different to

mining hard minerals which mean that you are extracting land material.

There is undoubtedly potential risks to groundwater but this is not what the current project

scope is about.

Can you explain the difference between conventional

and unconventional gas?

Herman de Wet

(comments copied

from minutes of

previous meeting

With conventional oil and gas, you sink a vertical well, and if there is enough pressure

surrounding the oil and gas it can be extracted through this well. Unconventional gas would

be extracted by means of stimulation (such as hydraulic fracturing), where water is pumped

into the hole to crack open the shale rocks in order to extract the resource. (Rhino)

7


There are places where they (old mines) couldn’t plug

the hole properly due to the geology, and they just left.

The depth to which you want to drill is important for us

to know.

as requested) In our studies we will look at more than just the geology with a various amount of tests that

needs to be understood and will indicate the risk factors of working in the geology.

There are more communities that are against the extraction of minerals, but if we want to

move away from that there must be an alternative to fall back on. (Rhino)

In the 1960s they drilled in the whole country and there

is a map available where the Department of Mineral

Resources (DMR) shows the potential of resources.

What is the company’s intentions?

Do you plan to take it all the way to extraction or sell it

after all the research has been done?

We have accessed as much of the available data as we can acquire. We have the right to

sell it off, but we will not be able to maximise our capital if we do. Generally companies will

partner up with each other to share the financial risk and/or up side. The objective is to stay

in until the end. (Rhino)

Water related Issues

South Africa is a very dry country. A lot of water is used

for this process. Where will the water come from?

Herman de Wet

(comments copied

from minutes of

previous meeting

as requested)

Part of the research is to determine where a potential petroleum resource is. Then we need

to determine if it’s a conventional or unconventional source. Once we know the location

and the extraction methods we can begin to consider how much water is needed and if this

water is available. If it is in an area where there is no water, then we will have to bring in

water from elsewhere, which will have an impact on the economic viability of the project.

The ultra-deep water sources can be desalinated, used, rehabilitated and then be used for

different applications depending on the amount of money that goes into rehabilitating the

water. Drilling a fracking well is very expensive, and conventional gas would be preferred.

The objective (and legal requirement) is not to impact any water resources or aquifers. We

are one of the first companies applying for a large area outside of the Karroo, so in the next

few years, I think, there will be a few more following this one. We respect the water issue,

but other aspects like job creation must also be considered when making this decision.

(Rhino)

8


We have the National Water Act (NWA), and any water uses can only go ahead with the

appropriate Water Use License (WUL).

Health related Issues

We are concerned about the possible end result. There

is a possibility that this activity can affect our farming

resources in the future. In the areas where they have

done fracking in Amsterdam, the people have been

experiencing health problems, but they cannot link the

health problems with fracking because the chemical

signatures are not the same as those used in the

fracking. Why?

Herman de Wet

(comments copied

from minutes of

previous meeting

as requested)

With regards to the technology, studies have been done by the Royal Society of Engineers

in the UK. They have recommended to the government that with existing technologies and

capabilities, a borehole can be cemented and cased to the highest degree. Therefore, they

believe that well integrity is sufficient for hydraulic fracturing. In my opinion the technology

is there to do this safely, efficiently, and to a level of expertise that one can feel confident

that the possibility of breaking is reduced greatly. I was not aware that there was a study

done with regards to the interaction between natural elements in shale and different

elements in a fracking field. There are over 900 different components that can be used in

any particular fracking mixture. The recipe used is different according to the geochemistry

and generally only a few chemicals are used in each hole. The mix that would be used has

to be declared. (Rhino)

From an environmental point, there are many risks with regards to fracking, many of which

we do not fully understand yet, which is why there are so many regulatory requirements

before a right is issued. One of the advantages is that South Africa is late in the game, we

are in a position to be able to learn from other counties. There is still a lot to learn, and

hopefully by the time .any of the applications reach the stage of extraction, we will have

better information. A study that I am aware of that was done by the Environmental

Protection Agency (2015) in America involved studying many thousands of boreholes that

have been fracked, and where groundwater monitoring had been done on the surrounding

9


groundwater. The EPA concluded that “We did not find evidence that these mechanisms

have led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources in the United

States”. Specific instances were documented where fracking activities had led to impacts

on drinking water resources, including contamination of drinking water wells. The EPA

state that the “number of identified cases, however, was small compared to the number of

hydraulically fractured wells”.. Obviously the goal should always be for no contamination at

all. In some cases the wells that caused contamination were old or did not have casing to

below the drinking water resource. In South Africa we have access to new technologies

that could make such activity even safer.

There is legislation in South Africa in terms of dealing with and transporting radioactive

waste, and if any applicant’s operation would generate radioactive waste, they would have

to comply with the legislation.

If the water and chemicals go deep enough into the

earth, it is exposed to radioactivity, and the footprint of

these chemicals change, and they aren’t the same

chemicals that was used initially. The blood tests show

that the people who are sick are not ill due to the

chemicals that they used for fracking, so there is no

evidence that they are ill due to fracking, but the people

are still getting sick.

We are no familiar with the examples you refer to. No fracking is proposed as part of this

project (Rhino).

The technology doesn’t exist to give us a 100%

guarantee that this will not happen to us.

Another concern is that if radioactive material is put into There is no proposal to put any material into the soil (Rhino).

10


the soil and removed again, how will you get rid of it?

What if there is an accident while transporting the

waste? In the States, they seal the hole they extract

from once they are done, and a valve is used to keep it

closed.

The activities proposed will not generate any waste (Rhino).

What if this valve starts to leak? These are long term

concerns after you are done with your work here and

have moved on

So you are saying that they have the method to do this

properly. Has it been implemented over a long time?

This is new research but it has not been tested.

The process of hydraulic fracturing has been around for 65 years, it just went around under

the name of well stimulation. There are a number of historic wells where the wells have not

leaked and are between 30 and 40 years old, sealed and cased with the technology used

in that time. The technology has stood the test of time. (Rhino)

Closure Cost and Rehabilitation related Issues

One of our major concerns is that once you have left the

area, who will we contact id for example there is a leak?

It is our experience that Africa has a problem of

enforcing court judgements. The Hartebeespoort Dam is

a great example of Africa refusing to enforce court

fidings. Who will assist us when you are gone?

Herman de Wet

(comments copied

from minutes of

previous meeting

as requested)

As part of the environmental assessment process, Rhino has a legal responsibility to put

aside a calculated amount dedicated for closure and rehabilitations costs. In addition,

Rhino is subject to shareholder accountability and as an international company has a

corporate reputation to maintain. Our response is therefore that your concern is legally

covered and that Rhino is committed to ensuring implementation of the closure and

rehabilitation strategy as part of maintaining its global reputation as an international

company.

As of the 2014 legislation, the cost set aside for closure and rehabilitation require input

from a financial auditor beyond the traditional technical calculation. This will ensure that the

financial aspect corresponds to the technical aspects.

There must be sufficient money set aside for

rehabilitation. Rhino can close down anytime and any

day and the environmental impacts as a result of

exploration will be left with the people.

11

4. THE WAY FORWARD








5. EIA REVIEW


On SLR website (go to: http://www.ccaenvironmental.co.za/sub-oil-gas-minerals/) and available at:




2. CLOSE

Mr Hemming invited attendees to submit their comments to SLR using the contact details provided. He

then thanked everybody for attending the meeting and participating in the discussions and closed the

meeting.








http://www.ccaenvironmental.co.za/sub-oil-gas-minerals/

12


13


1




UTRECHT

DATE 08 March 2017 at 08h30

VENUE: Utrecht Museum Hall, Utrecht








o Missed landowners









Ms Hemming then explained that the meeting would be held in English and isiZulu with translations

done by Mr Mseleku.

2. PRESENTATION

Mr Hemming gave a presentation on the Scoping and EIA process for the Rhino Oil and Gas

Exploration Right Project. The presentation included an a summary of the issues that were raised

during the scoping process and the results of the related impact assessment that was undertaken,

including proposed mitigation measures. Most importantly, the presentation highlighted the change in

scope of the project and the implications thereof as well as the reason for the missed landowners. As

part of the meeting, Mr Smithard gave a presentation outlining the details of the aerial survey using Full

Tensor Gravity Gradiometry (FTG) as the only method that will be used for the exploration due to the

change in scope.


2

3. DISCUSSION




3




I get the impression that there has already being a lot of

money being spent on this project and what it says to

me is that Rhino knows a lot more than we know due to

the fact that there are already a lot of coal mines in this

area so making it a suitable area to explore for oil and

gas, is this true?

Karen Griffiths,

AfriForum.

Essentially, coal mines are one indication of the possible presence of a resource, if coal

related hydrocarbons were present this resource is known as coal bed methane (CBM).

Additionally the tectonic environment from geological models and our thoughts as

geologists indicate that there may be prospects for oil or gas in the vicinity (Rhino).

Oil and gas exploration is high risk and high reward so if they find the resource then there

is an opportunity to make money from this however if they do not they can also potentially

lose the money invested.

At this stage there is no financial benefit, but later on will

there be any? Perhaps job creation or local economy

develops for the local people in the communities?

Karen Griffiths,

AfriForum.

The project is currently in the early phase of exploration, the work is very technical and will

require technical expertise to carry out which mean that there will be very little job creation

at this phase, however if the project is successful at a later stage there is the potential to

create more skilled and unskilled jobs

Direct jobs that the project would create in this stage are very low. But even at the early

stages it will result in indirect jobs, eg project people will have to stay at local guesthouses,

eat food and buy consumables. During future drilling phases there will be a greater

increase in the indirect jobs with suppliers and artisans required (Rhino).

So would Rhino suggest the youth to empower

themselves through learning more about this work for

future

Karen Griffiths,

AfriForum.

Definitely (Rhino).

The fears that people had were the drilling, without a

clear understanding of what will happen. There are

Cllr Ndlovu,

eMadlangeni Local

The process (exploration) is completely new in South Africa, which has brought fear about

what it could bring, and even greater fear about the impacts of the future impacts. In this

4


dynamics when it comes to land ownership. SLR has

identified the challenges with the consultation. If we are

not comfortable with something it is difficult to engage

with the community. I suggest that the municipality be

engaged at all times. There have been a lot of

consultation issues which causes confusion and unrest.

In the long term we would like to see the success of our

local community through economic development but

also environmental sustainability being such a rich

biodiversity and tourism area.

Municipality EIA we can only give assessments on the aspects that we know. The consultation process

has aimed to provide opportunity for all to be involved and to provide information on the

overall process. Rhino did the appropriate thing by eliminating the elements of the project

that was causing fear and unrest.

Thank you for your presentation. We as the municipality

have been engaging with SLR since last year and

provided our input on the application. We would have

loved to see some of our issues and concerns in the

presentation but we understand that this is a very big

project and it does not only look at Utrecht but rather a

big part of northern KZN. The municipality is aware of

the importance of this project not only for the area but

for South Africa as well. Municipality should be the focal

point for consultation. Consultation is vital so that

members need to be engaged on something that they

know and understand, and at this point we can tell that

there. This is a very good project, South Africa is in

need of alternative forms of energy, this area and its

sensitivity will provide a very good case study to prove

S. Mtshelis

eMadlangeni Local

Municipality

SLR is aware of the concerns of the issues and concerns of the municipality.

Yes, government policy is promoting alternative energy projects but there is also policy to

move away from certain energy sources (ie. Climate change). So there is not always policy

certainty for the support of gas as an energy source.

With regards to the lack of local case studies that is true – onshore exploration for oil and

gas in South Africa is new. The future EIA’s looking at ground based activities would need

to carefully look at the impacts of the activities.

5


that this type of energy extraction can be done correctly

in our country.

Technical related Issues

Health impact to the workers? Niven (Ground

work)

There is no proposed ground work at this stage therefore there is no potential health

impacts.

Exposure to any chemicals? Niven (Ground

work)

It is uncertain at this stage because this is not what is being applied for.

Why are we not looking at the later stages of the

project? The jobs you mention are for the later stages,

therefore in the hypothetical situation what would. Isn’t it

possible then if you use your crystal ball to predict the

jobs to predict the other environmental impacts as well?

Samuel (Ground

work)

The scope of the EIA is aligned with the scope of the activities that have been applied for.

There are so many options that could take place in the future thus SLR cannot give you a

detailed answer because the applicant doesn’t know what they intend to do in the future, if

anything. We can only assess the impacts based on the activities applied for.

Let’s say this stage shows that there is a potential for

more work, can we not talk about what the potential

risks

Samuel (Ground

work)

If Rhino were to find any prospective areas through the outcome of the FTG survey they

will have to do another EIA which will have to investigate the impacts of that work and do

further consultation. All the relevant laws will apply to the future application when it is

submitted. There have been many requests to this EIA to understand what the risks will be

for a future application, however the answer from SLR is that we cannot look at the future

because we don’t know what the future would be. SLR are comfortable with this approach

(limiting the scope of this EIA to the current project) because the laws in South Africa

requires that the applicant do more work followed by another EIA process (es) before

further exploration or any extraction can take place.

6

4. THE WAY FORWARD








5. EIA REVIEW


On SLR website (go to: http://www.slrconsulting.com/documents) and available at:




2. CLOSE

Mr Hemming invited attendees to submit their comments e to SLR using the contact details provided.

He then thanked everybody for attending the meeting and participating in the discussions and closed

the meeting.








http://www.slrconsu/

7


8


1




NEWCASTLE


VENUE: Richview Civic Hall, Newcastle








o Missed landowners









Mr Hemming then explained that the meeting would be held in English and that translations were

available in IsiZulu or Afrikaans.

2

2. DISCUSSION

Approximately 15 minutes into the meeting a group of protestors entered the venue and prevented the

meeting from continuing. The protestors were singing anti-fracking and other protest songs. SLR tried

to engage with the protestors but they indicated that they were not interested in consultation and

demanded that Rhino/SLR leave the venue. A photo of the protesting group is attached in Appendix 1.

SLR proceeded to inform meeting attendees that the meeting will not continue any further and that

copies of the presentation will be sent to the attendees. A copy of the presentation was sent to the

attendees who completed the Attendance Register on the 13th March 2017. The presentation is

attached in Appendix 2.

The protestors would not identify themselves but SLR was later advised that they represented

community based organisation called Sisonke.

One of the protestors, who had decided not to protest further, advised SLR that he got on the bus that

brought the group to the venue because “a person had come to my door and told me there would be a

bus tomorrow going to a local mine for job interviews”. Only after being on the bus were the participants

advised of the real purpose and destination of the bus.

3

APPENDIX 1: PHOTO OF THE PROTESTING GROUP

4

5


6


1




DANNHAUSER

DATE 15H30, 08 March 2017

VENUE: Dannhauser Local Municipal Library Hall, Dannhauser








o Missed landowners




ATTENDANCE: No meeting was held due to the protestors; therefore no attendance register

was recorded.

1. DISCUSSION

The same protestors from the previous meeting at Newcastle occupied the venue prior to SLR/Rhino

arriving and advised Rhino/SLR that no meeting would take place. A number of local land owners

arrived for the meeting, wanting to hear about the project. These land owners tried to convince the

protestors to allow the meeting to continue. The argument was heated at times. After about half an hour

the local police asked Rhino/SLR to leave so that the crowd would disperse. A photo of the protesting

group is attached in Appendix 1.

2

APPENDIX 1: PHOTO OF THE PROTESTING GROUP

1

William Berry

From: NN Land Survey Office <[email protected]>

Sent: 07 March 2017 08:02 PM

To: William Berry

Subject: RE: Rhino Oil and Gas (12/3/317 ER): UPDATE ON EIA PROCESS

Attachments: (list) 2016-02-10_Rhino N-KZN 108 TCP BID_English (3).pdf

Dear William,

Further to your email of the 20th

January, kindly provide our office with the additional list of properties that is being

referred to in the draft EIR of November 2016.

We only have the list as per attached previously supplied by your office.

Kind regards

Brigitte

From: William Berry [mailto:[email protected]]

Sent: Friday, 20 January 2017 1:59 PM Cc: Matthew Hemming

Subject: Rhino Oil and Gas (12/3/317 ER): UPDATE ON EIA PROCESS

Project Reference: 723.18034.00006 PASA Ref: 12/3/317 ER

ATTENTION: INTERESTED AND AFFECTED PARTIES

Dear Sir/ Madam

APPLICATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AUTHORISATION IN SUPPORT OF AN EXPLORATION RIGHT APPLICATION FOR

PETROLEUM PRODUCTS ON VARIOUS FARMS IN THE NORTHERN PARTS OF KWAZULU-NATAL PROVINCE (12/3/317 ER):

UPDATE ON EIA PROCESS

Our previous correspondence of 9 November 2016 regarding above-mentioned project refers.

As indicated in our previous correspondence, Rhino Oil and Gas Exploration South Africa (Pty) Ltd (Rhino Oil and

Gas) has applied to the Petroleum Agency South Africa (PASA) for an exploration right for oil and gas on various

1

William Berry


Sent: 07 March 2017 09:08 PM

To: [email protected]

Cc: William Berry

Subject: Rhino Oil and Gas (12/3/317 ER): UPDATE ON EIA PROCESS

Attachments: Appendix 2-Properties included in the ER.pdf; 2017-02-24_ Rhino KZN 317 ER_ 2nd

Review of draft EIR.pdf



Hi Brigitte

The list of properties included in the draft EIR of November 2016 and in the revised EIR of February 2107 remained

the same.

There was not been any change to the extent of the 317 ER application area since the change that was

communicated after Scoping. The list is attached.

Please note that the revised EIR is currently out for a 30 day review period. See a copy of the notice in this regard.

Kind regards

Matthew Hemming


SLR Consulting


Mobile: +27 82 940 8274 Tel: +27 33 343 5826 Fax: +27 11 467 0978

1

William Berry


Sent: 01 March 2017 01:47 PM

To: Renee Strauss

Cc: William Berry

Subject: RE: Rhino Oil and Gas - Project Reference: 723.18034.00006 PASA Ref: 12/2/317 ER

Attachments: 2017-02-24_Rhino NKZN 317 ER - revised DEIR_for Public Review.pdf


Flag Status: Completed

Hi Renee

Please find attached a copy of the DEIR document which includes the EMPr.

Kind regards

Matthew Hemming


SLR Consulting


Mobile: +27 82 940 8274 Tel: +27 33 343 5826 Fax: +27 11 467 0978

From: Renee Strauss [mailto:[email protected]]


Subject: Rhino Oil and Gas - Project Reference: 723.18034.00006 PASA Ref: 12/2/317 ER

Good day,

Please email me a copy of the relevant draft EIR including EMP and Scoping report.

Thank you

Renée Strauss

LMS BROKERS CC

(FSP Licence 1843)

P.O. Box 724

VRYHEID

2

3100

Tel: 034 980 7774

Fax: 034 981 3136

Disclaimer: This message may contain information that is confidential, private or privileged in nature. If you are not the intended

recipient you may not peruse, use, disseminate, distribute or copy this message or any file which is included with this message. If

you have received this message in error please notify the sender immediately by e-mail, facsimile or telephone and hereafter

return and/or destroy the original message. It is the responsibility of the recipient to scan this e-mail and any files included

therewith for viruses and the like. While we do everything possible to protect information from viruses, LMS Brokers CC does

not accept liability of whatever nature for any loss, liability, damage or expense resulting directly or indirectly from the access

and/or downloading of any files which are included with this e-mail message.

1

William Berry


Sent: 05 April 2017 10:37 AM

To: Frank Talbot; William Berry

Cc: Brendan Smith; Kevern Mattison

Subject: RE: 12/3/317 ER: 30-DAY REVIEW OF REVISED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT

AND PUBLIC FEEDBACK MEETINGS



Hi Frank

Apologies for the delayed response.

Thank you for the plans. This has been provided to the applicant.

The MPRDA provides for the grant of overlapping rights where these are for different minerals (as is the case here).

The granting of overlapping rights does not have to result in conflict or confrontation. Rhino Oil and Gas would not

want to pursue activities that would result in conflict with existing mineral right holders.

If they are granted an exploration right for oil and gas, they will engage with the holders of other mineral rights

holders before undertaking any exploration activity.

Kind regards

Matthew Hemming


SLR Consulting


Mobile: +27 82 940 8274 Tel: +27 33 343 5826 Fax: +27 11 467 0978

From: Frank Talbot [mailto:[email protected]]

Sent: 28 February 2017 03:47 PM To: William Berry; Matthew Hemming

Cc: Brendan Smith; Kevern Mattison

Subject: RE: 12/3/317 ER: 30-DAY REVIEW OF REVISED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT AND PUBLIC FEEDBACK MEETINGS

Good day, In previous correspondence with yourselves Zinoju Coal (PTY) LTD had informed you that they have extensive Coal Mining Rights and Coal Prospecting Rights granted to them within the 317ER related area as shown in your documentation. We would like to avoid any confrontation that could arise out of this conflict of areas. Attached please find a plan showing the areas belonging to Zinoju Coal.

1

William Berry


Sent: 27 February 2017 01:49 PM

To: ROSANNE

Cc: William Berry

Subject: RE: Environmental Impact Report

Hi Rosanne

Thank you for these comments.

They will be included with the report submitted to PASA for decision-making.

Kind regards

Matthew Hemming


SLR Consulting

E-Mail: [email protected]

Mobile: +27 82 940 8274

Tel: +27 33 343 5826

Ext:

Fax: +27 11 467 0978

-----Original Message-----

From: ROSANNE [mailto:[email protected]]

Sent: 25 February 2017 10:40 AM

To: Matthew Hemming

Subject: Environmental Impact Report

Good Morning,

Please ensure that all affects on ground water, above and below ground, are carefully researched before any

application goes forward. There has been a devastating drought in theregion under consideration in your document

so all water resources must be protected from any pollution, especially from the carcinogenic components used in

the 'fracking' process.

All people involved in these applications should be made to live in the areas under application, not live where there

is safe drinking/potable water.

R. Clark

Himeville

--

Rosanne Clark

P.O. Box 122,

Himeville 3256

South Africa

mobile 082 3596736

Landline 033 7021061

1

William Berry



To: Raymond Takuba; William Berry

Cc: Mike Mangnall; David Dean



Thank you Raymond.

Regards

Matthew Hemming


SLR Consulting


Mobile: +27 82 940 8274 Tel: +27 33 343 5826 Fax: +27 11 467 0978

From: Raymond Takuba [mailto:[email protected]]


To: Matthew Hemming; William Berry Cc: Mike Mangnall; David Dean

Subject: RE: 12/3/317 ER: 30-DAY REVIEW OF REVISED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT AND PUBLIC FEEDBACK MEETINGS

Hi Matthew,

Please see my responses below.

Thanks for the correspondence.

Regards

Raymond

From: Matthew Hemming [mailto:[email protected]]

Sent: 27 February 2017 11:34

To: Raymond Takuba; William Berry


Subject: RE: 12/3/317 ER: 30-DAY REVIEW OF REVISED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT AND PUBLIC FEEDBACK

MEETINGS

Good morning Raymond

Thank you for the correspondence.

It does appear from the location maps that the Mainstream Renewable Power Development interest and Rhino Oil

and Gas application overlap. However, as indicated in the EIR (pg iv & v of the executive summary), the work

programme proposed by Rhino Oil and Gas does not include any ground-based activity. Thus if the application is

approved, Rhino Oil and Gas would be in a position to conduct remote & aerial exploration to develop a more

2

detailed understanding of the potential oil and gas resources in the ER area. It is therefore unlikely that there would

be any direct interaction between the two parties’ activities and no infringement on rights. The flight for the aerial

survey would have to comply with Civil Aviation rules and take appropriate cognisance of any wind turbines. Thanks

noted, should any possible interference be foreseen in the future this can be discussed with Mainstream. As long as

our rights are not disadvantaged we will make effort to accommodate.

Should Rhino Oil and Gas propose to conduct ground-based exploration activities in the future, this would need to

be informed by a further application to PASA and a separate environmental assessment and authorisation process.

That EIA process would have to take cognisance of extant facilities and environmental conditions at the time of the

assessment. Thanks noted, should any possible interference be foreseen in the future this can be discussed with

Mainstream. As long as our rights are not disadvantaged we will make effort to accommodate.

I note from the Environmental Authorisation issued to Mainstream Renewable Power Developments that it provides

for only 15 Turbines. Is there a Figure available that indicates the location of these? We have since won an appeal

and now have 68 turbines approved. The turbine locations are scattered across the entire list of properties. The

exact locations are under review.

Kind regards

Matthew Hemming


SLR Consulting


Mobile: +27 82 940 8274 Tel: +27 33 343 5826 Fax: +27 11 467 0978 SLR Consulting (Fourways office) Block 7 Fourways Manor Office Park Cnr Roos and Macbeth Streets Fourways, Johannesburg, 2060 South Africa

Confidentiality Notice and Disclaimer

This communication and any attachment(s) contains information which is confidential and may also be legally privileged. It is intended for the exclusive use of the recipient(s) to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this communication in error please email us by return mail and then delete the email from your system together with any copies of it. Please note that you are not permitted to print, copy, disclose or use part or all of the content in any way.

Emails and any information transmitted thereunder may be intercepted, corrupted or delayed. As a result, SLR does not accept any responsibility for any errors or omissions howsoever caused and SLR accepts no responsibility for changes made to this email or any attachment after transmission from SLR. Whilst all reasonable endeavours are taken by SLR to screen all emails for known viruses, SLR cannot guarantee that any transmission will be virus free.

Any views or opinions are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of SLR Management Ltd, or any of its subsidiaries, unless specifically stated.

SLR Consulting (South Africa) (Proprietary) Limited and SLR Consulting (Africa) (Proprietary) Limited are both subsidiaries of SLR Management Ltd. Registered Office: Unit 7 Fourways Manor Office Park, Cnr Roos and Macbeth Street, Fourways, 2191, Gauteng, South Africa

From: Raymond Takuba [mailto:[email protected]]

Sent: 27 February 2017 10:23 AM To: William Berry; Matthew Hemming; Ntsako Baloyi


3

Subject: FW: 12/3/317 ER: 30-DAY REVIEW OF REVISED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT AND PUBLIC

FEEDBACK MEETINGS

Good Day William,

In response to the subject line, South Africa Mainstream Renewable Power Developments (Pty) Ltd would like to

highlight that we are an I&AP. From an initial analysis of your mapped area we will be directly affected by your

proposed project.

As such, there will need to be some engagement with us in order to cater for our proposed renewable energy

facility. In any case we would only seek to ensure that our existing rights are not compromised.

We would like to highlight that we have existing land lease control and valid environmental authorisation over a

portion of your proposed area.

Attached to this email is a past I&AP communication. While receipt was acknowledged, no further discussion has

taken place. Also attached is an illustration of the overlap in development areas.

Kindest Regards

Raymond

Raymond Takuba

Tel: +27 (0) 21-657 4076

Mob: +27 (0) 63 296 5255

[email protected]

www.mainstreamrp.com

1

William Berry



To: Linette van Eck

Cc: William Berry

Subject: RE: RHINO NKZN 317 ER

Attachments: Appendix 2-Properties included in the ER.pdf

Hi Linette

Please see the attached list of the included properties which is an appendix to the EIR and is available at the public

venues and on the website.

If you require any other information please contact us.

Kind regards

Matthew Hemming


SLR Consulting


Mobile: +27 82 940 8274 Tel: +27 33 343 5826 Fax: +27 11 467 0978

From: Linette van Eck [mailto:[email protected]]


To: Matthew Hemming

Subject: RHINO NKZN 317 ER

Good afternoon,

Is there by any way that we can please get a list of the farms/properties involved in the Application for

Environmental Authorisation in support of an exploration right application for petroleum products on various farms

in the Northern Parts of KZN Province (12/3/317 ER). Or can the list be obtain from the various locations for public

review as from 27/02/2017 until 31/03/2017?

Your assistance in this matter will be highly appreciated.

Linette van EckLinette van EckLinette van EckLinette van Eck (sent on behalf of Barbara Murray)(sent on behalf of Barbara Murray)(sent on behalf of Barbara Murray)(sent on behalf of Barbara Murray) Confideo TrustConfideo TrustConfideo TrustConfideo Trust Tel:Tel:Tel:Tel: (034) 312 6027 / 8(034) 312 6027 / 8(034) 312 6027 / 8(034) 312 6027 / 8 Fax:Fax:Fax:Fax: (034) 312 5207(034) 312 5207(034) 312 5207(034) 312 5207 Email:Email:Email:Email: [email protected]@[email protected]@vdmauditnc.co.za

1

William Berry



To: Ashleigh Mckenzie; William Berry



Attachments: ER317 Revised Application Area.kmz; ER291 Revised Application Area.kmz

Hi Asheligh

Find attached the requested files of the revised boundaries of the two ER application areas (e&oe).

Please note that these may be subject to change during the course of the application process.

Kind regards

Matthew Hemming


SLR Consulting


Mobile: +27 82 940 8274 Tel: +27 33 343 5826 Fax: +27 11 467 0978

From: Ashleigh Mckenzie [mailto:[email protected]]


To: William Berry

Cc: Matthew Hemming Subject: RE: 12/3/317 ER: 30-DAY REVIEW OF REVISED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT AND PUBLIC

FEEDBACK MEETINGS

Good Day William

Please will you send me a kml file of the study area boundary. Please can I have kml file for the northern KZN project

as well as the other KZN project (around PMB etc).

Thank you.

Kind regards, Ashleigh McKenzie (for

From: William Berry [mailto:[email protected]]

Sent: 24 February 2017 01:32 PM Cc: Matthew Hemming

Subject: 12/3/317 ER: 30-DAY REVIEW OF REVISED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT AND PUBLIC FEEDBACK

MEETINGS


Dear Sir/ Madam

1

William Berry

From: William Berry


To: Pieter Spies

Cc: Matthew Hemming



Good day,

Thank you for your response.

We note your objection to the project. This will be recorded in the report for submission to PASA.

Kind regards

From: Pieter Spies [mailto:[email protected]]


To: William Berry Subject: Re: 12/3/317 ER: 30-DAY REVIEW OF REVISED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT AND PUBLIC

FEEDBACK MEETINGS

YOU WILL NEVER BE ALLOWED ONTO MY FARM

STOP THIS NOW BEFORE SOMEONE IS INJURED

PIETER SPIES

On 2017/02/24 01:26 PM, William Berry wrote:

ATTENTION: LANDOWNER

Dear Sir/ Madam

APPLICATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AUTHORISATION IN SUPPORT OF AN

EXPLORATION RIGHT APPLICATION FOR PETROLEUM PRODUCTS ON VARIOUS

FARMS IN The NORTHERN PARTS OF KWAZULU-NATAL PROVINCE (12/3/317 ER):

30-DAY REVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT AND PUBLIC FEEDBACK

MEETINGS

You may or may not have received previous correspondence from SLR regarding the above-

mentioned project. For those who have received previous correspondence, please refer to Section 1

below. If however this is your first awareness of the project, please refer to Section 2 of this letter.

Section 3 contains details relevant to all readers. Section 1:

As indicated in our previous correspondence of 20 January 2017, it was identified late in 2016 that

not all of the properties that are the subject of the application were identified during the sourcing of

property and land owner information from the Surveyor-General’s office. The result was that a subset

1

William Berry

From: William Berry


To: Marietjie Lombard

Cc: Matthew Hemming


AND PUBLIC FEEDBACK MEETINGS Rhino Gas

Good day,

Thank you for your comment.

We note your objection to the project, and will record this (as your previous comment was) in the report for

submission to PASA.

Kind regards

From: Marietjie Lombard [mailto:[email protected]]


To: William Berry Subject: Re: 12/3/317 ER: 30-DAY REVIEW OF REVISED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT AND PUBLIC

FEEDBACK MEETINGS Rhino Gas

Beste William

Ek neem kennis van hierdie skrywe!

Ek hoop jy neem ook kennis van hierdie skrywe.

Daar is GEEN manier waarop ek die ontwikkeling van hierdie

projek toestaan of goedkeur nie!

Moet asb nie my skrywe rakende hierdie protes ignoreer

nie!!

Baie dankie

Marietjie

ns. Skrywe van die verlede word nie geantwoord nie...?

1

William Berry



To: Bronwyn Howard; William Berry

Cc: Judy Bell



Good morning Bronwyn.

Thank you for the comments. These will be documented in the EIR for submission to PASA.

Your previous comments on the EIR are included in this revised report. There is no need to submit these comments

again. There are some minor changes to the report. Overall the content of the EIR remains as it was in November

2016, except for the details on additional land owners and the further notification and EIR review process.

‘Early-phase exploration’ is purely a descriptive term, it has no legal construct. Refer to section 4.2 of the EIR for an

introduction to the various terms typically used in the Oil and Gas process. Of legal importance to this process are

the terms ‘Exploration Right’ and ‘exploration work programme’ as defined in MPRDA and ‘environmental

authorisation’ under NEMA. The application for ‘environmental authorisation’ which has been assessed by this EIA

process is to inform the undertaking of the ‘exploration work programme’ proposed. If the ‘Exploration Right’ was

granted, the holder would only have approval to undertake the activities set out in the ‘exploration work

programme’ as submitted to PASA and approved by the ‘environmental authorisation’.

Cumulative impacts are an important and required part of an EIA process. However as with the direct impacts, the

scope of this EIA is aligned to is aligned with the exploration activities as proposed by Rhino Oil and Gas (i.e. remote

& aerial exploration activities). Given that the assessed impacts of the aerial FTG surveys and other remote sensing

methods are considered be of very low significance, there is no chance of cumulative impacts of any significance.

Should Rhino Oil and Gas propose to conduct exploration activities outside of the exploration work programme, this

would need to be informed by a further application to PASA and a separate environmental assessment and

authorisation process. That EIA process would have to take cognisance of extant facilities and environmental

conditions at the time of the assessment, including cumulative impacts.

Kind regards

From: Bronwyn Howard [mailto:[email protected]]

Sent: 24 February 2017 03:00 PM To: William Berry

Cc: Matthew Hemming; Judy Bell

Subject: Re: 12/3/317 ER: 30-DAY REVIEW OF REVISED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT AND PUBLIC FEEDBACK MEETINGS

Dear William & Matthew,

Thank you for the notification. I had a number of comments, which I made with regards to the earlier EIR

in this matter.

Please advise whether we are required to lodge comments again in terms of this revised document? I see

there have been a number of amendments. I will be unable to attend the meetings on 8 March 2017 in our

area but do wish to make written submissions.

I am also getting somewhat confused. Exactly what constitutes the 'early exploration' phase of a project

such as this? Does early exploration extend up until the resource is found and can be assessed; is any

2

assessment of the resource included in 'early exploration'? Or is it only concerned with finding where

resources may be?

Finally, what is the view of SLR/your clients on the issue of cumulative impacts? I ask because this is a

known coal mining area and there are several applications for coal mining rights in the 317 ER application

area, which, in my opinion, create a risk of potential negative impacts for towns and communities, which

may well be exacerbated by potential oil and gas exploration and eventual production impacts. We are

particularly concerned about water quality and abstraction and air pollution impacts, as well as arable land

being taken out of production and the loss of rural livelihoods in the longer term if oil and gas extraction is

ultimately approved, especially once combined with coal mining impacts

Kind regards

Bronwyn

Bronwyn Howard Good Earth Herbs (Operations) & Good Earth Living Digital Magazine (Editor) P O Box 349, Utrecht, KZN, 2980 Cell: 084 246 9223 | Tel: 034 331 4377

E-mail: [email protected]

Web site: www.goodearthherbs.net

On Fri, Feb 24, 2017 at 1:32 PM, William Berry <[email protected]> wrote:


Dear Sir/ Madam

APPLICATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AUTHORISATION IN SUPPORT OF AN EXPLORATION RIGHT

APPLICATION FOR PETROLEUM PRODUCTS ON VARIOUS FARMS IN THE NORTHERN PARTS OF KWAZULU-

NATAL PROVINCE (12/3/317 ER): 30-DAY REVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT AND PUBLIC

FEEDBACK MEETINGS

You may or may not have received previous correspondence from SLR regarding the above-mentioned project. For those who

have received previous correspondence, please refer to Section 1 below. If however this is your first awareness of the project,

please refer to Section 2 of this letter. Section 3 contains details relevant to all readers.

Section 1:

As indicated in our previous correspondence of 20 January 2017, it was identified late in 2016 that not all of the properties that

are the subject of the application were identified during the sourcing of property and land owner information from the Surveyor-

General’s office. The result was that a subset of property owners for the 317 ER application were not notified nor given

opportunity to review the environmental impact assessment report.

1

William Berry



To: Aubrey Muswema; William Berry



Hi Aubrey

The subject application area is, at its nearest point, 100km from PMB and significantly further from Ethekweni.

Given this geographical separation and the nature of the activities proposed there is extremely little likelihood of

any impact on these centres. As such there is no motivation for placing copies of the reports there.

We acknowledge that there may be stakeholders of the project living in these centres. However almost all of these

have access to technology and can access the EIR on the internet. Additionally we have indicated that we will, on

request, provide the document on CD.

Our further motivation for not printing and distributing copies of the EIR to distant centres is also resource efficiency

(trees, hydrocarbons etc).

Kind regards

Matthew Hemming


SLR Consulting


Mobile: +27 82 940 8274 Tel: +27 33 343 5826 Fax: +27 11 467 0978

From: Aubrey Muswema [mailto:[email protected]]

Sent: 24 February 2017 02:03 PM To: William Berry

Cc: Matthew Hemming

Subject: Re: 12/3/317 ER: 30-DAY REVIEW OF REVISED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT AND PUBLIC FEEDBACK MEETINGS

Good morning William & Mathew,

I would suggest that besides lodging these documents in the various District and Local Municipal libraries that

provision be made to lodge for the duration of the comment period at the provincial capital (PMB) and perhaps also

the main Library in Ethekweni as the metro. This will provide I&AP & NGO's based in the provincial capital and

Ethekwini a chance to peruse the documents.

Was this considered previously?

Kind Regards

>>> William Berry <[email protected]> 24/02/2017 13:28 >>>

ATTENTION: NGO’S

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ms

of

this

reg

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tory

fra

mew

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wo

uld

hav

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be

ob

tain

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e re

lev

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regu

lato

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ram

ewo

rk a

pp

lica

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to

th

e p

rop

ose

d a

ctiv

itie

s w

ill

be

app

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in

th

e

EIA

s w

e m

anag

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As

the

En

vir

on

men

tal

Ass

essm

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Pra

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ers

on

th

e re

spec

tiv

e E

IAs

bei

ng m

anag

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y S

LR

, w

e ar

e

con

fid

ent

that

th

e en

vir

on

men

tal

attr

ibu

tes

(an

d h

erit

age

reso

urc

es i

n p

arti

cula

r) w

hic

h c

ou

ld b

e af

fect

ed b

y

the

pro

po

sed

act

ivit

ies

are

adeq

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ely d

ocu

men

ted

an

d d

elin

eate

d i

n o

ur

rep

ort

s.

As

EA

Ps

we

wil

l en

sure

that

th

e im

pac

t as

sess

men

ts t

hat

we

un

der

tak

e giv

e co

nsi

der

atio

n t

o t

he

po

ten

tial

im

pac

ts o

f th

e p

rop

ose

d

acti

vit

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on

th

ese

reso

urc

es.

Kin

d r

egar

ds�

Ma

tth

ew

He

mm

ing

Afr

ican E

SIA

Technic

al D

iscip

line M

anag

er

SLR

Consu

ltin

g

Em

ail:

mhem

min

g@

slrconsu

ltin

g.c

om

Mob

ile: +

27

82 9

40

82

74

Tel:

+27

33 3

43

58

26

Fax:

+27

11 4

67

09

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no

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ac

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ite

s

an

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err

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r th

e C

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tio

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atu

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CN

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as p

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la

ndm

ark

resolu

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otion

26

) u

rgin

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rnm

en

ts a

nd

bu

sin

esse

s to

resp

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d la

nds a

nd

all

pro

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rea

s a

s N

o-G

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rea

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po

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rfu

l sta

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om

th

e w

orl

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rge

st a

nd

mo

st in

flue

ntial con

serv

atio

n

org

anis

atio

n. A

s s

cie

ntists

wa

rn th

at w

e a

re a

t ri

sk

lo

sin

g a

ll w

ild

ern

es

s a

rea

s w

ith

in a

ce

ntu

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n a

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co

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mp

tio

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tin

ue

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otio

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6 s

ign

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a

glo

ba

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dra

w a

lin

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th

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an

d a

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sa

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is e

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und

th

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mm

un

itie

s a

re a

lre

ady d

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th

eir

ow

n m

inin

g fre

e a

rea

s. P

ho

to: Y

LN

M

Th

e p

assag

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f M

otion

26 is o

nly

th

e s

ec

on

d t

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in

his

tory

th

at

the

IU

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ha

s t

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sw

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tan

d t

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na

ture

fro

m m

inin

g a

nd

oth

er

ex

tra

cti

ve

in

du

str

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. Its

su

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e fru

it o

f in

ten

se

lob

byin

g a

t th

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ece

nt W

orld

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nse

rva

tio

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ong

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Ha

wa

i'i.

Th

is w

as m

ade

po

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y y

ea

rs o

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ork

by in

dig

eno

us c

usto

dia

ns, th

eir

com

mun

itie

s a

nd

alli

es

in c

ivil

so

cie

ty, lik

e G

aia

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ho

are

com

mitte

d to

ra

isin

g a

wa

rene

ss o

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e c

ritica

l ro

le s

acre

d s

ite

s

ha

ve

to

pla

y in

th

e s

tru

ggle

to

pro

tect E

art

h.

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elie

ve

th

at th

e M

oti

on

ad

ds

win

d in

to t

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sa

ils

of

ind

igen

ou

s p

eo

ple

s' s

tru

gg

les

to

pro

tec

t s

ac

red

la

nd

s, lik

e th

ose

mo

un

ting

pro

tests

at S

tan

din

g R

ock in

th

e U

SA

rig

ht n

ow

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ith

its in

he

ren

t re

cog

nitio

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rucia

l im

po

rta

nce

of

su

pp

ort

ing

in

dig

en

ou

s tra

ditio

ns a

nd

rig

hts

in

the

str

ug

gle

to

pro

tect M

oth

er

Ea

rth

, M

oti

on

26

is

an

oth

er

ste

p t

ow

ard

s d

e-c

olo

nis

ing

co

ns

erv

ati

on

.

D

Pro

testo

rs g

ath

er

at S

tandin

g R

ock to

blo

ck th

e D

ako

ta A

cce

ss P

ipe

line

. P

ho

to: te

lesu

r

Su

pp

ort

ing

ind

ige

no

us c

om

mu

nitie

s to

dea

l w

ith

th

rea

ts a

ffectin

g the

ir s

acre

d n

atu

ral site

an

d

terr

ito

rie

s, a

nd

to

aff

irm

and

str

en

gth

en

the

rig

hts

and

re

sp

onsib

ilitie

s o

f th

eir

tra

ditio

nal

cu

sto

dia

ns, h

as b

ee

n a

t th

e c

ore

of

ou

r w

ork

fo

r o

ve

r 3

0 y

ea

rs.

In th

at tim

e, G

aia

ha

s c

olla

bo

rate

d w

ith

pa

rtn

ers

and

in

dig

en

ous c

om

mu

nitie

s to

pro

tect sa

cre

d

site

s a

t th

e g

rass

roo

ts leve

l in

are

as

lik

e E

thio

pia

's B

ale

Mo

un

tain

s, w

he

re lo

ca

l p

eo

ple

sa

y t

he

ph

ys

ica

l d

em

arc

ati

on

of

mo

re t

han

25

sac

red

sit

es

ha

s led

to

th

e r

ea

pp

ea

ran

ce

of

the

Mo

un

tain

Nya

la, M

en

elic

ks

Bu

sh

Bu

ck

, C

olo

bu

s M

on

ke

y a

nd

oth

er

sp

ec

ies

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e h

ave

als

o h

elp

ed

win

sig

nif

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nt

po

lic

y v

icto

rie

s, s

uch

as

Be

nin

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hic

h

leg

ally p

rote

cts

Be

nin

's s

ac

red

gro

ve

s.

�

Ga

ia's

Dir

ecto

r, L

iz H

osken

, w

ith

in

dig

en

ou

s c

usto

dia

ns in

Be

nin

, 2

01

6. P

ho

to: H

al R

hoa

de

s

As th

e la

test g

ain

in

this

on

goin

g w

ork

, M

otio

n 2

6 is a

no

the

r sig

nific

an

t b

oost to

ou

r m

ove

me

nt. It

will

he

lp ind

ige

no

us c

om

mu

nitie

s a

nd

org

an

isa

tion

s lik

e G

aia

make

fu

rth

er

str

ide

s f

or

the

leg

ally-b

ind

ing

re

co

gn

itio

n a

nd

pro

tec

tio

n o

f sa

cre

d s

ite

s a

rou

nd

th

e w

orl

d.

We n

ow

nee

d to

build

on

th

e b

road

ba

sed

solid

ari

ty a

nd

sen

se

of

urg

en

cy c

rea

ted

by th

e M

otio

n

an

d e

nsu

re th

at it is im

ple

men

ted

on

the

gro

und

th

rou

gh

co

llective

actio

n -

tak

ing

re

sp

on

sib

ilit

y

for

the

le

gac

y w

e w

ill le

ave

to

ge

ne

rati

on

s o

f a

ll s

pec

ies

ye

t to

co

me

.

If y

ou

use

so

cia

l m

edia

, p

lea

se

he

lp u

s s

pre

ad

th

e g

oo

d n

ew

s! C

lick h

ere

.

Wit

h s

inc

ere

th

an

ks

fo

r yo

ur

on

go

ing

su

pp

ort

,

Liz

Ho

ske

n, D

irec

tor,

an

d F

ion

a W

ilto

n, P

rog

ram

me

Co

ord

ina

tor,

on

be

ha

lf o

f th

e G

aia

Tea

m.

NE

WS

CO

VE

RA

GE

: W

OR

LD

CO

NS

ER

VA

TIO

N C

ON

GR

ES

S V

OT

ES

TO

P

RO

TE

CT

IN

DIG

EN

OU

S S

AC

RE

D L

AN

DS

�

"Mo

tio

n 2

6 is a

go

od

in

dic

atio

n th

at th

e w

orld

's b

igge

st co

nse

rva

tion

pla

ye

rs a

re w

akin

g u

p to

th

e fa

ct

tha

t re

co

gnis

ing

in

dig

en

ous p

eo

ple

s r

igh

ts, su

pp

ort

ing

th

eir

liv

ed

fo

rms o

f co

nse

rva

tion

an

d h

elp

ing

th

em

pro

tect th

eir

la

nds fro

m d

estr

uctive

in

du

str

ies th

rou

gh

po

licie

s lik

e M

otion

26

, is

th

e b

est w

ay to

p

rote

ct lif

e o

n E

art

h."

Le

arn

mo

re a

bou

t M

otio

n 2

6 a

nd

wha

t it m

ea

ns fo

r str

ug

gle

s to

pro

tect in

dig

en

ou

s la

nds a

nd

pro

tecte

d

are

as, re

ad

this

art

icle

fro

m T

he

Eco

logis

t.

R

EA

D M

OR

E

ST

AT

EM

EN

T O

F IN

DIG

EN

OU

S K

AH

U‘�

INA

G

UA

RD

IAN

S O

F S

AC

RE

D L

AN

DS

E

"Sa

cre

d lan

ds e

na

ble

th

e n

ext g

ene

ration

s to

co

nn

ect, id

en

tify

with

and

ca

rry o

n o

ur

an

ce

str

al

cu

ltu

res."

A tw

en

ty-s

tro

ng

de

leg

ation

of

indig

en

ou

s s

acre

d s

ite

cu

sto

dia

ns f

rom

aro

und

th

e w

orl

d p

laye

d a

cru

cia

l ro

le in

ge

ttin

g M

otion

26

pa

sse

d in

Ha

wai'i

, b

rin

gin

g c

ultu

ral a

nd

sp

iritu

al p

ow

er

to th

e c

on

gre

ss.

In

a s

tate

men

t re

lea

se

d d

uri

ng

th

e c

on

gre

ss, th

e c

usto

dia

ns d

escrib

e th

e e

xis

ten

tia

l re

latio

nsh

ip

be

twe

en

in

dig

en

ous p

eop

les, th

eir

cultu

res a

nd

sa

cre

d n

atu

ral sites, a

nd

wh

y p

rote

cting

th

em

is

imp

ort

an

t fo

r th

e e

ntire

Eart

h c

om

mu

nity.

R

EA

D T

HE

ST

AT

EM

EN

T

OT

HE

R H

IGH

LIG

HT

S F

RO

M T

HE

IU

CN

CO

NG

RE

SS

...

Th

e s

ucce

ss o

f M

otio

n 2

6 w

as o

ne

of

a n

um

be

r o

f o

the

r p

ositiv

e a

ch

ieve

me

nts

ma

de

at

the

Wo

rld

C

on

se

rva

tio

n C

on

gre

ss in

Ho

no

lulu

. O

the

rs in

clu

de

:

•

A Y

es v

ote

by I

UC

N m

em

be

rs to

cre

ate

a n

ew

mem

be

rship

ca

teg

ory

fo

r in

dig

en

ous g

rou

ps, to

h

elp

str

en

gth

en

th

eir

pre

se

nce

an

d r

ole

with

in th

e institu

tio

n.

•

Th

e a

pp

rova

l of

Mo

tio

n 4

8, w

hic

h c

alls

on

go

ve

rnm

en

t, th

e p

riva

te s

ecto

r a

nd

fin

an

cia

l in

stitu

tio

ns to

pro

tect p

rim

ary

fo

rests

an

d to

“m

ea

nin

gfu

lly e

nga

ge

an

d s

up

po

rt in

dig

eno

us

pe

ople

s a

nd

lo

cal co

mm

un

itie

s in

th

eir

effo

rts to

co

nse

rve

pri

ma

ry fo

rests

, in

clu

din

g in

tact

fore

st la

ndscap

es.”

•

Th

e in

clu

sio

n o

f th

e R

igh

ts o

f N

atu

re in

th

e IU

CN

's w

ork

pro

gra

mm

es f

or

20

17

-20

20

, a

n

ach

ieve

me

nt le

d b

y L

inda

Sh

ee

han

fro

m o

ur

alli

es the

Ea

rth

La

w C

en

ter.

Ga

ia a

nd

th

e d

ele

ga

tio

n o

f custo

dia

ns o

f sacre

d n

atu

ral sites w

ere

als

o s

ucce

ssfu

l in

dem

on

str

atin

g

ho

w th

e e

ffe

ctive

an

d la

stin

g c

onse

rva

tio

n o

f la

nd

sca

pe

s a

nd

sea

scap

es d

ep

en

ds o

n b

ette

r in

teg

ratio

n

of

ind

ige

no

us k

no

wle

dge

an

d p

ractices, in

th

e N

atu

re-C

ultu

re a

nd

Spir

itua

lity &

Con

se

rva

tion

str

an

ds,

or

jou

rne

ys, ru

nn

ing

th

roug

h th

e c

ong

ress.

Yo

u c

an

als

o c

atc

h u

p o

n th

e k

ey issu

es d

iscu

sse

d a

t th

e W

CC

in

Ha

wai'i

, such

as th

e h

ea

lth

of

the

o

ce

an

s, w

ildlif

e tra

ffic

kin

g a

nd

build

ing

re

sili

ence

to

clim

ate

ch

an

ge

, b

y r

ea

din

g th

e H

aw

ai'i

C

om

mitm

en

ts.

We a

re d

elig

hte

d th

at th

e C

om

mitm

en

ts r

eco

gnis

e a

nd

str

ess:

F

•

Th

e c

ha

llen

ge

of

su

sta

inin

g th

e g

lob

al fo

od

su

pp

ly a

nd

co

nse

rvin

g n

atu

re a

nd

th

e r

eco

gnitio

n

tha

t a

gro

bio

div

ers

ity, tr

ad

itio

nal se

ed

an

d k

no

wle

dge

re

viv

al a

re c

en

tra

l to

th

e s

olu

tio

n.

•

Th

e im

po

rta

nt ro

le o

f In

dig

en

ous p

eop

les a

nd

lo

ca

l co

mm

unitie

s, e

sp

ecia

lly w

om

en

, a

nd

n

atu

re-b

ase

d s

olu

tio

ns s

uch

as th

e r

esto

ratio

n o

f fo

rests

.

Th

e G

aia

Fo

un

da

tio

n is p

assio

na

te a

bo

ut re

ge

ne

ratin

g b

io-c

ultu

ral

div

ers

ity a

nd

resto

rin

g a

resp

ectf

ul re

lation

ship

with

the

Ea

rth.

Fin

d

ou

t m

ore

at

ww

w.g

aia

foun

da

tio

n.o

rg

Th

e G

aia

Fo

un

da

tio

n, L

ond

on, U

nite

d K

ingd

om

, N

W3 2

NU

G

aia

Fo

un

da

tio

n 2

015

,

Re

g.

Ch

arity

No

. 3

27

41

2

Te

lep

ho

ne

: 0

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Yours

faithfu

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� William

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En

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ssessm

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SLR

Consu

ltin

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Afr

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(Pty

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Em

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ltin

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LR

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ha

nk y

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IA p

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Yours

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� William

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En

viro

nm

enta

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ssessm

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ractitio

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SLR

Consu

ltin

g (

Afr

ica)

(Pty

) Ltd

Em

ail:

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y@

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ltin

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om

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ile: +

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89

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urw

ays

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ck 7

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ays M

anor

Off

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ark

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nr

Roos a

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acbe

th S

treets

F

ourw

ays

, Jo

han

nesburg

, 2060

South

Afr

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Co

nfi

den

tiality

No

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Dis

cla

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6

Th

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mu

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s)

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munic

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rro

r ple

ase e

mail

us b

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etu

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nsm

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under

may b

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rcepte

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upte

d o

r dela

yed. A

s a

result,

SLR

does n

ot accept any

responsib

ility

for

any

err

ors

or

om

issio

ns h

ow

soever

caused a

nd S

LR

accepts

no r

espon

sib

ility

for

changes m

ade to this

em

ail

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any a

tta

chm

ent after

transm

issio

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rom

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hils

t a

ll re

asona

ble

endeavours

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y S

LR

to s

cre

en a

ll em

ails

fo

r know

n v

iruses, S

LR

cannot guara

nte

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ny tra

nsm

issio

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ill b

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iru

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ree.

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iew

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pin

ions a

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e a

uth

or

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o n

ot necessarily

repre

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f S

LR

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any o

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sp

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uth

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prieta

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prieta

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subsid

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eg

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anor

Offic

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ark

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nr

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Th

ank

yo

u f

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tin

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n t

ou

ch w

ith

Rh

ino

an

d o

bta

inin

g t

his

res

po

nse

, I

thin

k t

his

has

bee

n s

om

eth

ing o

f a

myst

ery t

o e

ver

yo

ne.

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wev

er,

it a

pp

ears

fro

m t

his

th

at,

con

trar

y t

o w

hat

was

ad

van

ced

at

pu

bli

c m

eeti

ngs

we

atte

nd

ed,

Rh

ino

are

def

init

ely l

oo

kin

g a

t u

nco

nv

enti

on

al h

yd

roca

rbo

n r

eso

urc

es (

wh

ich

wo

uld

ver

y

lik

ely b

e ac

cess

ed v

ia f

rack

ing),

des

pit

e th

eir

avo

idin

g o

r re

fusi

ng t

o d

iscu

ss t

his

po

ssib

ilit

y a

t th

ese

mee

tin

gs,

ev

en w

hen

sp

ecif

ical

ly a

sked

to

do

so

. W

e as

aff

ecte

d c

om

mu

nit

ies

bel

iev

e th

at w

e ar

e n

ot

bei

ng

'hea

rd' -

all

we

rece

ive

is e

vas

ive

com

mu

nic

atio

ns

fro

m t

he

app

lica

nts

in

th

ese

mat

ters

.

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regar

ds

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vis

' co

mm

ent

alo

ng t

he

lin

es o

f w

hat

'wo

uld

be

mo

re d

iges

tib

le t

o t

he

pu

bli

c',

I w

ish

to

po

int

ou

t th

at f

or

mo

st o

f u

s in

are

as t

hat

may b

e af

fect

ed b

y o

il a

nd

gas

ex

plo

rati

on

an

d s

ub

seq

uen

t ex

trac

tio

n,

the

enti

re s

itu

atio

n i

s co

mp

lete

ly 'i

nd

iges

tib

le' -

to

use

his

ph

rasi

ng.

We

are

con

cern

ed a

t im

pac

ts o

n o

ur

incr

easi

ngly

sca

rce

and

fra

gil

e w

ater

res

ou

rces

, b

oth

in

ter

ms

of

un

sust

ain

able

ab

stra

ctio

n a

nd

po

llu

tio

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incl

ud

ing g

rou

nd

wat

er,

par

ticu

larl

y w

ith

reg

ard

s to

cli

mat

e ch

ange

and

un

cert

ain

wea

ther

im

pac

ts t

hat

we

are

all

exp

erie

nci

ng,

esp

ecia

lly i

n K

ZN

. W

e ar

e co

nce

rned

ab

ou

t p

ote

nti

al n

egat

ive

imp

acts

on

ex

isti

ng

rura

l li

vel

iho

od

s, s

uch

as

eco

tou

rism

, ag

ricu

ltu

re,

smal

lsca

le f

arm

ing a

nd

so

on

(th

ank

yo

u f

or

men

tio

nin

g

that

in

th

e S

cop

ing R

epo

rt y

ou

sen

t to

PA

SA

, m

uch

ap

pre

ciat

ed).

W

e ar

e co

nce

rned

ab

ou

t o

ur

air

qu

alit

y

and

po

ten

tial

neg

ativ

e im

pac

ts o

n h

um

an h

ealt

h.

Min

ing,

in o

ur

exp

erie

nce

, ra

rely

cre

ates

jo

bs,

esp

ecia

lly

:

for

un

skil

led

lab

ou

r, o

n t

he

scal

e re

qu

ired

in

are

as s

uch

as

ou

rs a

nd

als

o c

reat

es b

oo

m a

nd

bu

st e

con

om

ies

rath

er t

han

lo

ng-t

erm

eco

no

mic

an

d s

oci

al s

ust

ain

abil

ity.

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we

are

ask

ing f

or,

as

affe

cted

co

mm

un

itie

s, i

s th

at R

hin

o g

uar

ante

es t

hat

th

ere

wil

l b

e n

o s

ign

ific

ant

env

iro

nm

enta

l im

pac

ts t

hat

wil

l re

du

ce t

he

lon

g-t

erm

su

stai

nab

ilit

y o

f o

ur

lan

d a

nd

wat

er a

s a

resu

lt o

f th

eir

exp

lora

tio

n a

nd

ex

plo

itat

ion

act

ivit

ies.

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e h

ave

mee

tin

gs,

we

hav

e d

iscu

ssio

ns,

we

hav

e so

mu

ch

inte

ract

ion

bu

t w

e d

o n

ot

hav

e an

y g

uar

ante

es a

nd

th

is i

s w

hat

we

req

uir

e. I

t is

ou

r o

pin

ion

th

at R

hin

o i

s

sid

elin

ing t

he

real

iss

ues

wit

h a

gre

at d

eal

of

tech

nic

al j

argo

n;

we

req

uir

e g

uar

ante

es t

hat

ou

r ex

isti

ng

env

iro

nm

ent

and

liv

elih

oo

ds

wil

l n

ot

be

com

pro

mis

ed.

Kin

d r

egar

ds

Bro

nw

yn

& J

ock

Bro

nw

yn

Ho

war

d &

Jo

ck T

ame

Go

od

Ear

th H

erb

s &

Go

od

Ear

th L

ivin

g D

igit

al M

agaz

ine

(fo

rmer

ly U

rban

Eco

Lif

e)

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x 3

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trec

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KZ

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ail:

urb

anec

oli

fe@

gm

ail.

com

Web

sit

e: C

om

ing s

oo

n

On

Mo

n,

Au

g 1

5,

20

16

at

10

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AM

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ew H

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ing <

mh

emm

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slrc

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ly i

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case

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r fu

rth

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pla

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n d

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dd

itio

nal

are

as o

f in

tere

st.

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a is

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lab

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t P

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the

stat

e re

gu

lato

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f o

il a

nd

gas

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ou

th A

fric

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nd

is

no

t av

aila

ble

fro

m

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roS

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the

stat

e o

wn

ed o

il c

om

pan

y w

ith

th

e m

and

ate

to e

xp

lore

an

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rod

uce

hyd

roca

rbo

ns)

giv

en t

hat

the

two

en

titi

es a

re c

om

ple

tely

sep

arat

e b

oth

in

fu

nct

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an

d n

ame.

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on

th

e g

ran

tin

g o

f an

ex

plo

rati

on

righ

t, t

he

oil

co

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ou

ld t

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hav

e ac

cess

to

ad

dit

ion

al g

eolo

gic

al d

ata

fro

m P

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A a

nd

th

us

wo

uld

be

able

to

def

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the

area

s th

at h

ave

bee

n s

uff

icie

ntl

y a

lias

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ersu

s th

ose

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wo

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re

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le d

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r o

ther

ex

plo

rati

on

tec

hn

iqu

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en t

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ino

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an

d G

as E

xp

lora

tio

n S

ou

th A

fric

a is

loo

kin

g f

or

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an

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as,

as w

ell

as a

nu

mb

er o

f o

ther

hyd

roca

rbo

n d

eriv

ativ

es,

the

larg

est

cov

erag

e o

f d

ata

wit

hin

th

e ex

plo

rati

on

rig

ht

area

s is

im

per

ativ

e an

d t

hu

s fu

rth

er v

alu

e is

ad

ded

by a

dd

itio

nal

dri

llin

g a

nd

/or

exp

lora

tio

n t

ech

niq

ues

."

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ou

hav

e an

y c

om

men

t o

n t

he

abo

ve

par

agra

ph

in

ter

ms

of

wh

at w

ou

ld b

e m

ore

dig

esti

ble

to

th

e p

ub

lic,

ple

ase

do

let

me

kn

ow

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ds,

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vis

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ith

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t

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ture

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ino

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ro S

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ere

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AS

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th

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is

avai

lab

le a

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eir

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in

Cap

e T

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or

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geo

logis

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etc.

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hav

e al

so s

po

ken

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geo

logis

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n o

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area

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d i

t is

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nd

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and

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cati

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me

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the

larg

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osi

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ate

are

kn

ow

n,

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am

no

t su

re a

s to

wh

y R

hin

o i

s sa

yin

g t

hat

it

is u

nab

le t

o g

ive

us

any

idea

wh

atso

ever

at

this

sta

ge

of

the

loca

tio

ns

wh

ere

they i

nte

nd

pro

spec

tin

g f

or

and

po

ssib

ly e

xp

loit

ing o

il

and

/or

gas

res

ou

rces

. S

ure

ly t

hey m

ust

hav

e so

me

idea

of

wh

ere

pro

spec

tin

g i

s li

kel

y t

o t

ake

pla

ce,

as w

ell

as t

he

nat

ure

of

the

reso

urc

e -

i.e.

wh

eth

er t

hey w

ou

ld d

o c

on

ven

tio

nal

dri

llin

g o

r n

eed

to

use

tec

hn

iqu

es

such

as

frac

kin

g?

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wo

uld

ap

pre

ciat

e re

ceiv

ing

cla

rifi

cati

on

on

th

is i

ssue.

Kin

d r

egar

ds

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nw

yn

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nw

yn

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war

d

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Ear

th H

erb

s (O

per

atio

ns)

& G

oo

d E

arth

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igit

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agaz

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ito

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form

erly

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Web

sit

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om

ing s

oo

n

On

Tu

e, J

ul

19

, 2

01

6 a

t 4

:33

PM

, M

atth

ew H

emm

ing <

mh

emm

ing@

slrc

on

sult

ing.c

om

> w

rote

:

Hi

Jud

y

Th

ank

s fo

r yo

ur

com

men

ts.

I h

ave

forw

ard

ed t

hes

e to

PA

SA

.

I u

nd

erst

and

yo

ur

po

sito

n.

Th

e re

aso

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for

the

app

lica

nt

no

t b

ein

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ble

id

enti

fyin

g t

he

targ

et s

ites

fo

r th

e p

hysi

cal

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lora

tio

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re

exp

lain

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n t

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pin

g R

epo

rt (

spec

ific

ally

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tio

ns

1.3

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rei

tera

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th

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op

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EIA

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alig

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wit

h t

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earl

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e ex

plo

rati

on

as

pro

po

sed

by R

hin

o O

il a

nd

Gas

. S

LR

is

asse

ssin

g t

he

imp

acts

of

the

pro

po

sed

ear

ly-p

has

e ex

plo

rati

on

wo

rk p

rogra

mm

e as

pro

vid

ed t

o u

s.

We

hav

e

ack

no

wle

dg

ed t

he

lim

itat

ion

s o

f th

is i

n t

he

Sco

pin

g R

epo

rt.

Kin

d r

egar

ds

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tth

ew

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mm

ing

Afr

ican E

SIA

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al D

iscip

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anag

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$

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ltin

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Em

ail:

mhem

min

g@

slrconsu

ltin

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om

Mob

ile: +

27

82 9

40

82

74

Tel:

+27

33 3

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+27

11 4

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09

78

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ltin

g (

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urw

ays

off

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Blo

ck 7

Fourw

ays M

anor

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C

nr

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acbe

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treets

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ourw

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, Jo

han

nesburg

, 2060

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nfi

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nti

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No

tice a

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cla

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Th

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om

mu

nic

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ny a

ttachm

ent(

s)

conta

ins info

rmation w

hic

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onfidential and m

ay

als

o b

e legally

privile

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nd

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the e

xclu

siv

e u

se o

f th

e r

ecip

ien

t(s)

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hom

it is

addre

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re n

ot th

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ny d

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sure

, copyin

g,

dis

trib

ution o

r any

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aken o

r om

itte

d to b

e t

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in r

elia

nce o

n it, is p

rohib

ited a

nd m

ay b

e u

nla

wfu

l. If

you h

ave r

eceiv

ed th

is c

om

munic

ation in e

rro

r ple

ase e

mail

us b

y r

etu

rn m

ail

an

d then d

ele

te th

e e

mail

from

you

r sys

tem

togeth

er

with a

ny c

opie

s o

f it. P

lea

se n

ote

that you a

re n

ot pe

rmitt

ed to p

rint, c

op

y, d

isclo

se o

r use p

art

or

all

of th

e c

onte

nt in

any w

ay.

Em

ails

an

d a

ny in

form

ation tra

nsm

itte

d there

under

may b

e inte

rcepte

d, corr

upte

d o

r dela

yed. A

s a

result,

SLR

does n

ot accept any

responsib

ility

for

any

err

ors

or

om

issio

ns h

ow

soever

caused a

nd S

LR

accepts

no r

espon

sib

ility

for

changes m

ade to this

em

ail

or

any a

tta

chm

ent after

transm

issio

n f

rom

SLR

. W

hils

t a

ll re

asona

ble

endeavours

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taken b

y S

LR

to s

cre

en a

ll em

ails

fo

r know

n v

iruses, S

LR

cannot guara

nte

e that a

ny tra

nsm

issio

n w

ill b

e v

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s f

ree.

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iew

s o

r o

pin

ions a

re s

ole

ly those o

f th

e a

uth

or

and d

o n

ot necessarily

repre

sent th

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f S

LR

Managem

ent

Ltd

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any o

f its s

ubsid

iaries, unle

ss

sp

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nsu

ltin

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uth

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(Pro

prieta

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Lim

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and S

LR

Consultin

g (

Afr

ica)

(Pro

prieta

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Lim

ited a

re b

oth

subsid

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LR

Manag

em

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eg

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red

Offic

e:

Unit 7

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He

mm

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Afr

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SIA

Technic

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anag

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Consu

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Em

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mhem

min

g@

slrconsu

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g.c

om

Mob

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27

82 9

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82

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To:





Johannesburg











ESTCOURT, W

EENEN, KWAZULU-NATAL PROVINCE (Ref No. 12/3/317 ER)

Introduction





Gas (Pty) Ltd (Rhino)

– it abuts the proposed exploration area. No protected area exists in a






We have recently started a smallscale agricultural business growing culinary herbs and plants

suitable for essential oil production, which we hope to use in part to feed into local community

development projects, and are therefore particularly concerned at potential future negative

impacts on water and soil resources, as well as arable land within the application area. This is a

coal mining area, where there are concerns about productive farmland being taken out of



COMMENTS

Particular concerns: W

e are especially concerned about the following sections of the EIA

Report as it currently stands:

4.5.6 Core borehole drilling & 4.5.7 Seismic surveys

We note the first paragraph of these sections: Core borehole drilling/ seismic testing is no longer

included in the proposed ‘early-phase exploration’ work for which Rhino Oil and Gas are seeking

environmental approval.

This is in line with the rest of the EIA report, which states repeatedly that the current

application is only for desktop studies, data analysis and aerial FTG surveys which, by their

nature, would be low impact.

However, subsequent paragraphs of section 4.5.6 read: Rhino Oil and Gas would still

propose to undertake core hole drilling as part of further early-phase exploration. The

location of core hole sites is currently unknown, as these would ultimately be determined based on

the findings of the initial exploration activities undertaken in Year 1 and 2. Target locations would

initially be determined from an assessment of geological information derived from the available

data and FTG survey. Since the exact location of an exploration core hole is flexible, it can be

adjusted to accommodate local features, landowner’ needs and local environmental sensitivities.

This process of adjusting a site’s location would always involve consultation with the land owner to

reach a negotiated access agreement.

In proposing locations for drill sites, consideration would be given to environmental criteria. Each

drill sites would be subject to the requisite environmental assessment and authorisation process.

Likewise, the subsequent paragraphs of section 4.5.7 read: Rhino Oil and Gas would still

propose to undertake seismic surveys as part of further early-phase exploration. The

location of seismic lines is currently unknown, as these would ultimately be determined based on

the findings of the initial exploration activities undertaken in Year 1 and 2. Target routes would


data, FTG surveys and core borehole drilling. Since the exact alignment of a seismic line is flexible,

it can be adjusted to accommodate local features, landowner’ needs and local environmental

sensitivities. This process of adjusting a seismic line’s route would always involve consultation with

the land owner to reach a negotiated access agreement.

In proposing routes for seismic survey alignments, consideration would be given to environmental

criteria. Each route would be subject to the requisite environmental assessment and authorisation

process.

From a reading of these clauses, it would appear that Rhino Oil and Gas wishes to consider

undertaking core borehole drilling and seismic testing as part of this application. If these are to

be

un

de

rta

ke

n d

uri

ng

‘ea

rly

ph

ase

ex

plo

rati

on

’, th

is m

ea

ns

tha

t th

e c

urr

en

t E

IA r

ep

ort

as

it

stands is null and void and needs to be re-visited as the entire document (save for clauses 4.5.6

and 4.5.7) is based around the premise that the applicant intends only doing desktop studies,

data analysis and aerial FTG surveys.

We

to

ok

th

e m

att

er

up

wit

h S

LR

Co

nsu

ltin

g, t

he

ap

pli

can

t’s

en

vir

on

me

nta

l co

nsu

lta

nts

(represented by Mr Matthew Hemming) at the public meeting held in Utrecht on 24 November

2016 and were assured that only aerial FTG surveys were to be conducted – there would be no

core borehole drilling or seismic testing considered at this stage. According to information we

received at the meeting – and which is echoed in the EIA report under comment

– there are only

going to be three exploration phases

– a

n i

nit

ial

‘ea

rly

ex

plo

rati

on

ph

ase

’, fo

llo

we

d b

y a

pp

rais

al

and then exploratory drilling. While we understand this and also that, at any stage, the

applicant might halt the process if, for example, resources were not commercially viable or

proved impossible or uneconomical to extract, we are concerned that these two clauses leave an

open door for the applicant to potentially embark on core borehole drilling and seismic surveys

du

rin

g t

he

‘ea

rly

ph

ase

ex

plo

rati

on

’.

We have taken this matter up with Mr Hemming via e-mail on several occasions, the first of

which was sent to him on Sunday, 12 December 2016, and to which he responded the following

day. His standard response has been that the applicant only intends doing aerial FTG surveys

an

d n

ot

core

bo

reh

ole

dri

llin

g n

or

seis

mic

te

stin

g d

uri

ng

‘ea

rly

ph

ase

ex

plo

rati

on

’. H

e a

lso

continues to cite and paraphrase the final paragraphs of sections 4.5.6 and 4.5.7: In proposing

routes for seismic survey alignments, consideration would be given to environmental criteria. Each

route would be subject to the requisite environmental assessment and authorisation process.

After some to-ing and fro-ing, we specifically requested SLR Consulting (Mr Hemming)

to simply state in these clauses that Core borehole drilling/ seismic testing is no longer


environmental approval and remove all subsequent paragraphs from clauses 4.5.6 and 4.5.7 if it

is indeed not the intention of Rhino Oil and Gas to do core borehole drilling and seismic testing

du

rin

g ‘e

arl

y p

ha

se e

xp

lora

tio

n’.

Th

e r

em

ain

ing

pa

rag

rap

hs

are according superfluous. W

e

have also asked him, if he does not agree that these clauses should be removed, to tell us his

reasons for so doing.

We also spoke to Ms Phumla Ngesi at the Petroleum Agency of SA (PASA) on the afternoon of

Tuesday, 13 December 2016 and followed up by e-mail the following afternoon, advising her of

our concerns. She informed us that she is familiar with this application and that, to her

knowledge, the current exploration licence sought is only for aerial FTG surveys and not for

core borehole drilling or seismic testing. She further advised that, should the applicant wish to

include core borehole drilling or seismic testing in its activities for this application, it would

need to either amend the existing application or lodge a new application with PASA, the current

EIA report as it stands would be rendered null and void and the entire process would need to be

re-started.

Late afternoon on 14 December 2016, after more fruitless e-mail exchanges with Mr Hemming,

Ms Ngesi e-mailed me to say that she would look into the matter and would get back to me by

close of business on Thursday, 15 December 2016 (the deadline for comments on this EIA

report is also on that date). W

e received the following response from her via e-mail in the late

afternoon:

Firstly, I trust that you have submitted your comments to the Environmental Assessment

Practitioner i.e. SLR Consulting so that they are recorded and addressed in the final Environmental

Impact Assessment Report. The reason I am raising this is that it is the EAPs responsibility to

address all comments and concerns raised as part of the consultation process before submitting

the reports to the regulatory authority. Our role as the Agency is to assess the manner in which

such comments and concerns have been addressed.

As discussed with you, our understanding with respect to what is proposed is that, the applicant

intends undertaking an FTG which is basically an airborne survey, and assuming that the

Environmental Authorisation and exploration right are granted, and if FTG results show that

there is a potential for oil and gas, additional exploration activities such as seismic survey or core

drilling will be carried out. It is our understanding therefore that such will not take place without

the holder or EAP undertaking the following: (i) application for either an amendment of the

Environmental Authorisation or a new application for EA depending on the scope of what is

proposed, (ii) undertaking further consultation with the I&APs on the proposed activities which

were not part of the initial EA application. In our discussion yesterday we seemed we to be at the

same level of understanding. I hope nothing has changed from your side and if it is still the case, we

will be in a position to advise the EAP to provide clarity in that regard.

I would further like to reiterate that on receipt of the final EIR we will make an evaluation as to

how the I&APs comments have been addressed.

We would respectfully submit that PASA needs to establish wha

t R

hin

o O

il a

nd

Ga

s’s

inte

nti

on

s

are w

ith

re

ga

rd t

o ‘e

arl

y p

ha

se e

xp

lora

tio

n’ – are they going to confine their activities to desktop

studies, data analysis and aerial FTG surveys at this time without any possibility of core

borehole drilling and seismic testing? Alternatively, is there any possibility that they intend to

do core borehole drilling and seismic testing at this stage? If the latter is the case, we would

request that the current EIA process be halted and the applicant proceed as recommended by

PASA (see above) so that all the potential negative impacts of core borehole drilling and seismic

testing can be stated, together with specialist studies if required, and recommended mitigation

measures for I&APs who might potentially be affected by such activities.

Should Rhino Oil and Gas not be anticipating doing core borehole drilling or seismic

test

ing

du

rin

g ‘e

arl

y p

ha

se e

xp

lora

tio

n’ (

wh

ich

is

wh

at

I&A

Ps

ha

ve

be

en

to

ld r

ep

ea

ted

ly

and is in line with the rest of the EIA report document as it stands), then we request that

clauses 4.5.6 and 4.5.7 simply state that Core borehole drilling/ seismic testing is no longer


environmental approval with the remainder of the paragraphs under those clauses simply being

removed.

Other Comments:

Section 4.1.2 Applicant’s background

The second paragraph of this section reads: Rhino Resources’ goal is to develop these natural

resources with the benefit of enhanced prosperity for African host countries and communities.

However, I&APs were expressly told by the applicant at a public meeting held on 24 November

2016 that no jobs would be created by their activities, as they will be needing personnel who

have oil and gas experience, which most South Africans do not have. No opportunities for

unskilled workers, which comprise the majority of the available labour force in the application

area, would therefore be offered.





As

sta

ted

els

ew

he

re i

n t

he

EIA

re

po

rt, R

hin

o O

il &

Ga

s (P

ty)

Ltd

, Rh

ino

Re

sou

rce

s’ S

ou

th A

fric

an




proceeding.


Th

is s

ect

ion

of

the

EIA

Re

po

rt r

eit

era

tes

the

So

uth

Afr

ica

n g

ov

ern

me

nt’

s p

osi

tion that gas


few

er

em

issi

on

s th

an

co

al,

th

e c

urr

en

t b

asi

s o

f th

e c

ou

ntr

y’s

ele

ctri

city

su

pp

ly, w

ith

ov

er

90

% o

f

















We are also at a loss as to why the South African government is not placing more emphasis on

renewable energy options, rather than simply focusing on business-as-usual energy sources (i.e.

coal), as well as gas and nuclear. According to Greenpeace Africa, South Africa is ideally placed

to take advantage of renewable energy options, including wind and solar. There is already

significant wind energy development taking place in South Africa, especially in the Eastern and

Western Cape.

Th

e e

xe

cuti

ve

su

mm

ary

of

the

org

an

iza

tio

n’s

Powering the Future report states: “

Ve

ry o

fte

n i

t is

arg

ue

d t

ha

t re

ne

wa

ble

en

erg

y t

ech

no

log

y c

an

no

t p

rov

ide

th

e n

ece

ssa

ry ‘b

ase

loa

d’ e

lectricity








Esk

om

’s c

ap

aci

ty e

xp

an

sio

n p

rog

ram

me

, th

en

Esk

om

sh

ou

ld b

e i

nv

est

ing

in

re

ne

wa

ble

en

erg

y

sources

for

a s

ust

ain

ab

le f

utu

re.”

Th

e r

ep

ort

fu

rth

er

sta

tes:

“F

oss

il a

nd

nu

cle

ar

ba

sed

po

we

r is

str

on

gly

lo

bb

ied

fo

r a

nd

po

liti

cal





too expensive... In South Africa, the development of the RE Industry is held back by lack of

















mentioned previously, informed at a recent public meeting that no jobs would be created as

Rhino would seek personnel with oil and gas experience, of which this area has very few, if any.

Therefore, no jobs will be created, either now or in the future.



jobs. W

e do not know how these figures were arrived at; Jonathan Deal of the NGO Treasure the



4.4 Application area and regional setting

At public meetings, we have repeatedly been told that this particular IEA is for early-phase

exploration only, which we do understand. However, when we - as residents, property owners,

business owners and concerned citizens in the area - query what this application could

ultimately lead to, should commercially viable petroleum resources be discovered, we are told

not to concern ourselves with future impacts.

Yet, in the EIA Report, under this paragraph, it is stated: Future ground-based exploration

activities would not take place across all of the ER area but would be confined to strategic or

target areas. At this early stage of exploration Rhino Oil and Gas is not able to specify exactly

where within the ER application area future ground-based exploration activities would be

undertaken.

As these activities could potentially include drilling and even smallscale hydraulic fracturing

with potential negative impacts on local water supplies, human and animal health and rural

livelihoods, we are concerned as to the eventual outcome of this early-phase exploration and

subsequent exploration phases, including ground-based exploration activities.

4.42 Screening to define target areas

The provisions of this section have been duly noted. Would these constitute guarantees by

Rhino that they will proceed in the manner stipulated in this section? What confirmation do we

have that the applicant would abide by these provisions? W

hat about compliance with other

applicable laws?

4.5.1 Revised exploration work programme:

According to the final paragraph of the section, which reads:

A benefit of this revised approach is that any future application for ground-based exploration

activities would be focussed on specified sites, thereby enabling I&APs to have a better

understanding of where Rhino Oil and Gas proposes to access land and conduct ground-based

exploration activities. This addresses some of the concerns raised by I&APs relating to where the

proposed ground-based exploration activities may be located. The future environmental

assessment process would investigate and report on the environmental attributes of the specified

sites.

As I&APs in this area, we nevertheless remain concerned that ground-based exploration

activities, as well as eventual production (which, after all, is the ultimate aim of exploration), has

the potential to negatively impact local and regional water supplies, rural livelihoods, food

pro

du

ctio

n, h

um

an

an

d l

ive

sto

ck h

ea

lth

as

we

ll a

s th

e a

rea

’s s

ign

ific

an

t b

iod

ive

rsit

y a

nd

ecosystem services. W

e would therefore request that exploration, even early-phase exploration

using non-invasive techniques such as the anticipated FTG aerial surveys, not proceed and this

application be abandoned in favour of the precautionary principle.

The extraction of unconventional petroleum resources may well result in impacts that are

difficult to mitigate or reverse, according to well-documented experiences in the United States,

Australia and other countries where unconventional resources are being extracted. In northern

KZN, there are a significant number of poverty-stricken people with limited access to

information, who will not even know about this until it happens and they are negatively

impacted. This is an environmental justice and human rights issue.

4.7.3 Type of activity

The last paragraph of this section reads: Rhino Oil and Gas still intends to undertake core hole

drilling and seismic surveys as part of further early-phase exploration but would only do so after

target sites had been identified and each site subject to the requisite environmental assessment

and authorisation process.

This appears to be a reiteration of clauses 4.5.6 and 4.5.7 – as discussed earlier in these

comments.

4.7.5 The ‘No-go” alternative

As

I&A

Ps

liv

ing

an

d w

ork

ing

in

th

e a

pp

lica

tio

n a

rea

, we

wo

uld

str

on

gly

su

gg

est

th

at

the

‘no

go

’

alt

ern

ati

ve

be

co

nsi

de

red

. T

he

na

ture

of

the

re

sou

rce

s a

re u

nk

no

wn

, alt

ho

ug

h R

hin

o’s

ge

olo

gis

t

has indicated to me in writing that unconventional resources are sought. The extraction thereof

may well involve the controversial extraction method of hydraulic fracturing, which has a slew

of negative human and environmental impacts. It is our contention that, due to the high risks

such resource extraction is likely to place on communities (the negative impacts of which may

we

ll l

ast

fo

r d

eca

de

s), t

he

‘no

go

’ alternative be seriously considered.

This area is already subject to wind farm applications and is also ideally placed for solar (in fact,

many farms and households use solar for water heating, swimming pool pumps, lighting,

borehole pumps and the like). These energy sources have been evaluated as being relatively

low impact compared to oil and gas extraction.

Without this knowledge no oil or gas field development would be able to occur. In the absence of oil

and gas production there would obviously not be any of the potential risks related to detailed

exploration nor future production. Similarly the potential benefits of oil and gas production would

not be derived.

In my opinion, local communities, landowners and residents would not derive much benefit

from oil and gas production. Few jobs will be generated in the medium- to long-term, as few

people in South Africa have oil and gas job experience and the unskilled labour in this area most

certainly does not. In addition, should hydraulic fracturing – or even conventional drilling – be

used to access the resource, this may well create a slew of environmental impacts that would

als

o i

mp

act

th

e r

eg

ion

’s p

eo

ple

. A

mo

ng

th

ese

are

:

· Unsustainable water abstraction – hydraulic fracturing is purported to use around 20

million litres of water per frack per well (Treasure the Karoo Action Group). In an

increasingly dry country and region, where will this water come from? This is a coal

mining area and unsustainable water abstraction by mines has already reduced water

for farmers, towns and communities;

· Water pollution – oil and gas production and extraction in many parts of the world has

resulted in serious and at times irreparable water pollution. As a coal mining area, we

are already subject to water pollution impacts. Important water resources, such as river

sources and catchments, dams and wetlands are all included in the application area,

notwithstanding the provisions of Section 122 of the MPRDA;

· Loss of rural livelihoods

– Northern KZN is primarily a rangeland cattle and sheep

farming area with ecotourism and historical tourism (near Dundee) opportunities.

Productive agricultural land may be taken out of production due to the provisions of

Section 8 of the MPRDA regarding access to land by rights holders. Ecotourism and

historic tourism may also suffer

– who wants to enjoy ecotourism activities when these

are fronted by countless oil and gas wells? Birds and wildlife may also leave the area

due to factors such as disturbance, habitat destruction, unregulated hunting and the like.

These livelihoods will not be replaced by oil and gas jobs.

· Human and livestock health impacts

– In the USA in particular, people living near oil and

gas development have experienced considerable negative human health impacts due to

the use of toxic chemicals, water and air pollution and the like. Livestock have also been

negatively impacted, with a knock-on effect for rural livelihoods.

· Biodiversity loss – Birds and wildlife may be negatively impacted and mobile species

may migrate from the area. (See ecotourism impacts above.) There may also be a loss of

ecosystem services due to landscape change, infrastructure development, species loss

(through local extinction or migration) and the like.

Please explain how oil and gas development will improve our lives?!?

6.4 “No Go” alternative (2)

Given the wide array of unknown facts regarding the potential for economic growth and the

potential for environmental impacts arising from unconventional gas production, as well as the

unknown facts of the future energy mix in the absence of gas, the overall impact associated with

the “no-go” alternative is considered to be of unknown significance.

Clearly, the applicant does not live, work or have any other interest in this area beyond what it

can exploit. For residents, landowners, farmers and businesses (which are often directly

dependent on natural resources or offer support services to other businesses, such as

agriculture and ecotourism), the impleme

nta

tio

n o

f a

‘no

go

’ alt

ern

ati

ve

wo

uld

be extremely

significant, as it would mean that such people could continue to reside here and go about their

economic activities without needing to consider the potential risks posed by the development of

an oil and gas industry in this predominantly rural area.

6.5 Cumulative impacts

As mentioned previously, this is a coal mining area and there are numerous applications for

both opening new mines and re-opening old ones. This area is already being impacted by, inter

alia, polluted water, including acid mine drainage contamination, unsightly and polluting waste

dumps, unrehabilitated mines (the owners cannot always be found), loss of water due to de-

watering activities, historic and current infrastructural damage ranging from severely cracked

buildings to road infrastructure damage due to coal truck traffic, and the overall negative impact

of

‘bo

om

an

d b

ust

’ min

ing

eco

no

mie

s. O

il a

nd

ga

s e

xtr

act

ion

is

un

lik

ely

to

re

lie

ve

th

ese

im

pa

cts

and may well increase them and also add other negative impacts. Despite the legal obligations

of the extractive industry to limit pollution, employ locally, create social development

programmes and clean up on closure, mines appear to regularly evade these responsibilities.

Why should the oil and gas industry be any different?

Another aspect that has not been mentioned in any of the EIA Reports for these applications,

nor in the extensive discourse on the subject, is infrastructure development, including pipelines

to transport oil and gas, the development of well pads, wastewater pits, road building and the

like. These developments and their potential impacts (leaks, spills, reducing productive

agricultural land) are likely to add to the cumulative impacts of oil and gas development in KZN

and, indeed, other parts of South Africa.

Bron

wyn

Howa

rd &

Jock

Tam

e Registered I&APs

Utrecht, KZN

15 December 2016

Exploration Methods: Drilling

We are surprised that only 10 core holes would be planned across an area of some two million

hectares! Would the number of core holes increase, should initial drilling prove unsuccessful?

Concerns that we have with regard to drilling include:

· The fact that the applicant is unable to advise I&APs as to where these cores will be

drilled – when will we be advised?;

· Impacts on affected landowners, including taking land out of production, the destruction

of vegetation, loss of biodiversity, especially threatened species, impacts on

infrastructure such as farm roads and buildings, effects on stewardship agreements with

local conservation authorities, damage due to negligence, such as gates being left open,

potential for veld fires, stock theft, trapping of wildlife, break-ins at farmsteads, vehicle

theft and the like.

· Impacts on towns and cities, including infrastructure such as roads, buildings, houses,

water pipes, electricity and communications cables and supporting structures and the

like.

· Waste management is a concern, including waste from drilling such as drilling fluids and

muds, used oil and filters, spilled fuel and oil, drill cuttings, spent and/or unused

solvents, scrap metal and solid waste.

· Where will personnel be housed; if in caravans, as suggested in the BID document, how

will the security of landowners or townspeople (as the case may be) be ensured? What

arrangements will be made for sanitation, water supply, rubbish collection and the like?

· How will the impact of the drilling rig and associated equipment, outside personnel and

living arrangements for personnel be managed and mitigated, where necessary?

Exploration Methods: Seismic Surveys

At the public meetings and in the scoping report, we have been advised that seismic surveys will

be carried out to map the ground formations beneath the surface. We are concerned by the

following:

According to the document Promoting Environmental Responsibility in Seismic Operations by

David Gibson (USA) and Sean Rice (England), the average weight of a vibroseis truck is 29 500

kg, although some vehicles may weigh as much as 38 600 kg. The road system in northern KZN

is generally fragile, with a large number of unpaved roads. Tar roads are already compromised

by

th

e p

ass

ag

e o

f h

ea

vy

co

al

tru

cks

ma

kin

g t

he

ir w

ay

to

th

e R

ich

ard

’s B

ay

Co

al

Te

rmin

al

fro

m

inland and also transporting coal to power stations, resulting in potholes, poor road conditions

(roads are constantly being repaired) and fatal accidents. Much of the road network consists of

unpaved roads and the impact of extremely heavy vehicles on such roads, together with other

impacts including dust and the potential increase in road accidents, will need to be borne by the

local population, who use these roads regularly to go about their daily business. As it is, the

Provincial Roads Department and Amajuba District spend much time and effort keeping these

roads in good repair without the additional burden of exceedingly heavy vehicles traversing

them. (This would be another potential impact if fracking is ultimately used to facilitate

production.)

From the same document, a path 4 – 5 m wide at least would need to be cleared through existing

vegetation to enable the vehicle to reach the site where the shot-hole is to be drilled. Much of

the Amajuba District Municipal area falls within the grassland biome; in this region, some 30%

of the grasslands have been transformed, as opposed to the national average of 60% or more.

Th

e r

eg

ion

is

ho

me

to

a v

ari

ety

of

thre

ate

ne

d g

rass

lan

d s

pe

cie

s, i

ncl

ud

ing

Ru

dd

’s a

nd

Bo

tha

’s

Lark, W

attled and Grey Crowned Crane (it is an important breeding area for the Wattled and

Blue Crane), Yellow-breasted Pipit, D

en

ha

m’s

Bu

sta

rd, L

an

ne

r F

alc

on, Secretarybird and Oribi

antelope. The predominant agricultural activity is rangeland cattle farming, a form of land use

appropriate for grasslands, which depends on the integrity of the grassland ecosystem (which is

also one of the most complex in the world). Disturbance of the vegetation would compromise

the grasslands, which would never be able to be completely rehabilitated due to the complexity

of the ecosystem. In addition, vegetation clearing or stripping is likely to exacerbate potential

erosive impacts. Many landowners in the region also complain that mining companies who

accessed their land historically for prospecting never made good on promises to rehabilitate the

lands they traversed; on some farms, their tracks remain, many years later. This is an additional

concern regarding seismic surveys.

According to information on the internet regarding seismic surveys, it appears that helicopters,

dynamite and air guns may also be used. We would like clarity as to whether these methods

would be used and what impacts they are likely to have on infrastructure, both urban and rural,

land use, existing livelihoods, such as tourism and agriculture, biodiversity, vegetation, wildlife,

agricultural livestock and the like. How will negative impacts be mitigated? Will any

rehabilitation be done? Will landowners or municipalities, as the case may be, be compensated

for any damage?

Much of the groundwater in this area collects in perched aquifers, which in turn supply streams

and wetlands. These aquifers are on a rock base; if activities such as explosions or seismic

vibrations were to damage such rock bases, the water would drain away and would never be

replenished. As the increasing incidences of drought in this area, not to mention the current

mega-drought conditions, are rendering more people reliant on boreholes and groundwater

sources, as opposed to surface resources, the potential negative impact of seismic surveys on

aquifers is extremely serious. Many farmers and even certain towns in the region are now

exclusively dependent on groundwater for their water supply.

According to the Amajuba District Municipality IDP, a particular geohazard identified is that of

‘ca

tast

rop

hic

slo

pe

fa

ilu

res

or

oth

er

kin

ds

of

gro

un

d i

nst

ability... triggered by hydro-

meteorological factors, such as rainstorms or floods. Those parts of the Amajuba District that

are underlain by the Masotcheni Formation maybe prone to localised ground stability problems,

if they happen to be close to areas o

f a

ctiv

e d

on

ga

ero

sio

n.’

Acc

ord

ing

to

th

e a

cco

mp

an

yin

g

maps, more than half the Amajuba District, particularly to the west and south (falling within the

Newcastle and Dannhauser Local Municipalities, as well as the southern portion of the

Emadlangeni/Utrecht Local Municipality) are considered high to very high risk. Seismic surveys

could trigger such events, particularly if surveys are conducted during the summer rainy

season. Heavy rains may trigger floods, particularly in the catchments of major river systems

that traverse the Amajuba District, which may also impact seismic surveys and exacerbate

erosive impacts. Vehicles may also become bogged down, increasing risks to vegetation and

private and public road infrastructure, as outlined above.

According t

o t

he

Am

aju

ba

Dis

tric

t M

un

cip

ali

ty’s

ID

P, t

he

en

tire

mu

nic

ipa

l a

rea

, wh

ich

in

clu

de

s

the city of Newcastle, as well as the towns of Utrecht and Dannhauser, are at high risk for veld

fires, with almost the entire district being categorised as very high or high risk. If seismic

surveys are conducted at times when the veld is very dry on account of the season (i.e. in the

winter dry season) or as a result of drought, the risk would be exacerbated, particularly if

drilling or survey personnel were careless or if oils and inflammables were to catch alight.

As regards the seismic surveys, where would personnel be based? If informal caravan camps

are established, all rubbish would need to be removed, a fire control process would need to be

put in place, and adequate sanitation and ablution facilities would need to be provided. Where

would personnel get water and supplies such as food from? As there are relatively few tourist

accommodation establishments in parts of the Amajuba District in particular, the contention

raised at some public meetings that accommodation businesses could benefit from exploration

activities by virtue of offering accommodation to personnel has limitations. If local personnel

are employed, they may not necessarily require accommodation.

In the light of the above factors, we insist that a separate EIA be done for drilling and seismic

surveys. This appears to be standard practice in other parts of the world where oil and gas

exploration takes place frequently. We also need to know exactly where these surveys will be

done and whether affected communities and/or landowners would have any say in this regard.

Socio-economic Impacts:

As communities in the application area are well aware from experiences with coal mining in

particular, even rumours of potential jobs frequently result in an influx of often indigent people

to an area. As many such arrivals do not find the jobs they are seeking, often because

insufficient opportunities are available, they turn to crime, as they may be unable to afford to

return to their place of origin. In recent months, parts of the Amajuba District have seen an

increase in crime, particularly housebreakings and motor vehicle theft. In recent years, there

have also been farm murders around Utrecht. The commencement or reinstatement of some

mining operations around Utrecht have resulted in stock theft and increasing security concerns

for local farmers. An influx of indigent people is likely to exacerbate these problems, together

with unemployment, which has increased in recent years, according to the Amajuba District

Mu

nic

ipa

lity

’s I

DP, due to the economic situation in South Africa and globally. We are

concerned that potential socio-economic impacts of petroleum exploration and ultimate

exploitation have not been adequately addressed by Rhino.

We are also aware that the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) now

mandates that mining companies (and presumably oil and gas companies in future) contribute

to local community development. Part of the rationale for this is that, when mines stop

production and move out, local communities are left without work or skills, facing dwindling

resources and economies, not to mention environmental pollution and poor health as a result

thereof. There has been no indication as to whether Rhino would make use of local labour,

whether skills or unskilled, during exploration and/or be involved in any sort of local

community upliftment (e.g. training) during either the exploration or production phase.

Rehabilitation & Compensation

Exploration activities, especially drilling and seismic surveys, are likely to create certain

environmental impacts. More detail is required as to how the applicant plans to mitigate these

and rehabilitate any lands or infrastructure or part thereof that may be damaged as a result of

exploration activities, as well as whether they will be compensating farmers, landowners and

municipalities for any losses incurred (e.g. as a result of infrastructure damage, stock theft,

housebreaking, etc) that may occur while drillers and seismic operators and any related

personnel are on site.

We insist that, should the scoping report be accepted by PASA, a full EIA relating to exploration

be done, covering all the above concerns, and indicating how the applicant plans on mitigating

all negative impacts, as well as a separate, full EIA regarding drilling and seismic surveys, which

may have far-reaching negative impacts in their own right.

BRONWYN HOWARD

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ab

ou

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mm

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pp

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tio

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also

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gal

ly,

com

men

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erio

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etw

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15

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emb

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8

Jan

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this

rea

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ok

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yo

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tly i

n t

his

reg

ard

, as

we

are

alm

ost

hal

fway t

hro

ugh

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vem

ber

alr

ead

y,

so n

eed

to

get

th

is s

ettl

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sap

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o -

can

we

hav

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dec

ent

map

of

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new

ex

plo

rati

on

are

a.

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can

no

t se

e fr

om

th

is o

ne

wh

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to

wn

s o

r

regio

ns

wil

l n

ow

be

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l as

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and

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eam

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ere

all

get

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r w

ater

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is

a cr

uci

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ssu

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r u

s w

ith

th

e v

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us

oil

an

d g

as a

pp

lica

tio

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in K

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ld b

e ap

pre

ciat

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u c

ou

ld e

nsu

re t

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th

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pen

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bli

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are

pro

per

ly a

nd

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equ

atel

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vert

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that

th

e m

axim

um

nu

mb

er o

f p

eop

le a

re i

nfo

rmed

. A

dve

rts

shou

ld b

e in

M

En

glis

h, A

frik

aan

s a

nd

Zu

lu, a

s th

ose

are

th

e la

ngu

age

s ev

ery

one

spea

ks

in t

his

are

a.

We

hav

e h

ad

trem

end

ou

s is

sues

bef

ore

wit

h t

hes

e m

eeti

ngs.

It

is y

ou

r le

gal

ob

lig

atio

n (

and

yo

ur

clie

nts

) to

en

sure

th

at

com

mu

nit

ies

are

pro

per

ly a

nd

ad

equ

atel

y i

nfo

rmed

. T

he

on

us

sho

uld

no

t b

e o

n I

&A

Ps

to i

nfo

rm o

ther

s, a

s

has

hap

pen

ed b

efo

re.

Ple

ase

fu

rth

er e

nsu

re t

hat

eve

ryon

e k

now

s ex

act

ly w

her

e yo

ur

ven

ues

are

, p

rovi

din

g d

irec

tion

s if

nec

essa

ry -

we

also

had

a p

rob

lem

wit

h t

his

pre

vio

usl

y.

Kin

d r

egar

ds

Bro

nw

yn

Bro

nw

yn

Ho

war

d

Go

od

Ear

th H

erb

s (O

per

atio

ns)

&

Go

od

Ear

th L

ivin

g D

igit

al M

agaz

ine

(Ed

ito

r)

P O

Bo

x 3

49

, U

trec

ht,

KZ

N,

298

0

Cel

l: 0

84

24

6 9

22

3 |

Tel

: 0

34

33

1 4

37

7

E-m

ail:

urb

anec

oli

fe@

gm

ail.

com

Web

sit

e: h

ttp

://e

dit

or1

92

.wix

site

.co

m/g

oo

dea

rth

her

bs

On

Wed

, N

ov

9,

20

16

at

4:2

6 P

M,

Wil

liam

Ber

ry <

wb

erry

@sl

rco

nsu

ltin

g.c

om

> w

rote

:

AT

TE

NT

ION

: Int

eres

ted

and

Affe

cted

par

ty

Dea

r S

ir/ M

adam

AP

PL

ICA

TIO

N F

OR

EN

VIR

ON

ME

NT

AL

AU

TH

OR

ISA

TIO

N IN

SU

PP

OR

T O

F A

N E

XP

LO

RA

TIO

N R

IGH

T

AP

PL

ICA

TIO

N F

OR

PE

TR

OL

EU

M P

RO

DU

CT

S O

N V

AR

IOU

S F

AR

MS

IN N

OR

TH

ER

N P

AR

TS

OF

KW

AZ

UL

U-N

AT

AL

PR

OV

INC

E (

12/3

/317

ER

): 3

0-D

AY

RE

VIE

W O

F E

NV

IRO

NM

EN

TA

L IM

PA

CT

RE

PO

RT

AN

D P

UB

LIC

FE

ED

BA

CK

ME

ET

ING

S

Our

pre

viou

s co

rres

pond

ence

of t

he 0

9th o

f Sep

tem

ber

2016

reg

ardi

ng th

e ab

ovem

entio

ned

proj

ect h

as r

efer

ence

.

Bac

kgro

un

d:

Rhi

no O

il an

d G

as E

xplo

ratio

n S

outh

Afr

ica

(Pty

) Lt

d (R

hino

Oil

and

Gas

) lo

dged

an

appl

icat

ion

for

an e

xplo

ratio

n rig

ht w

ith th

e

Pet

role

um A

genc

y S

outh

Afr

ica

(PA

SA

) in

term

s of

Sec

tion

79 o

f the

Min

eral

s an

d P

etro

leum

Res

ourc

es D

evel

opm

ent A

ct, 2

002

(MP

RD

A).

Rhi

no O

il an

d G

as a

lso

lodg

ed a

n ap

plic

atio

n to

PA

SA

for

envi

ronm

enta

l aut

horis

atio

n of

exp

lora

tion

activ

ities

in te

rms

of S

ectio

n 24

(5)

of th

e

Nat

iona

l Env

ironm

enta

l Man

agem

ent A

ct, 1

998

(NE

MA

). T

he a

pplic

atio

n is

sub

ject

to a

Sco

ping

and

Env

ironm

enta

l Im

pact

Ass

essm

ent (

EIA

)

proc

ess

that

is b

eing

und

erta

ken

in te

rms

of th

e E

IA R

egul

atio

ns 2

014

(GN

R 9

82, 8

Dec

embe

r 20

14).

The

Sco

ping

pro

cess

was

pre

viou

sly

com

plet

ed b

y S

LR C

onsu

lting

(P

ty)

Ltd

(SLR

). P

AS

A a

ccep

ted

the

Sco

ping

Rep

ort o

n 31

Aug

ust 2

016,

gra

ntin

g pe

rmis

sion

for

the

EIA

to b

e

unde

rtak

en in

term

s of

the

Pla

n of

Stu

dy fo

r E

IA.

8

Sco

pe

Ch

ang

es: S

ubse

quen

t to

the

acce

ptan

ce o

f the

Sco

ping

Rep

ort,

Rhi

no O

il an

d G

as h

as r

educ

ed th

e ex

tent

of t

he E

R a

pplic

atio

n ar

ea

thro

ugh

the

excl

usio

n of

all

know

n pr

otec

ted

area

s w

ith s

tatu

s de

fined

und

er S

ectio

n 48

of t

he N

atio

nal E

nviro

nmen

tal M

anag

emen

t: P

rote

cted

Are

as A

ct (

57 o

f 200

3). R

hino

Oil

and

Gas

als

o ac

quire

d an

d re

view

ed a

dditi

onal

geo

logi

cal d

ata

and

dete

rmin

ed fr

om th

is th

at c

erta

in a

reas

alon

g th

e ea

ster

n ex

tent

of t

he a

pplic

atio

n ar

ea a

re u

nlik

ely

to b

e pr

ospe

ctiv

e fo

r oi

l or

gas.

. See

the

oran

ge b

ound

ary

in th

e F

igur

e be

low

for

the

revi

sed

appl

icat

ion

area

.

Mor

e re

cent

ly, R

hino

Oil

and

Gas

has

als

o ex

clu

ded

gro

und-

base

d ex

plor

atio

n ac

tiviti

es in

clud

ing

core

hol

e dr

illin

g an

d se

ism

ic s

urve

ys fr

om

the

prop

osed

‘ear

ly-p

hase

exp

lora

tion’

wor

k fo

r w

hich

they

are

see

king

env

ironm

enta

l aut

horis

atio

n. T

he c

urre

nt fo

cus

of th

e ap

plic

atio

n an

d th

e

rela

ted

envi

ronm

enta

l ass

essm

ent w

ork

is n

ow o

nly

on r

emot

e ex

plor

atio

n te

chni

ques

(in

clud

ing

anal

ysis

of e

xist

ing

data

and

an

aeria

l ful

l

tens

or g

radi

omet

ry g

ravi

ty s

urve

y).

If th

e cu

rren

t app

licat

ion

is a

ppro

ved,

Rhi

no O

il an

d G

as w

ould

be

in a

pos

ition

to c

ondu

ct th

e re

mot

e ex

plor

atio

n te

chni

ques

and

to d

evel

op a

mor

e de

taile

d un

ders

tand

ing

of th

e po

tent

ial o

il an

d ga

s re

sour

ces

in th

e ap

plic

atio

n ar

ea. T

here

afte

r, s

houl

d R

hino

Oil

and

Gas

pro

pose

to

cond

uct g

roun

d ba

sed

expl

orat

ion

activ

ities

they

wou

ld n

eed

to b

e in

form

ed b

y a

furt

her

appl

icat

ion

to P

AS

A a

nd a

sep

arat

e en

viro

nmen

tal

asse

ssm

ent a

nd a

utho

risat

ion

proc

ess.

A b

enef

it of

this

rev

ised

app

roac

h is

that

any

futu

re a

pplic

atio

n fo

r gr

ound

bas

ed e

xplo

ratio

n ac

tiviti

es

wou

ld b

e fo

cuse

d on

spe

cifie

d si

tes.

Thi

s en

able

s in

tere

sted

and

affe

cted

par

ties

(I&

AP

s) to

kno

w w

here

Rhi

no O

il an

d G

as p

ropo

ses

to a

cces

s

land

and

con

duct

gro

und-

base

d ex

plor

atio

n ac

tiviti

es. T

he r

equi

red

envi

ronm

enta

l ass

essm

ent w

ould

be

focu

sed

on a

sses

sing

impa

cts

at th

ose

site

s.

EIR

fo

r R

evie

w:

Thi

s le

tter

serv

es to

info

rm y

ou, a

s a

regi

ster

ed I

&A

P o

n th

e pr

ojec

t, th

at S

LR h

as, o

n be

half

of R

hino

Oil

and

Gas

, pro

duce

d

an e

nviro

nmen

tal i

mpa

ct r

epor

t (E

IR),

incl

udin

g an

env

ironm

enta

l man

agem

ent p

rogr

amm

e, fo

r th

e ap

plic

atio

n. T

he p

urpo

se o

f the

EIR

is to

9

sum

mar

ise

the

EIA

pro

cess

follo

wed

to d

ate

and

prov

ide

an o

verv

iew

of t

he p

ropo

sed

proj

ect a

nd th

e af

fect

ed e

nviro

nmen

t. It

als

o pr

ovid

es a

n

asse

ssm

ent o

f the

pot

entia

l im

pact

s of

the

prop

osed

pro

ject

and

set

s ou

t the

man

agem

ent a

nd m

itiga

tion

mea

sure

s th

at a

re r

ecom

men

ded

shou

ld th

e ap

plic

atio

n be

app

rove

d.

The

EIR

is b

eing

mad

e av

aila

ble

to r

egis

tere

d I&

AP

s fo

r re

view

and

com

men

t on

the

findi

ngs

and

man

agem

ent m

easu

res

for

the

prop

osed

proj

ect.

In th

is r

egar

d, th

e E

IR w

ill b

e av

aila

ble

for

a 30

-day

com

men

t per

iod

from

the

09th

No

vem

ber

201

6 u

nti

l th

e 15

th o

f D

ecem

ber

201

6.

Har

d co

pies

of t

he E

IR h

ave

been

pla

ced

at th

e fo

llow

ing

loca

tions

for

publ

ic r

evie

w:

The

EIR

is a

lso

avai

labl

e to

dow

nloa

d fr

om th

e S

LR w

ebsi

te. T

o do

wnl

oad

the

EIR

and

App

endi

ces

go

to:

http

://w

ww

.cca

envi

ronm

enta

l.co.

za/s

ub-o

il-ga

s-m

iner

als/

. A

ltern

ativ

ely,

con

tact

SLR

and

an

elec

tron

ic c

opy

of th

e E

IR c

an b

e em

aile

d to

you,

or

the

EIR

and

App

endi

ces

prov

ided

on

CD

. An

Exe

cutiv

e S

umm

ary

of th

e E

IR is

als

o av

aila

ble

on r

eque

st in

Eng

lish

or is

iZul

u.

All

com

men

ts o

n th

e E

IR s

houl

d be

sub

mitt

ed to

SLR

at t

he c

onta

ct d

etai

ls s

how

n in

the

tabl

e be

low

. Com

men

ts r

ecei

ved

will

be

used

to

upda

te th

e E

IR, a

s re

leva

nt, a

nd c

opie

s of

all

the

com

men

ts w

ill b

e in

clud

ed w

ith th

e E

IR w

hen

it is

sub

mitt

ed to

PA

SA

for

deci

sion

mak

ing.

Ple

ase

ensu

re th

at y

our

com

men

ts r

each

us

on o

r be

fore

the

15th

of

Dec

emb

er 2

016.

Det

ails

P

roje

ct M

anag

er

Nam

e of

the

prac

titio

ner

Mat

thew

Hem

min

g R

espo

nsib

ility

on

the

proj

ect

EA

P

Tel

No.

: 01

1 46

7 09

45

Fax

No.

: 01

1 46

7 09

78

Pos

tal a

ddre

ss

PO

Box

159

6

Cra

mer

view

2016

0 E

-mai

l add

ress

m

hem

min

g@sl

rcon

sulti

ng.c

om

Nam

e an

d L

oca

tio

n

Ph

ysic

al A

dd

ress

New

cast

le L

ibra

ry

66 S

cott

Str

eet,

New

cast

le

Dun

dee

Libr

ary

Bou

ndar

y ro

ad (

next

doo

r to

Mun

icip

ality

), D

unde

e

Vry

heid

Lib

rary

C

orne

r M

ark

and

Hig

h S

tree

t, V

ryhe

id

Utr

echt

Lib

rary

V

oor

stre

et, U

trec

ht

Dan

nhau

ser

Libr

ary

8 C

hurc

h S

tree

t, D

annh

ause

r

Nqu

tu L

ibra

ry

1139

Man

gosu

thu

Driv

e, N

qutu

C

Pu

blic

Fee

db

ack

Mee

tin

gs:

I&A

PS

are

invi

ted

to a

ttend

one

of a

ser

ies

of o

pen

day

s an

d p

ub

lic m

eeti

ng

s. T

he p

urpo

se o

f the

ope

n da

y an

d

publ

ic m

eetin

g is

to in

form

I&A

Ps

of th

e fin

ding

s of

the

EIA

pro

cess

and

pro

vide

opp

ortu

nity

for

ques

tions

to b

e as

ked.

The

ope

n da

ys w

ill

prov

ide

I&A

Ps

with

opp

ortu

nity

to a

sk m

embe

rs o

f the

EIA

and

app

lican

t tea

m q

uest

ions

. The

form

al p

ublic

mee

ting

will

incl

ude

a pr

esen

tatio

n

by th

e E

IA te

am fo

llow

ed b

y a

ques

tion

and

answ

er s

essi

on. C

omm

ents

will

be

reco

rded

for

furt

her

cons

ider

atio

n. T

he d

etai

ls a

re p

rovi

ded

belo

w. D

ate

Ven

ue

Tim

e

22 N

ovem

ber

2016

C

ecil

Em

met

Hal

l, E

eufe

es S

port

s C

entr

e, U

trec

ht R

oad,

Vry

heid

14

:00

for

open

day

; 15:

00 fo

r m

eetin

g

23 N

ovem

ber

2016

D

unde

e H

igh

Sch

ool,

Cnr

Tat

ham

& O

xbur

row

Str

eets

, Dun

dee

8:30

for

open

day

; 9:3

0 fo

r m

eetin

g

23 N

ovem

ber

2016

D

anna

user

Pub

lic L

ibra

ry, D

anna

user

14

:00

for

open

day

; 15:

00 fo

r m

eetin

g

24 N

ovem

ber

2016

R

ichv

iew

Civ

ic H

all,

Off

Bou

ndar

y S

tree

t, R

ichv

iew

, New

cast

le

8:30

for

open

day

; 9:3

0 fo

r m

eetin

g

24 N

ovem

ber

2016

U

trec

ht M

useu

m H

all

14:0

0 fo

r op

en d

ay; 1

5:00

for

mee

ting

Ple

ase

pass

this

lette

r on

to a

ny o

ther

per

sons

who

m y

ou k

now

hav

e an

inte

rest

in th

e pr

ojec

t. W

e w

elco

me

any

com

men

t or

ques

tions

. Tha

nk

you

for

your

ong

oing

invo

lvem

ent i

n th

e S

copi

ng a

nd E

IA p

roce

ss.

You

rs fa

ithfu

lly

Mat

thew

Hem

min

g

Env

ironm

enta

l Ass

essm

ent P

ract

ition

er

Wil

lia

m B

err

y

En

viro

nm

enta

l A

ssessm

ent P

ractitio

ner

SLR

Consu

ltin

g (

Afr

ica)

(Pty

) Ltd

Em

ail:

wberr

y@

slrconsu

ltin

g.c

om

Mob

ile: +

27

72 4

75

58

89

Tel:

+27

11 4

67

09

45

Ext:

2004

Fax:

+27

11 4

67

09

78

K

SLR

Consu

ltin

g (

Fo

urw

ays

off

ice)

Blo

ck 7

Fourw

ays M

anor

Off

ice P

ark

C

nr

Roos a

nd M

acbe

th S

treets

F

ourw

ays

, Jo

han

nesburg

, 2060

South

Afr

ica

Co

nfi

den

tiality

No

tice a

nd

Dis

cla

imer

This

com

mun

ication a

nd a

ny a

ttachm

ent(

s)

conta

ins info

rmation w

hic

h is c

onfidential and m

ay

als

o b

e legally

privile

ge

d. It is in

ten

ded

for

the e

xclu

siv

e u

se o

f th

e r

ecip

ient(

s)

to w

hom

it is

addre

ssed. If y

ou a

re n

ot th

e inte

nded r

ecip

ient, a

ny d

isclo

sure

, co

pyin

g, d

istr

ibutio

n o

r a

ny

actio

n t

aken

or

om

itte

d to b

e ta

ke

n

in r

elia

nce o

n it, is p

rohib

ited a

nd m

ay b

e u

nla

wfu

l. If

you h

ave r

eceiv

ed th

is c

om

munic

ation in e

rro

r p

lease e

ma

il us b

y r

etu

rn m

ail

an

d th

en d

ele

te th

e e

ma

il fr

om

your

sys

tem

togeth

er

with a

ny c

opie

s o

f it. P

lease n

ote

that you a

re n

ot perm

itted to p

rint, c

op

y, d

isclo

se o

r use p

art

or

all

of th

e c

onte

nt in

any w

ay.

Em

ails

and a

ny info

rmation tra

nsm

itte

d there

under

ma

y b

e inte

rcepte

d, corr

upte

d o

r dela

yed. A

s a

resu

lt, S

LR

do

es n

ot a

ccep

t a

ny

resp

onsib

ility

fo

r an

y err

ors

or

om

issio

ns h

ow

soever

caused a

nd S

LR

accepts

no r

esponsib

ility

for

changes m

ade to this

em

ail

or

any a

tta

chm

ent a

fte

r tr

ansm

issio

n f

rom

SL

R.

Whils

t all

reasonable

endeavours

are

taken b

y S

LR

to s

cre

en a

ll em

ails

for

know

n v

iruses, S

LR

can

not gu

ara

nte

e th

at a

ny tra

nsm

issio

n w

ill b

e v

iru

s f

ree.

Any v

iew

s o

r opin

ions a

re s

ole

ly those o

f th

e a

uth

or

and d

o n

ot necessarily

repre

sent th

ose o

f S

LR

Mana

gem

en

t Ltd

, or

an

y o

f its s

ubsid

iaries, u

nle

ss

specific

ally

sta

ted.

SLR

Consultin

g (

South

Afr

ica)

(Pro

prieta

ry)

Lim

ited a

nd S

LR

Consultin

g (

Afr

ica)

(Pro

prieta

ry)

Lim

ited a

re b

oth

su

bsid

iaries o

f S

LR

Mana

gem

en

t Ltd

. R

egis

tere

d O

ffic

e:

Unit 7

Fourw

ays M

anor

Offic

e P

ark

, C

nr

Ro

os a

nd M

acbeth

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eet, F

ourw

ays,

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aute

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ou

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om

eth

ing b

ug

gin

g m

e ab

ou

t th

is r

epo

rt w

hen

we

spo

ke

abo

ut

it b

ut

I co

uld

no

t q

uit

e re

mem

ber

wh

at..

. I

wen

t o

nli

ne

afte

r th

e m

eeti

ng a

nd

do

wn

load

ed n

ot

on

ly t

he

sum

mar

y

bu

t th

e fu

ll 9

00

-od

d p

age

rep

ort

as

wel

l.

Th

e E

xec

uti

ve

Su

mm

ary d

oes

say

th

at t

her

e is

no

co

ncl

usi

ve

evid

ence

th

at f

rack

ing d

amag

es g

rou

nd

wat

er.

BU

T

•

Th

e p

aper

is

a D

RA

FT

pap

er p

ub

lish

ed i

n 2

01

2 a

nd

was

nev

er f

inal

ised

.

•

If y

ou

lo

ok

at

the

full

dra

ft p

aper

(th

e 9

00

pag

e o

ne)

, yo

u c

an s

ee t

hat

th

ere

are

qu

erie

s ra

ised

at

the

end

of

ever

y s

ecti

on

, w

her

e th

e E

PA

bas

ical

ly p

uts

in

a d

iscl

aim

er t

o s

ay i

t ca

nn

ot

ver

ify t

he

fin

din

gs.

•

Th

e E

PA

cam

e u

nd

er e

no

rmo

us

crit

icis

m,

incl

ud

ing f

rom

Sta

nfo

rd U

niv

ersi

ty,

bec

ause

th

ey n

ever

pro

per

ly q

uan

tifi

ed t

hei

r fi

nd

ings.

Her

e ar

e li

nk

s to

so

me

of

sev

eral

med

ia r

epo

rts

on

th

e is

sue

at t

he

tim

e: ��

��

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re’s

an

oth

er

fro

m D

e S

mo

g B

log��

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•

Th

ere

was

so

me

spec

ula

tio

n t

hat

th

e E

PA

nev

er f

inai

sed

th

e re

po

rt d

ue

to p

ress

ure

fro

m t

he

US

oil

and

gas

in

du

stry

wh

o w

ere

app

aren

tly v

ery h

app

y w

ith

th

e co

ncl

usi

on

s o

f th

e d

raft

pap

er!

•

So

me

oth

er t

hin

gs

to c

on

sid

er -

yo

u t

old

me

that

on

ly 1

% o

f w

ells

, ac

cord

ing t

o t

he

EP

A's

dra

ft

rep

ort

, h

ad c

on

tam

inat

ion

of

gro

un

dw

ater

. B

ut,

wh

en o

ne

con

sid

ers

the

nu

mb

er o

f w

ells

bei

ng

dri

lled

an

d f

rack

ed i

n t

he

US

, th

is i

s q

uit

e si

gn

ific

ant.

F

or

exam

ple

, th

e in

du

stry

in

th

e U

S s

ays

that

on

ly 1

% o

f th

eir

frac

kin

g m

ix c

on

sist

s o

f to

xic

ch

emic

als

- b

ut

wh

en y

ou

co

nsi

der

th

e am

ou

nt

of

wat

er b

ein

g u

sed

(2

0 m

illi

on

lit

res

per

fra

ck p

er w

ell

in S

A,

acco

rdin

g t

o T

reas

ure

th

e K

aro

o A

ctio

n

Gro

up

- i

n t

he

US

it

is 1

6.5

mil

lio

n l

itre

s o

n a

ver

age)

th

at 1

% i

s a

hel

l o

f a

lot.

I

am s

ure

yo

u a

re

awar

e o

f th

is b

ut

con

sid

er t

hat

, in

th

e C

ape

Kar

oo

, S

hel

l to

ld p

ub

lic

mee

tings

that

th

ey p

lan

ned

to

hav

e 3

2 w

ells

per

wel

l p

ad.

TK

AG

says

that

, if

yo

u e

xtr

apo

late

th

e w

ater

req

uir

emen

ts,

32

bil

lio

n

litr

es o

f w

ater

wil

l b

e u

sed

per

dev

elo

pm

ent

area

(5

0 w

ells

ap

pro

x)

wit

h a

bo

ut

hal

f th

e w

ater

bei

ng

po

llu

ted

du

rin

g t

he

pro

cess

. E

ven

if

it I

S o

nly

1%

, w

hic

h I

do

ub

t b

ecau

se t

her

e is

a l

ot

of

info

rmat

ion

ou

t th

ere

and

it

seem

s th

at i

t is

sig

nif

ican

tly m

ore

, 1

% o

f 3

2 b

illi

on

is

a h

eck

of

a lo

t o

f

po

llu

ted

wat

er.

•

Acc

ord

ing t

o a

20

12

New

Yo

rk T

imes

in

ves

tigat

ion

, in

th

e U

S i

t h

as p

rov

ed v

irtu

ally

im

po

ssib

le t

o

com

ple

tely

pu

rify

th

is w

ater

, w

hic

h i

s o

ften

tru

cked

to

was

tew

ater

tre

atm

ent

pla

nts

. I

mp

rop

erly

trea

ted

wat

er i

s re

leas

ed d

irec

tly b

ack

in

to t

he

env

iro

nm

ent.

H

ow

So

uth

Afr

ica,

wit

h i

ts v

ery w

ell-

do

cum

ente

d f

ailu

res

of

wat

er t

reat

men

t p

lan

ts i

n v

irtu

ally

ev

ery s

ingle

mu

nic

ipal

are

a, w

ill

man

age

to d

o t

his

beg

gar

s b

elie

f.

•

So

uth

Afr

ica

is a

wat

er-s

carc

e co

un

try -

we

are

no

w o

ffic

iall

y t

he

30

th d

ries

t co

un

try i

n t

he

wo

rld

,

acco

rdin

g t

o t

he

UN

Fo

od

& A

gri

cult

ura

l O

rgan

izat

ion

. I

n m

y o

pin

ion

, w

e sh

ou

ld n

ot

be

mis

usi

ng

and

po

ten

tial

ly a

bu

sin

g o

ur

ver

y s

tret

ched

wat

er r

eso

urc

es (

98

% o

f al

l fr

esh

wat

er i

s al

read

y b

ein

g

use

d o

r ac

cou

nte

d f

or)

in

th

is w

ay.

On

ly 8

% o

f th

e la

nd

are

a p

rod

uce

s 5

0%

of

the

run

-off

in

So

uth

�

Afr

ica.

T

he

area

un

der

th

is a

pp

lica

tio

n f

orm

s p

art

of

an e

ssen

tial

wat

er s

ou

rce

area

fo

r th

e co

un

try -

and

is

par

t o

f th

at 8

%.

(W

WF

-SA

has

pro

du

ced

a n

um

ber

of

rep

ort

s o

n t

his

asp

ect

of

So

uth

Afr

ica'

s

wat

er r

eso

urc

es.)

•

Th

e se

ver

e d

rou

gh

t th

at w

as a

nd

is

stil

l in

so

me

area

s b

ein

g e

xp

erie

nce

d i

s b

elie

ved

to

no

t b

e a

on

e-

off

ev

ent.

D

ue

to t

he

imp

acts

of

clim

ate

chan

ge,

man

y s

cien

tist

s b

elie

ve

that

su

ch s

ever

e d

rou

gh

ts

wil

l b

eco

me

a re

gu

lar

occ

urr

ence

an

d s

ou

ther

n A

fric

a w

ill

be

on

e o

f th

e w

ors

t ar

eas

affe

cted

.

•

In m

y o

pin

ion

, it

is

ver

y i

rres

po

nsi

ble

of

the

So

uth

Afr

ican

go

ver

nm

ent

to b

e al

low

ing a

pp

lica

tio

ns

for

oil

an

d g

as e

xp

lora

tio

n i

n t

hes

e es

sen

tial

wat

er s

ou

rce

area

s to

be

con

sid

ered

at

all,

as

this

pla

ces

the

wat

er r

eso

urc

es o

f h

un

dre

ds

of

tho

usa

nd

s o

f p

eop

le a

t ri

sk.

Als

o,

in m

y o

pin

ion

, it

is

equ

ally

irre

spo

nsi

ble

of

inte

rnat

ion

al o

il a

nd

gas

co

mp

anie

s, w

ho

wil

l n

ot

hav

e to

liv

e w

ith

th

e lo

ng-t

erm

con

seq

uen

ces

of

reso

urc

e ex

trac

tio

n,

to b

e ap

ply

ing f

or

righ

ts i

n s

uch

are

as.

An

d,

equ

ally

, fo

r

env

iro

nm

enta

l co

nsu

ltan

cy f

irm

s an

d p

ract

itio

ner

s to

be

aid

ing a

nd

ab

etti

ng t

hem

, as

ap

pea

rs t

o b

e

the

case

. T

he

env

iro

nm

enta

l as

sess

men

t p

roce

sses

are

all

ess

enti

ally

fla

wed

bec

ause

co

nsu

ltan

ts a

re

actu

ally

no

t in

dep

end

ent,

th

ey a

re p

aid

by a

pp

lica

nts

, in

th

e n

orm

al c

ou

rse

of

bu

sin

ess,

to

ach

iev

e a

cert

ain

res

ult

.

•

We

un

der

stan

d t

hat

, if

th

ere

is a

ny c

han

ce (

even

1%

) o

f a

sev

ere

neg

ativ

e im

pac

t -

in t

his

cas

e to

So

uth

Afr

ica'

s w

ater

res

ou

rces

- a

s a

resu

lt o

f an

act

ivit

y a

nd

th

is i

s k

no

wn

pri

or

to t

he

even

tual

ity

occ

urr

ing,

then

th

is c

ou

ld t

yp

ical

ly b

e re

gar

ded

as

gro

ss n

egli

gen

ce,

incl

ud

ing a

ny k

no

ck-o

n e

ffec

ts

that

co

uld

ari

se.

As

env

iro

nm

enta

l co

nsu

ltan

ts,

yo

u a

lso

hav

e p

rio

r k

no

wle

dg

e o

f th

e li

kel

iho

od

of

this

hap

pen

ing.

•

Jud

gin

g f

rom

th

e p

roce

edin

gs

at t

he

mee

tin

g,

it a

pp

ears

th

at t

her

e is

a c

lear

in

dic

atio

n t

hat

th

e

inte

nti

on

of

the

app

lica

nt

is t

o p

roce

ed w

ith

all

ph

ases

of

exp

lora

tio

n a

nd

ult

imat

ely w

ith

res

ou

rce

extr

acti

on

, sh

ou

ld t

his

pro

ve

via

ble

.

Kin

d r

egar

ds

Bro

nw

yn

Bro

nw

yn

Ho

war

d

Go

od

Ear

th H

erb

s (O

per

atio

ns)

&

Go

od

Ear

th L

ivin

g D

igit

al M

agaz

ine

(Ed

ito

r)

P O

Bo

x 3

49

, U

trec

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KZ

N,

298

0

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l: 0

84

24

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: 0

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urb

anec

oli

fe@

gm

ail.

com

Web

sit

e: w

ww

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eart

hh

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s.n

et

On

Mo

n,

No

v 2

8,

20

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M,

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Em

ail:

mhem

min

g@

slrconsu

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Consu

lting (

Fo

urw

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off

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Off

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nr

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Afr

ica

�

Co

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den

tiality

No

tice a

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Dis

cla

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This

com

mun

ication a

nd a

ny

attachm

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s)

conta

ins

info

rmation w

hic

h is

confid

ential a

nd m

ay

als

o b

e legally

privile

ge

d. It is

in

ten

ded

fo

r th

e e

xclu

siv

e u

se o

f th

e r

ecip

ient(

s) to w

hom

it is

addre

ssed. If y

ou a

re n

ot th

e in

tended r

ecip

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ny

dis

clo

sure

, co

pyi

ng, d

istr

ibutio

n o

r a

ny

actio

n t

aken

or

om

itte

d to b

e ta

ken

in

relia

nce o

n it

, is

pro

hib

ited a

nd m

ay

be u

nla

wfu

l. If

you h

ave r

ece

ived th

is c

om

munic

ation in e

rro

r p

lease e

ma

il us

by

retu

rn m

ail

an

d th

en d

ele

te th

e e

ma

il fr

om

your

sys

tem

togeth

er

with a

ny

copie

s o

f it.

Ple

ase

note

that yo

u a

re n

ot perm

itted to p

rint, c

op

y, d

isclo

se o

r use p

art

or

all

of th

e c

onte

nt in

any

wa

y.

Em

ails

and a

ny

info

rmation tra

nsm

itted there

under

ma

y be inte

rcepte

d, co

rrupte

d o

r dela

yed. A

s a r

esu

lt, S

LR

do

es

not a

ccep

t a

ny

resp

onsib

ility

fo

r an

y err

ors

or

om

issio

ns h

ow

soever

cause

d a

nd S

LR

acc

epts

no r

esponsi

bili

ty f

or

changes m

ade to this

em

ail

or

any

atta

chm

ent after

tra

nsm

issi

on f

rom

SL

R.

Whils

t all

reasonable

endeavours

are

take

n b

y S

LR

to s

cre

en a

ll em

ails

for

know

n v

iruses,

SL

R c

an

not gu

ara

nte

e th

at a

ny

transm

issio

n w

ill b

e v

iru

s fr

ee.

Any

vie

ws o

r opin

ions

are

sole

ly those o

f th

e a

uth

or

and d

o n

ot necessa

rily

repre

sent th

ose o

f S

LR

Ma

na

gem

en

t Ltd

, or

an

y of its

su

bsid

iaries, u

nle

ss

specifi

cally

sta

ted.

SLR

Consulti

ng (

South

Afr

ica)

(Pro

prieta

ry)

Lim

ited a

nd S

LR

Consulti

ng (

Afr

ica)

(Pro

prieta

ry)

Lim

ited a

re b

oth

su

bsid

iaries o

f S

LR

Ma

na

gem

ent Ltd

. R

eg

iste

red O

ffic

e:

Unit

7 F

ou

rways

Manor

Offic

e P

ark

, C

nr

Roos a

nd M

acb

eth

Str

eet, F

ourw

ays

, 2

19

1, G

aute

ng

, S

outh

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ica

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det

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are

pro

vide

d be

low

.

Dat

e V

enu

e T

ime

22 N

ovem

ber

2016

C

ecil

Em

met

Hal

l, E

eufe

es S

port

s C

entr

e, U

trec

ht R

oad,

Vry

heid

14

:00

for

open

day

; 15:

00 fo

r m

eetin

g

23 N

ovem

ber

2016

D

unde

e H

igh

Sch

ool,

Cnr

Tat

ham

& O

xbur

row

Str

eets

, Dun

dee

8:30

for

open

day

; 9:3

0 fo

r m

eetin

g

23 N

ovem

ber

2016

D

anna

user

Pub

lic L

ibra

ry, D

anna

user

14

:00

for

open

day

; 15:

00 fo

r m

eetin

g

24 N

ovem

ber

2016

R

ichv

iew

Civ

ic H

all,

Off

Bou

ndar

y S

tree

t, R

ichv

iew

, New

cast

le

8:30

for

open

day

; 9:3

0 fo

r m

eetin

g

24 N

ovem

ber

2016

U

trec

ht M

useu

m H

all

14:0

0 fo

r op

en d

ay; 1

5:00

for

mee

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Dea

r W

illi

am,

Th

ank

yo

u f

or

the

no

tifi

cati

on

. H

ow

ever

, w

e ar

e co

nce

rned

ab

ou

t th

e co

mm

ent

per

iod

- w

e n

eed

to

get

th

is

exte

nd

ed,

as i

t fa

lls

wit

hin

th

e D

ecem

ber

ho

lid

ays,

wh

en a

lo

t o

f p

eop

le w

ill

be

away,

so t

his

do

es n

ot

giv

e

I&A

Ps

suff

icie

nt

tim

e to

rea

d t

hro

ugh

th

ese

do

cum

ents

an

d c

om

men

t o

n t

hem

. P

leas

e en

gag

e w

ith

th

e

rele

van

t au

tho

riti

es -

th

is h

as h

app

ened

bef

ore

in

ou

r ar

ea w

ith

min

ing a

pp

lica

tio

ns

and

th

e ti

me

per

iod

was

exte

nd

ed.

We

also

un

der

stan

d t

hat

, le

gal

ly,

com

men

t p

erio

ds

sho

uld

no

t fa

ll b

etw

een

15

Dec

emb

er a

nd

8

Jan

uar

y f

or

this

rea

son

. W

e lo

ok

fo

rwar

d t

o h

eari

ng f

rom

yo

u u

rgen

tly i

n t

his

reg

ard

, as

we

are

alm

ost

hal

fway t

hro

ugh

No

vem

ber

alr

ead

y,

so n

eed

to

get

th

is s

ettl

ed a

sap

.

Als

o -

can

we

hav

e a

dec

ent

map

of

the

new

ex

plo

rati

on

are

a.

We

can

no

t se

e fr

om

th

is o

ne

wh

ich

to

wn

s o

r

regio

ns

wil

l n

ow

be

affe

cted

, as

wel

l as

th

e d

ams,

riv

ers

and

str

eam

s fr

om

wh

ich

th

e co

mm

un

itie

s h

ere

all

get

ou

r w

ater

. T

his

is

a cr

uci

al i

ssu

e fo

r u

s w

ith

th

e v

ario

us

oil

an

d g

as a

pp

lica

tio

ns

in K

ZN

.

It w

ou

ld b

e ap

pre

ciat

ed i

f yo

u c

ou

ld e

nsu

re t

hat

th

e o

pen

days/

pu

bli

c m

eeti

ngs

are

pro

per

ly a

nd

ad

equ

atel

y ad

vert

ised

so

that

th

e m

axim

um

nu

mb

er o

f p

eop

le a

re i

nfo

rmed

. A

dve

rts

shou

ld b

e in

E

ngl

ish

, Afr

ikaa

ns

and

Zu

lu, a

s th

ose

are

the

lan

guag

es e

very

one

spea

ks

in t

his

are

a.

We

hav

e h

ad

�

trem

end

ou

s is

sues

bef

ore

wit

h t

hes

e m

eeti

ngs.

It

is y

ou

r le

gal

ob

lig

atio

n (

and

yo

ur

clie

nts

) to

en

sure

th

at

com

mu

nit

ies

are

pro

per

ly a

nd

ad

equ

atel

y i

nfo

rmed

. T

he

on

us

sho

uld

no

t b

e o

n I

&A

Ps

to i

nfo

rm o

ther

s, a

s

has

hap

pen

ed b

efo

re.

Ple

ase

furt

her

en

sure

th

at e

ver

yon

e k

now

s ex

actl

y w

her

e yo

ur

ven

ues

are

, p

rovi

din

g d

irec

tion

s if

nec

essa

ry -

we

also

had

a p

rob

lem

wit

h t

his

pre

vio

usl

y.

Kin

d r

egar

ds

Bro

nw

yn

Bro

nw

yn

Ho

war

d

Go

od

Ear

th H

erb

s (O

per

atio

ns)

& G

oo

d E

arth

Liv

ing D

igit

al M

agaz

ine

(Ed

ito

r)

P O

Bo

x 3

49

, U

trec

ht,

KZ

N,

298

0

Cel

l: 0

84

24

6 9

22

3 |

Tel

: 0

34

33

1 4

37

7

E-m

ail:

urb

anec

oli

fe@

gm

ail.

com

Web

sit

e: h

ttp

://e

dit

or1

92

.wix

site

.co

m/g

oo

dea

rth

her

bs

On

Wed

, N

ov

9,

20

16

at

4:2

6 P

M,

Wil

liam

Ber

ry <

wb

erry

@sl

rco

nsu

ltin

g.c

om

> w

rote

:

AT

TE

NT

ION

: Int

eres

ted

and

Affe

cted

par

ty

Dea

r S

ir/ M

adam

AP

PL

ICA

TIO

N F

OR

EN

VIR

ON

ME

NT

AL

AU

TH

OR

ISA

TIO

N IN

SU

PP

OR

T O

F A

N E

XP

LO

RA

TIO

N R

IGH

T

AP

PL

ICA

TIO

N F

OR

PE

TR

OL

EU

M P

RO

DU

CT

S O

N V

AR

IOU

S F

AR

MS

IN N

OR

TH

ER

N P

AR

TS

OF

KW

AZ

UL

U-N

AT

AL

PR

OV

INC

E (

12/3

/317

ER

): 3

0-D

AY

RE

VIE

W O

F E

NV

IRO

NM

EN

TA

L IM

PA

CT

RE

PO

RT

AN

D P

UB

LIC

FE

ED

BA

CK

ME

ET

ING

S

Our

pre

viou

s co

rres

pond

ence

of t

he 0

9th o

f Sep

tem

ber

2016

reg

ardi

ng th

e ab

ovem

entio

ned

proj

ect h

as r

efer

ence

.

5

Bac

kgro

un

d:

Rhi

no O

il an

d G

as E

xplo

ratio

n S

outh

Afr

ica

(Pty

) Lt

d (R

hino

Oil

and

Gas

) lo

dged

an

appl

icat

ion

for

an e

xplo

ratio

n rig

ht w

ith th

e

Pet

role

um A

genc

y S

outh

Afr

ica

(PA

SA

) in

term

s of

Sec

tion

79 o

f the

Min

eral

s an

d P

etro

leum

Res

ourc

es D

evel

opm

ent A

ct, 2

002

(MP

RD

A).

Rhi

no O

il an

d G

as a

lso

lodg

ed a

n ap

plic

atio

n to

PA

SA

for

envi

ronm

enta

l aut

horis

atio

n of

exp

lora

tion

activ

ities

in te

rms

of S

ectio

n 24

(5)

of th

e

Nat

iona

l Env

ironm

enta

l Man

agem

ent A

ct, 1

998

(NE

MA

). T

he a

pplic

atio

n is

sub

ject

to a

Sco

ping

and

Env

ironm

enta

l Im

pact

Ass

essm

ent (

EIA

)

proc

ess

that

is b

eing

und

erta

ken

in te

rms

of th

e E

IA R

egul

atio

ns 2

014

(GN

R 9

82, 8

Dec

embe

r 20

14).

The

Sco

ping

pro

cess

was

pre

viou

sly

com

plet

ed b

y S

LR C

onsu

lting

(P

ty)

Ltd

(SLR

). P

AS

A a

ccep

ted

the

Sco

ping

Rep

ort o

n 31

Aug

ust 2

016,

gra

ntin

g pe

rmis

sion

for

the

EIA

to b

e

unde

rtak

en in

term

s of

the

Pla

n of

Stu

dy fo

r E

IA.

Sco

pe

Ch

ang

es: S

ubse

quen

t to

the

acce

ptan

ce o

f the

Sco

ping

Rep

ort,

Rhi

no O

il an

d G

as h

as r

educ

ed th

e ex

tent

of t

he E

R a

pplic

atio

n ar

ea

thro

ugh

the

excl

usio

n of

all

know

n pr

otec

ted

area

s w

ith s

tatu

s de

fined

und

er S

ectio

n 48

of t

he N

atio

nal E

nviro

nmen

tal M

anag

emen

t: P

rote

cted

Are

as A

ct (

57 o

f 200

3). R

hino

Oil

and

Gas

als

o ac

quire

d an

d re

view

ed a

dditi

onal

geo

logi

cal d

ata

and

dete

rmin

ed fr

om th

is th

at c

erta

in a

reas

alon

g th

e ea

ster

n ex

tent

of t

he a

pplic

atio

n ar

ea a

re u

nlik

ely

to b

e pr

ospe

ctiv

e fo

r oi

l or

gas.

. See

the

oran

ge b

ound

ary

in th

e F

igur

e be

low

for

the

revi

sed

appl

icat

ion

area

.

Mor

e re

cent

ly, R

hino

Oil

and

Gas

has

als

o ex

clu

ded

gro

und-

base

d ex

plor

atio

n ac

tiviti

es in

clud

ing

core

hol

e dr

illin

g an

d se

ism

ic s

urve

ys fr

om

the

prop

osed

‘ear

ly-p

hase

exp

lora

tion’

wor

k fo

r w

hich

they

are

see

king

env

ironm

enta

l aut

horis

atio

n. T

he c

urre

nt fo

cus

of th

e ap

plic

atio

n an

d th

e

rela

ted

envi

ronm

enta

l ass

essm

ent w

ork

is n

ow o

nly

on r

emot

e ex

plor

atio

n te

chni

ques

(in

clud

ing

anal

ysis

of e

xist

ing

data

and

an

aeria

l ful

l

tens

or g

radi

omet

ry g

ravi

ty s

urve

y).

;

If th

e cu

rren

t app

licat

ion

is a

ppro

ved,

Rhi

no O

il an

d G

as w

ould

be

in a

pos

ition

to c

ondu

ct th

e re

mot

e ex

plor

atio

n te

chni

ques

and

to d

evel

op a

mor

e de

taile

d un

ders

tand

ing

of th

e po

tent

ial o

il an

d ga

s re

sour

ces

in th

e ap

plic

atio

n ar

ea. T

here

afte

r, s

houl

d R

hino

Oil

and

Gas

pro

pose

to

cond

uct g

roun

d ba

sed

expl

orat

ion

activ

ities

they

wou

ld n

eed

to b

e in

form

ed b

y a

furt

her

appl

icat

ion

to P

AS

A a

nd a

sep

arat

e en

viro

nmen

tal

asse

ssm

ent a

nd a

utho

risat

ion

proc

ess.

A b

enef

it of

this

rev

ised

app

roac

h is

that

any

futu

re a

pplic

atio

n fo

r gr

ound

bas

ed e

xplo

ratio

n ac

tiviti

es

wou

ld b

e fo

cuse

d on

spe

cifie

d si

tes.

Thi

s en

abl e

s in

tere

sted

and

affe

cted

par

ties

(I&

AP

s) to

kno

w w

here

Rhi

no O

il an

d G

as p

ropo

ses

to a

cces

s

land

and

con

duct

gro

und-

base

d ex

plor

atio

n ac

tiviti

es. T

he r

equi

red

envi

ronm

enta

l ass

essm

ent w

ould

be

focu

sed

on a

sses

sing

impa

cts

at th

ose

site

s.

EIR

fo

r R

evie

w:

Thi

s le

tter

serv

es to

info

rm y

ou, a

s a

regi

ster

ed I

&A

P o

n th

e pr

ojec

t, th

at S

LR h

as, o

n be

half

of R

hino

Oil

and

Gas

, pro

duce

d

an e

nviro

nmen

tal i

mpa

ct r

epor

t (E

IR),

incl

udin

g an

env

ironm

enta

l man

agem

ent p

rogr

amm

e, fo

r th

e ap

plic

atio

n. T

he p

urpo

se o

f the

EIR

is to

sum

mar

ise

the

EIA

pro

cess

follo

wed

to d

ate

and

prov

ide

an o

verv

iew

of t

he p

ropo

sed

proj

ect a

nd th

e af

fect

ed e

nviro

nmen

t. It

als

o pr

ovid

es a

n

asse

ssm

ent o

f the

pot

entia

l im

pact

s of

the

prop

osed

pro

ject

and

set

s ou

t the

man

agem

ent a

nd m

itiga

tion

mea

sure

s th

at a

re r

ecom

men

ded

shou

ld th

e ap

plic

atio

n be

app

rove

d.

The

EIR

is b

eing

mad

e av

aila

ble

to r

egis

tere

d I&

AP

s fo

r re

view

and

com

men

t on

the

findi

ngs

and

man

agem

ent m

easu

res

for

the

prop

osed

proj

ect.

In th

is r

egar

d, th

e E

IR w

ill b

e av

aila

ble

for

a 30

-day

com

men

t per

iod

from

the

09th

No

vem

ber

201

6 u

nti

l th

e 15

th o

f D

ecem

ber

201

6.

Har

d co

pies

of t

he E

IR h

ave

been

pla

ced

at th

e fo

llow

ing

loca

tions

for

publ

ic r

evie

w:

The

EIR

is a

lso

avai

labl

e to

dow

nloa

d fr

om th

e S

LR w

ebsi

te. T

o do

wnl

oad

the

EIR

and

App

endi

ces

go

to:

http

://w

ww

.cca

envi

ronm

enta

l.co.

za/s

ub-o

il-ga

s-m

iner

als/

. A

ltern

ativ

ely,

con

tact

SLR

and

an

elec

tron

ic c

opy

of th

e E

IR c

an b

e em

aile

d to

you,

or

the

EIR

and

App

endi

ces

prov

ided

on

CD

. An

Exe

cutiv

e S

umm

ary

of th

e E

IR is

als

o av

aila

ble

on r

eque

st in

Eng

lish

or is

iZul

u.

Nam

e an

d L

oca

tio

n

Ph

ysic

al A

dd

ress

New

cast

le L

ibra

ry

66 S

cott

Str

eet,

New

cast

le

Dun

dee

Libr

ary

Bou

ndar

y ro

ad (

next

doo

r to

Mun

icip

ality

), D

unde

e

Vry

heid

Lib

rary

C

orne

r M

ark

and

Hig

h S

tree

t, V

ryhe

id

Utr

echt

Lib

rary

V

oor

stre

et, U

trec

ht

Dan

nhau

ser

Libr

ary

8 C

hurc

h S

tree

t, D

annh

ause

r

Nqu

tu L

ibra

ry

1139

Man

gosu

thu

Driv

e, N

qutu

�

All

com

men

ts o

n th

e E

IR s

houl

d be

sub

mitt

ed to

SLR

at t

he c

onta

ct d

etai

ls s

how

n in

the

tabl

e be

low

. Com

men

ts r

ecei

ved

will

be

used

to

upda

te th

e E

IR, a

s re

leva

nt, a

nd c

opie

s of

all

the

com

men

ts w

ill b

e in

clud

ed w

ith th

e E

IR w

hen

it is

sub

mitt

ed to

PA

SA

for

deci

sion

mak

ing.

Ple

ase

ensu

re th

at y

our

com

men

ts r

each

us

on o

r be

fore

the

15th

of

Dec

emb

er 2

016.

Det

ails

P

roje

ct M

anag

er

Nam

e of

the

prac

titio

ner

Mat

thew

Hem

min

g R

espo

nsib

ility

on

the

proj

ect

EA

P

Tel

No.

: 01

1 46

7 09

45

Fax

No.

: 01

1 46

7 09

78

Pos

tal a

ddre

ss

PO

Box

159

6

Cra

mer

view

2016

0 E

-mai

l add

ress

m

hem

min

g@sl

rcon

sulti

ng.c

om

Pu

blic

Fee

db

ack

Mee

tin

gs:

I&A

PS

are

invi

ted

to a

ttend

one

of a

ser

ies

of o

pen

day

s an

d p

ub

lic m

eeti

ng

s. T

he p

urpo

se o

f the

ope

n da

y an

d

publ

ic m

eetin

g is

to in

form

I&A

Ps

of th

e fin

ding

s of

the

EIA

pro

cess

and

pro

vide

opp

ortu

nity

for

ques

tions

to b

e as

ked.

The

ope

n da

ys w

ill

prov

ide

I&A

Ps

with

opp

ortu

nity

to a

sk m

embe

rs o

f the

EIA

and

app

lican

t tea

m q

uest

ions

. The

form

al p

ublic

mee

ting

will

incl

ude

a pr

esen

tatio

n

by th

e E

IA te

am fo

llow

ed b

y a

ques

tion

and

answ

er s

essi

on. C

omm

ents

will

be

reco

rded

for

furt

her

cons

ider

atio

n. T

he d

etai

ls a

re p

rovi

ded

belo

w. D

ate

Ven

ue

Tim

e

22 N

ovem

ber

2016

C

ecil

Em

met

Hal

l, E

eufe

es S

port

s C

entr

e, U

trec

ht R

oad,

Vry

heid

14

:00

for

open

day

; 15:

00 fo

r m

eetin

g

23 N

ovem

ber

2016

D

unde

e H

igh

Sch

ool,

Cnr

Tat

ham

& O

xbur

row

Str

eets

, Dun

dee

8:30

for

open

day

; 9:3

0 fo

r m

eetin

g

23 N

ovem

ber

2016

D

anna

user

Pub

lic L

ibra

ry, D

anna

user

14

:00

for

open

day

; 15:

00 fo

r m

eetin

g

24 N

ovem

ber

2016

R

ichv

iew

Civ

ic H

all,

Off

Bou

ndar

y S

tree

t, R

ichv

iew

, New

cast

le

8:30

for

open

day

; 9:3

0 fo

r m

eetin

g

24 N

ovem

ber

2016

U

trec

ht M

useu

m H

all

14:0

0 fo

r op

en d

ay; 1

5:00

for

mee

ting

Ple

ase

pass

this

lette

r on

to a

ny o

ther

per

sons

who

m y

ou k

now

hav

e an

inte

rest

in th

e pr

ojec

t. W

e w

elco

me

any

com

men

t or

ques

tions

. Tha

nk

you

for

your

ong

oing

invo

lvem

ent i

n th

e S

copi

ng a

nd E

IA p

roce

ss.

You

rs fa

ithfu

lly

Mat

thew

Hem

min

g

Env

ironm

enta

l Ass

essm

ent P

ract

ition

er

��

Wil

lia

m B

err

y

En

viro

nm

enta

l Assessm

ent P

ractit

ioner

SLR

Consu

lting (

Afr

ica)

(Pty

) Ltd

Em

ail:

wberr

y@slrconsu

lting.c

om

Mob

ile: +

27

72 4

75

58

89

Tel:

+

27

11 4

67

09

45

Ext:

2004

Fax:

+27

11 4

67

09

78

SLR

Consu

lting (

Fo

urw

ays

off

ice)

Blo

ck 7

Fourw

ays

Manor

Off

ice P

ark

C

nr

Roos a

nd M

acbe

th S

treets

F

ourw

ays

, Jo

han

nesburg

, 2060

South

Afr

ica

Co

nfi

den

tiality

No

tice a

nd

Dis

cla

imer

This

com

mun

ication a

nd a

ny

attachm

ent(

s)

conta

ins

info

rmation w

hic

h is

confid

ential a

nd m

ay

als

o b

e legally

privile

ge

d. It is

in

ten

ded

fo

r th

e e

xclu

siv

e u

se o

f th

e r

ecip

ient(

s) to w

hom

it is

addre

ssed. If y

ou a

re n

ot th

e in

tended r

ecip

ient, a

ny

dis

clo

sure

, co

pyi

ng, d

istr

ibutio

n o

r a

ny

actio

n t

aken

or

om

itte

d to b

e ta

ken

in

relia

nce o

n it

, is

pro

hib

ited a

nd m

ay

be u

nla

wfu

l. If

you h

ave r

ece

ived th

is c

om

munic

ation in e

rro

r p

lease e

ma

il us

by

retu

rn m

ail

an

d th

en d

ele

te th

e e

ma

il fr

om

your

sys

tem

togeth

er

with a

ny

copie

s o

f it.

Ple

ase

note

that yo

u a

re n

ot perm

itted to p

rint, c

op

y, d

isclo

se o

r use p

art

or

all

of th

e c

onte

nt in

any

wa

y.

Em

ails

and a

ny

info

rmation tra

nsm

itted there

under

ma

y be inte

rcepte

d, co

rrupte

d o

r dela

yed. A

s a r

esu

lt, S

LR

do

es

not a

ccep

t a

ny

resp

onsib

ility

fo

r an

y err

ors

or

om

issio

ns h

ow

soever

cause

d a

nd S

LR

acc

epts

no r

esponsi

bili

ty f

or

changes m

ade to this

em

ail

or

any

atta

chm

ent after

tra

nsm

issi

on f

rom

SL

R.

Whils

t all

reasonable

endeavours

are

take

n b

y S

LR

to s

cre

en a

ll em

ails

for

know

n v

iruses,

SL

R c

an

not gu

ara

nte

e th

at a

ny

transm

issio

n w

ill b

e v

iru

s fr

ee.

Any

vie

ws o

r opin

ions

are

sole

ly those o

f th

e a

uth

or

and d

o n

ot necessa

rily

repre

sent th

ose o

f S

LR

Ma

na

gem

en

t Ltd

, or

an

y of its

su

bsid

iaries, u

nle

ss

specifi

cally

sta

ted.

SLR

Consulti

ng (

South

Afr

ica)

(Pro

prieta

ry)

Lim

ited a

nd S

LR

Consulti

ng (

Afr

ica)

(Pro

prieta

ry)

Lim

ited a

re b

oth

su

bsid

iaries o

f S

LR

Ma

na

gem

ent Ltd

. R

eg

iste

red O

ffic

e:

Unit

7 F

ou

rways

Manor

Offic

e P

ark

, C

nr

Roos a

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acb

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her

e w

as s

om

eth

ing b

ug

gin

g m

e ab

ou

t th

is r

epo

rt w

hen

we

spo

ke

abo

ut

it b

ut

I co

uld

no

t q

uit

e re

mem

ber

wh

at..

. I

wen

t o

nli

ne

afte

r th

e m

eeti

ng a

nd

do

wn

load

ed n

ot

on

ly t

he

sum

mar

y

bu

t th

e fu

ll 9

00

-od

d p

age

rep

ort

as

wel

l.

Th

e E

xec

uti

ve

Su

mm

ary d

oes

say

th

at t

her

e is

no

co

ncl

usi

ve

evid

ence

th

at f

rack

ing d

amag

es g

rou

nd

wat

er.

BU

T

•

Th

e p

aper

is

a D

RA

FT

pap

er p

ub

lish

ed i

n 2

01

2 a

nd

was

nev

er f

inal

ised

.

•

If y

ou

lo

ok

at

the

full

dra

ft p

aper

(th

e 9

00

pag

e o

ne)

, yo

u c

an s

ee t

hat

th

ere

are

qu

erie

s ra

ised

at

the

end

of

ever

y s

ecti

on

, w

her

e th

e E

PA

bas

ical

ly p

uts

in

a d

iscl

aim

er t

o s

ay i

t ca

nn

ot

ver

ify t

he

fin

din

gs.

•

Th

e E

PA

cam

e u

nd

er e

no

rmo

us

crit

icis

m,

incl

ud

ing f

rom

Sta

nfo

rd U

niv

ersi

ty,

bec

ause

th

ey n

ever

pro

per

ly q

uan

tifi

ed t

hei

r fi

nd

ings.

Her

e ar

e li

nk

s to

so

me

of

sev

eral

med

ia r

epo

rts

on

th

e is

sue

at t

he

tim

e: ��

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•

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re’s

an

oth

er

fro

m D

e S

mo

g B

log��

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� ��

•

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ere

was

so

me

spec

ula

tio

n t

hat

th

e E

PA

nev

er f

inai

sed

th

e re

po

rt d

ue

to p

ress

ure

fro

m t

he

US

oil

and

gas

in

du

stry

wh

o w

ere

app

aren

tly v

ery h

app

y w

ith

th

e co

ncl

usi

on

s o

f th

e d

raft

pap

er!

•

So

me

oth

er t

hin

gs

to c

on

sid

er -

yo

u t

old

me

that

on

ly 1

% o

f w

ells

, ac

cord

ing t

o t

he

EP

A's

dra

ft

rep

ort

, h

ad c

on

tam

inat

ion

of

gro

un

dw

ater

. B

ut,

wh

en o

ne

con

sid

ers

the

nu

mb

er o

f w

ells

bei

ng

dri

lled

an

d f

rack

ed i

n t

he

US

, th

is i

s q

uit

e si

gn

ific

ant.

F

or

exam

ple

, th

e in

du

stry

in

th

e U

S s

ays

that

on

ly 1

% o

f th

eir

frac

kin

g m

ix c

on

sist

s o

f to

xic

ch

emic

als

- b

ut

wh

en y

ou

co

nsi

der

th

e am

ou

nt

of

wat

er b

ein

g u

sed

(2

0 m

illi

on

lit

res

per

fra

ck p

er w

ell

in S

A,

acco

rdin

g t

o T

reas

ure

th

e K

aro

o A

ctio

n

Gro

up

- i

n t

he

US

it

is 1

6.5

mil

lio

n l

itre

s o

n a

ver

age)

th

at 1

% i

s a

hel

l o

f a

lot.

I

am s

ure

yo

u a

re

awar

e o

f th

is b

ut

con

sid

er t

hat

, in

th

e C

ape

Kar

oo

, S

hel

l to

ld p

ub

lic

mee

tings

that

th

ey p

lan

ned

to

hav

e 3

2 w

ells

per

wel

l p

ad.

TK

AG

says

that

, if

yo

u e

xtr

apo

late

th

e w

ater

req

uir

emen

ts,

32

bil

lio

n

litr

es o

f w

ater

wil

l b

e u

sed

per

dev

elo

pm

ent

area

(5

0 w

ells

ap

pro

x)

wit

h a

bo

ut

hal

f th

e w

ater

bei

ng

po

llu

ted

du

rin

g t

he

pro

cess

. E

ven

if

it I

S o

nly

1%

, w

hic

h I

do

ub

t b

ecau

se t

her

e is

a l

ot

of

info

rmat

ion

ou

t th

ere

and

it

seem

s th

at i

t is

sig

nif

ican

tly m

ore

, 1

% o

f 3

2 b

illi

on

is

a h

eck

of

a lo

t o

f

po

llu

ted

wat

er.

•

Acc

ord

ing t

o a

20

12

New

Yo

rk T

imes

in

ves

tigat

ion

, in

th

e U

S i

t h

as p

rov

ed v

irtu

ally

im

po

ssib

le t

o

com

ple

tely

pu

rify

th

is w

ater

, w

hic

h i

s o

ften

tru

cked

to

was

tew

ater

tre

atm

ent

pla

nts

. I

mp

rop

erly

trea

ted

wat

er i

s re

leas

ed d

irec

tly b

ack

in

to t

he

env

iro

nm

ent.

H

ow

So

uth

Afr

ica,

wit

h i

ts v

ery w

ell-

do

cum

ente

d f

ailu

res

of

wat

er t

reat

men

t p

lan

ts i

n v

irtu

ally

ev

ery s

ingle

mu

nic

ipal

are

a, w

ill

man

age

to d

o t

his

beg

gar

s b

elie

f.

•

So

uth

Afr

ica

is a

wat

er-s

carc

e co

un

try -

we

are

no

w o

ffic

iall

y t

he

30

th d

ries

t co

un

try i

n t

he

wo

rld

,

acco

rdin

g t

o t

he

UN

Fo

od

& A

gri

cult

ura

l O

rgan

izat

ion

. I

n m

y o

pin

ion

, w

e sh

ou

ld n

ot

be

mis

usi

ng

and

po

ten

tial

ly a

bu

sin

g o

ur

ver

y s

tret

ched

wat

er r

eso

urc

es (

98

% o

f al

l fr

esh

wat

er i

s al

read

y b

ein

g

use

d o

r ac

cou

nte

d f

or)

in

th

is w

ay.

On

ly 8

% o

f th

e la

nd

are

a p

rod

uce

s 5

0%

of

the

run

-off

in

So

uth

�

Afr

ica.

T

he

area

un

der

th

is a

pp

lica

tio

n f

orm

s p

art

of

an e

ssen

tial

wat

er s

ou

rce

area

fo

r th

e co

un

try -

and

is

par

t o

f th

at 8

%.

(W

WF

-SA

has

pro

du

ced

a n

um

ber

of

rep

ort

s o

n t

his

asp

ect

of

So

uth

Afr

ica'

s

wat

er r

eso

urc

es.)

•

Th

e se

ver

e d

rou

gh

t th

at w

as a

nd

is

stil

l in

so

me

area

s b

ein

g e

xp

erie

nce

d i

s b

elie

ved

to

no

t b

e a

on

e-

off

ev

ent.

D

ue

to t

he

imp

acts

of

clim

ate

chan

ge,

man

y s

cien

tist

s b

elie

ve

that

su

ch s

ever

e d

rou

gh

ts

wil

l b

eco

me

a re

gu

lar

occ

urr

ence

an

d s

ou

ther

n A

fric

a w

ill

be

on

e o

f th

e w

ors

t ar

eas

affe

cted

.

•

In m

y o

pin

ion

, it

is

ver

y i

rres

po

nsi

ble

of

the

So

uth

Afr

ican

go

ver

nm

ent

to b

e al

low

ing a

pp

lica

tio

ns

for

oil

an

d g

as e

xp

lora

tio

n i

n t

hes

e es

sen

tial

wat

er s

ou

rce

area

s to

be

con

sid

ered

at

all,

as

this

pla

ces

the

wat

er r

eso

urc

es o

f h

un

dre

ds

of

tho

usa

nd

s o

f p

eop

le a

t ri

sk.

Als

o,

in m

y o

pin

ion

, it

is

equ

ally

irre

spo

nsi

ble

of

inte

rnat

ion

al o

il a

nd

gas

co

mp

anie

s, w

ho

wil

l n

ot

hav

e to

liv

e w

ith

th

e lo

ng-t

erm

con

seq

uen

ces

of

reso

urc

e ex

trac

tio

n,

to b

e ap

ply

ing f

or

righ

ts i

n s

uch

are

as.

An

d,

equ

ally

, fo

r

env

iro

nm

enta

l co

nsu

ltan

cy f

irm

s an

d p

ract

itio

ner

s to

be

aid

ing a

nd

ab

etti

ng t

hem

, as

ap

pea

rs t

o b

e

the

case

. T

he

env

iro

nm

enta

l as

sess

men

t p

roce

sses

are

all

ess

enti

ally

fla

wed

bec

ause

co

nsu

ltan

ts a

re

actu

ally

no

t in

dep

end

ent,

th

ey a

re p

aid

by a

pp

lica

nts

, in

th

e n

orm

al c

ou

rse

of

bu

sin

ess,

to

ach

iev

e a

cert

ain

res

ult

.

•

We

un

der

stan

d t

hat

, if

th

ere

is a

ny c

han

ce (

even

1%

) o

f a

sev

ere

neg

ativ

e im

pac

t -

in t

his

cas

e to

So

uth

Afr

ica'

s w

ater

res

ou

rces

- a

s a

resu

lt o

f an

act

ivit

y a

nd

th

is i

s k

no

wn

pri

or

to t

he

even

tual

ity

occ

urr

ing,

then

th

is c

ou

ld t

yp

ical

ly b

e re

gar

ded

as

gro

ss n

egli

gen

ce,

incl

ud

ing a

ny k

no

ck-o

n e

ffec

ts

that

co

uld

ari

se.

As

env

iro

nm

enta

l co

nsu

ltan

ts,

yo

u a

lso

hav

e p

rio

r k

no

wle

dg

e o

f th

e li

kel

iho

od

of

this

hap

pen

ing.

•

Jud

gin

g f

rom

th

e p

roce

edin

gs

at t

he

mee

tin

g,

it a

pp

ears

th

at t

her

e is

a c

lear

in

dic

atio

n t

hat

th

e

inte

nti

on

of

the

app

lica

nt

is t

o p

roce

ed w

ith

all

ph

ases

of

exp

lora

tio

n a

nd

ult

imat

ely w

ith

res

ou

rce

extr

acti

on

, sh

ou

ld t

his

pro

ve

via

ble

.

Kin

d r

egar

ds

Bro

nw

yn

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nw

yn

Ho

war

d

Go

od

Ear

th H

erb

s (O

per

atio

ns)

&

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od

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th L

ivin

g D

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mun

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s)

conta

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rmation w

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onfidential and m

ay

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ten

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fo

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e e

xclu

siv

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se o

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ecip

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hom

it is

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ssed. If y

ou a

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ecip

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ny d

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sure

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sys

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with a

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ote

that you a

re n

ot perm

itted to p

rint, c

op

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art

or

all

of th

e c

onte

nt in

any w

ay.

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ails

and a

ny info

rmation tra

nsm

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under

ma

y b

e inte

rcepte

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upte

d o

r dela

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s a

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lt, S

LR

do

es n

ot a

ccep

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ny

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r an

y err

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om

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soever

caused a

nd S

LR

accepts

no r

esponsib

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ail

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any a

tta

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tra

nsm

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reasonable

endeavours

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taken b

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LR

to s

cre

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ails

for

know

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LR

can

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e th

at a

ny tra

nsm

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Any v

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uth

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repre

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Ma

na

gem

en

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an

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ubsid

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sta

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SLR

Consultin

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South

Afr

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prieta

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ited a

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Afr

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(Pro

prieta

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d a

re b

oth

su

bsid

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Ma

na

gem

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rways M

anor

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ark

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nr

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user

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ichv

iew

Civ

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all,

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ndar

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tree

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ichv

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, New

cast

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open

day

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2016

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yo

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or

the

no

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ow

ever

, w

e ar

e co

nce

rned

ab

ou

t th

e co

mm

ent

per

iod

- w

e n

eed

to

get

th

is

exte

nd

ed,

as i

t fa

lls

wit

hin

th

e D

ecem

ber

ho

lid

ays,

wh

en a

lo

t o

f p

eop

le w

ill

be

away,

so t

his

do

es n

ot

giv

e

I&A

Ps

suff

icie

nt

tim

e to

rea

d t

hro

ugh

th

ese

do

cum

ents

an

d c

om

men

t o

n t

hem

. P

leas

e en

gag

e w

ith

th

e

rele

van

t au

tho

riti

es -

th

is h

as h

app

ened

bef

ore

in

ou

r ar

ea w

ith

min

ing a

pp

lica

tio

ns

and

th

e ti

me

per

iod

was

exte

nd

ed.

We

also

un

der

stan

d t

hat

, le

gal

ly,

com

men

t p

erio

ds

sho

uld

no

t fa

ll b

etw

een

15

Dec

emb

er a

nd

8

Jan

uar

y f

or

this

rea

son

. W

e lo

ok

fo

rwar

d t

o h

eari

ng f

rom

yo

u u

rgen

tly i

n t

his

reg

ard

, as

we

are

alm

ost

hal

fway t

hro

ugh

No

vem

ber

alr

ead

y,

so n

eed

to

get

th

is s

ettl

ed a

sap

.

Als

o -

can

we

hav

e a

dec

ent

map

of

the

new

ex

plo

rati

on

are

a.

We

can

no

t se

e fr

om

th

is o

ne

wh

ich

to

wn

s o

r

regio

ns

wil

l n

ow

be

affe

cted

, as

wel

l as

th

e d

ams,

riv

ers

and

str

eam

s fr

om

wh

ich

th

e co

mm

un

itie

s h

ere

all

get

ou

r w

ater

. T

his

is

a cr

uci

al i

ssu

e fo

r u

s w

ith

th

e v

ario

us

oil

an

d g

as a

pp

lica

tio

ns

in K

ZN

.

It w

ou

ld b

e ap

pre

ciat

ed i

f yo

u c

ou

ld e

nsu

re t

hat

th

e o

pen

days/

pu

bli

c m

eeti

ngs

are

pro

per

ly a

nd

ad

equ

atel

y ad

vert

ised

so

that

th

e m

axim

um

nu

mb

er o

f p

eop

le a

re i

nfo

rmed

. A

dve

rts

shou

ld b

e in

E

ngl

ish

, Afr

ikaa

ns

and

Zu

lu, a

s th

ose

are

the

lan

guag

es e

very

one

spea

ks

in t

his

are

a.

We

hav

e h

ad

�

trem

end

ou

s is

sues

bef

ore

wit

h t

hes

e m

eeti

ngs.

It

is y

ou

r le

gal

ob

lig

atio

n (

and

yo

ur

clie

nts

) to

en

sure

th

at

com

mu

nit

ies

are

pro

per

ly a

nd

ad

equ

atel

y i

nfo

rmed

. T

he

on

us

sho

uld

no

t b

e o

n I

&A

Ps

to i

nfo

rm o

ther

s, a

s

has

hap

pen

ed b

efo

re.

Ple

ase

furt

her

en

sure

th

at e

ver

yon

e k

now

s ex

actl

y w

her

e yo

ur

ven

ues

are

, p

rovi

din

g d

irec

tion

s if

nec

essa

ry -

we

also

had

a p

rob

lem

wit

h t

his

pre

vio

usl

y.

Kin

d r

egar

ds

Bro

nw

yn

Bro

nw

yn

Ho

war

d

Go

od

Ear

th H

erb

s (O

per

atio

ns)

& G

oo

d E

arth

Liv

ing D

igit

al M

agaz

ine

(Ed

ito

r)

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x 3

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, U

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ht,

KZ

N,

298

0

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l: 0

84

24

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22

3 |

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: 0

34

33

1 4

37

7

E-m

ail:

urb

anec

oli

fe@

gm

ail.

com

Web

sit

e: h

ttp

://e

dit

or1

92

.wix

site

.co

m/g

oo

dea

rth

her

bs

On

Wed

, N

ov

9,

20

16

at

4:2

6 P

M,

Wil

liam

Ber

ry <

wb

erry

@sl

rco

nsu

ltin

g.c

om

> w

rote

:

AT

TE

NT

ION

: Int

eres

ted

and

Affe

cted

par

ty

Dea

r S

ir/ M

adam

AP

PL

ICA

TIO

N F

OR

EN

VIR

ON

ME

NT

AL

AU

TH

OR

ISA

TIO

N IN

SU

PP

OR

T O

F A

N E

XP

LO

RA

TIO

N R

IGH

T

AP

PL

ICA

TIO

N F

OR

PE

TR

OL

EU

M P

RO

DU

CT

S O

N V

AR

IOU

S F

AR

MS

IN N

OR

TH

ER

N P

AR

TS

OF

KW

AZ

UL

U-N

AT

AL

PR

OV

INC

E (

12/3

/317

ER

): 3

0-D

AY

RE

VIE

W O

F E

NV

IRO

NM

EN

TA

L IM

PA

CT

RE

PO

RT

AN

D P

UB

LIC

FE

ED

BA

CK

ME

ET

ING

S

Our

pre

viou

s co

rres

pond

ence

of t

he 0

9th o

f Sep

tem

ber

2016

reg

ardi

ng th

e ab

ovem

entio

ned

proj

ect h

as r

efer

ence

.

5

Bac

kgro

un

d:

Rhi

no O

il an

d G

as E

xplo

ratio

n S

outh

Afr

ica

(Pty

) Lt

d (R

hino

Oil

and

Gas

) lo

dged

an

appl

icat

ion

for

an e

xplo

ratio

n rig

ht w

ith th

e

Pet

role

um A

genc

y S

outh

Afr

ica

(PA

SA

) in

term

s of

Sec

tion

79 o

f the

Min

eral

s an

d P

etro

leum

Res

ourc

es D

evel

opm

ent A

ct, 2

002

(MP

RD

A).

Rhi

no O

il an

d G

as a

lso

lodg

ed a

n ap

plic

atio

n to

PA

SA

for

envi

ronm

enta

l aut

horis

atio

n of

exp

lora

tion

activ

ities

in te

rms

of S

ectio

n 24

(5)

of th

e

Nat

iona

l Env

ironm

enta

l Man

agem

ent A

ct, 1

998

(NE

MA

). T

he a

pplic

atio

n is

sub

ject

to a

Sco

ping

and

Env

ironm

enta

l Im

pact

Ass

essm

ent (

EIA

)

proc

ess

that

is b

eing

und

erta

ken

in te

rms

of th

e E

IA R

egul

atio

ns 2

014

(GN

R 9

82, 8

Dec

embe

r 20

14).

The

Sco

ping

pro

cess

was

pre

viou

sly

com

plet

ed b

y S

LR C

onsu

lting

(P

ty)

Ltd

(SLR

). P

AS

A a

ccep

ted

the

Sco

ping

Rep

ort o

n 31

Aug

ust 2

016,

gra

ntin

g pe

rmis

sion

for

the

EIA

to b

e

unde

rtak

en in

term

s of

the

Pla

n of

Stu

dy fo

r E

IA.

Sco

pe

Ch

ang

es: S

ubse

quen

t to

the

acce

ptan

ce o

f the

Sco

ping

Rep

ort,

Rhi

no O

il an

d G

as h

as r

educ

ed th

e ex

tent

of t

he E

R a

pplic

atio

n ar

ea

thro

ugh

the

excl

usio

n of

all

know

n pr

otec

ted

area

s w

ith s

tatu

s de

fined

und

er S

ectio

n 48

of t

he N

atio

nal E

nviro

nmen

tal M

anag

emen

t: P

rote

cted

Are

as A

ct (

57 o

f 200

3). R

hino

Oil

and

Gas

als

o ac

quire

d an

d re

view

ed a

dditi

onal

geo

logi

cal d

ata

and

dete

rmin

ed fr

om th

is th

at c

erta

in a

reas

alon

g th

e ea

ster

n ex

tent

of t

he a

pplic

atio

n ar

ea a

re u

nlik

ely

to b

e pr

ospe

ctiv

e fo

r oi

l or

gas.

. See

the

oran

ge b

ound

ary

in th

e F

igur

e be

low

for

the

revi

sed

appl

icat

ion

area

.

Mor

e re

cent

ly, R

hino

Oil

and

Gas

has

als

o ex

clu

ded

gro

und-

base

d ex

plor

atio

n ac

tiviti

es in

clud

ing

core

hol

e dr

illin

g an

d se

ism

ic s

urve

ys fr

om

the

prop

osed

‘ear

ly-p

hase

exp

lora

tion’

wor

k fo

r w

hich

they

are

see

king

env

ironm

enta

l aut

horis

atio

n. T

he c

urre

nt fo

cus

of th

e ap

plic

atio

n an

d th

e

rela

ted

envi

ronm

enta

l ass

essm

ent w

ork

is n

ow o

nly

on r

emot

e ex

plor

atio

n te

chni

ques

(in

clud

ing

anal

ysis

of e

xist

ing

data

and

an

aeria

l ful

l

tens

or g

radi

omet

ry g

ravi

ty s

urve

y).

If th

e cu

rren

t app

licat

ion

is a

ppro

ved,

Rhi

no O

il an

d G

as w

ould

be

in a

pos

ition

to c

ondu

ct th

e re

mot

e ex

plor

atio

n te

chni

ques

and

to d

evel

op a

mor

e de

taile

d un

ders

tand

ing

of th

e po

tent

ial o

il an

d ga

s re

sour

ces

in th

e ap

plic

atio

n ar

ea. T

here

afte

r, s

houl

d R

hino

Oil

and

Gas

pro

pose

to

;

cond

uct g

roun

d ba

sed

expl

orat

ion

activ

ities

they

wou

ld n

eed

to b

e in

form

ed b

y a

furt

her

appl

icat

ion

to P

AS

A a

nd a

sep

arat

e en

viro

nmen

tal

asse

ssm

ent a

nd a

utho

risat

ion

proc

ess.

A b

enef

it of

this

rev

ised

app

roac

h is

that

any

futu

re a

pplic

atio

n fo

r gr

ound

bas

ed e

xplo

ratio

n ac

tiviti

es

wou

ld b

e fo

cuse

d on

spe

cifie

d si

tes.

Thi

s en

able

s in

tere

sted

and

affe

cted

par

ties

(I&

AP

s) to

kno

w w

here

Rhi

no O

il an

d G

as p

ropo

ses

to a

cces

s

land

and

con

duct

gro

und-

base

d ex

plor

atio

n ac

tiviti

es. T

he r

equi

red

envi

ronm

enta

l ass

essm

ent w

ould

be

focu

sed

on a

sses

sing

impa

cts

at th

ose

site

s.

EIR

fo

r R

evie

w:

Thi

s le

tter

serv

es to

info

rm y

ou, a

s a

regi

ster

ed I

&A

P o

n th

e pr

ojec

t, th

at S

LR h

as, o

n be

half

of R

hino

Oil

and

Gas

, pro

duce

d

an e

nviro

nmen

tal i

mpa

ct r

epor

t (E

IR),

incl

udin

g an

env

ironm

enta

l man

agem

ent p

rogr

amm

e, fo

r th

e ap

plic

atio

n. T

he p

urpo

se o

f the

EIR

is to

sum

mar

ise

the

EIA

pro

cess

follo

wed

to d

ate

and

prov

ide

an o

verv

iew

of t

he p

ropo

sed

proj

ect a

nd th

e af

fect

ed e

nviro

nmen

t. It

als

o pr

ovid

es a

n

asse

ssm

ent o

f the

pot

entia

l im

pact

s of

the

prop

osed

pro

ject

and

set

s ou

t the

man

agem

ent a

nd m

itiga

tion

mea

sure

s th

at a

re r

ecom

men

ded

shou

ld th

e ap

plic

atio

n be

app

rove

d.

The

EIR

is b

eing

mad

e av

aila

ble

to r

egis

tere

d I&

AP

s fo

r re

view

and

com

men

t on

the

findi

ngs

and

man

agem

ent m

easu

res

for

the

prop

osed

proj

ect.

In th

is r

egar

d, th

e E

IR w

ill b

e av

aila

ble

for

a 30

-day

com

men

t per

iod

from

the

09th

No

vem

ber

201

6 u

nti

l th

e 15

th o

f D

ecem

ber

201

6.

Har

d co

pies

of t

he E

IR h

ave

been

pla

ced

at th

e fo

llow

ing

loca

tions

for

publ

ic r

evie

w:

The

EIR

is a

lso

avai

labl

e to

dow

nloa

d fr

om th

e S

LR w

ebsi

te. T

o do

wnl

oad

the

EIR

and

App

endi

ces

go

to:

http

://w

ww

.cca

envi

ronm

enta

l.co.

za/s

ub-o

il-ga

s-m

iner

als/

. A

ltern

ativ

ely,

con

tact

SLR

and

an

elec

tron

ic c

opy

of th

e E

IR c

an b

e em

aile

d to

you,

or

the

EIR

and

App

endi

ces

prov

ided

on

CD

. An

Exe

cutiv

e S

umm

ary

of th

e E

IR is

als

o av

aila

ble

on r

eque

st in

Eng

lish

or is

iZul

u.

All

com

men

ts o

n th

e E

IR s

houl

d be

sub

mitt

ed to

SLR

at t

he c

onta

ct d

etai

ls s

how

n in

the

tabl

e be

low

. Com

men

ts r

ecei

ved

will

be

used

to

upda

te th

e E

IR, a

s re

leva

nt, a

nd c

opie

s of

all

the

com

men

ts w

ill b

e in

clud

ed w

ith th

e E

IR w

hen

it is

sub

mitt

ed to

PA

SA

for

deci

sion

mak

ing.

Ple

ase

ensu

re th

at y

our

com

men

ts r

each

us

on o

r be

fore

the

15th

of

Dec

emb

er 2

016.

Nam

e an

d L

oca

tio

n

Ph

ysic

al A

dd

ress

New

cast

le L

ibra

ry

66 S

cott

Str

eet,

New

cast

le

Dun

dee

Libr

ary

Bou

ndar

y ro

ad (

next

doo

r to

Mun

icip

ality

), D

unde

e

Vry

heid

Lib

rary

C

orne

r M

ark

and

Hig

h S

tree

t, V

ryhe

id

Utr

echt

Lib

rary

V

oor

stre

et, U

trec

ht

Dan

nhau

ser

Libr

ary

8 C

hurc

h S

tree

t, D

annh

ause

r

Nqu

tu L

ibra

ry

1139

Man

gosu

thu

Driv

e, N

qutu

�

Det

ails

P

roje

ct M

anag

er

Nam

e of

the

prac

titio

ner

Mat

thew

Hem

min

g R

espo

nsib

ility

on

the

proj

ect

EA

P

Tel

No.

: 01

1 46

7 09

45

Fax

No.

: 01

1 46

7 09

78

Pos

tal a

ddre

ss

PO

Box

159

6

Cra

mer

view

2016

0 E

-mai

l add

ress

m

hem

min

g@sl

rcon

sulti

ng.c

om

Pu

blic

Fee

db

ack

Mee

tin

gs:

I&A

PS

are

invi

ted

to a

ttend

one

of a

ser

ies

of o

pen

day

s an

d p

ub

lic m

eeti

ng

s. T

he p

urpo

se o

f the

ope

n da

y an

d

publ

ic m

eetin

g is

to in

form

I&A

Ps

of th

e fin

ding

s of

the

EIA

pro

cess

and

pro

vide

opp

ortu

nity

for

ques

tions

to b

e as

ked.

The

ope

n da

ys w

ill

prov

ide

I&A

Ps

with

opp

ortu

nity

to a

sk m

embe

rs o

f the

EIA

and

app

lican

t tea

m q

uest

ions

. The

form

al p

ublic

mee

ting

will

incl

ude

a pr

esen

tatio

n

by th

e E

IA te

am fo

llow

ed b

y a

ques

tion

and

answ

er s

essi

on. C

omm

ents

will

be

reco

rded

for

furt

her

cons

ider

atio

n. T

he d

etai

ls a

re p

rovi

ded

belo

w. D

ate

Ven

ue

Tim

e

22 N

ovem

ber

2016

C

ecil

Em

met

Hal

l, E

eufe

es S

port

s C

entr

e, U

trec

ht R

oad,

Vry

heid

14

:00

for

open

day

; 15:

00 fo

r m

eetin

g

23 N

ovem

ber

2016

D

unde

e H

igh

Sch

ool,

Cnr

Tat

ham

& O

xbur

row

Str

eets

, Dun

dee

8:30

for

open

day

; 9:3

0 fo

r m

eetin

g

23 N

ovem

ber

2016

D

anna

user

Pub

lic L

ibra

ry, D

anna

user

14

:00

for

open

day

; 15:

00 fo

r m

eetin

g

24 N

ovem

ber

2016

R

ichv

iew

Civ

ic H

all,

Off

Bou

ndar

y S

tree

t, R

ichv

iew

, New

cast

le

8:30

for

open

day

; 9:3

0 fo

r m

eetin

g

24 N

ovem

ber

2016

U

trec

ht M

useu

m H

all

14:0

0 fo

r op

en d

ay; 1

5:00

for

mee

ting

Ple

ase

pass

this

lette

r on

to a

ny o

ther

per

sons

who

m y

ou k

now

hav

e an

inte

rest

in th

e pr

ojec

t. W

e w

elco

me

any

com

men

t or

ques

tions

. Tha

nk

you

for

your

ong

oing

invo

lvem

ent i

n th

e S

copi

ng a

nd E

IA p

roce

ss.

You

rs fa

ithfu

lly

Mat

thew

Hem

min

g

Env

ironm

enta

l Ass

essm

ent P

ract

ition

er

Wil

lia

m B

err

y

��

En

viro

nm

enta

l A

ssessm

ent P

ractitio

ner

SLR

Consu

ltin

g (

Afr

ica)

(Pty

) Ltd

Em

ail:

wberr

y@

slrconsu

ltin

g.c

om

Mob

ile: +

27

72 4

75

58

89

Tel:

+27

11 4

67

09

45

Ext:

2004

Fax:

+27

11 4

67

09

78

SLR

Consu

ltin

g (

Fo

urw

ays

off

ice)

Blo

ck 7

Fourw

ays M

anor

Off

ice P

ark

C

nr

Roos a

nd M

acbe

th S

treets

F

ourw

ays

, Jo

han

nesburg

, 2060

South

Afr

ica

Co

nfi

den

tiality

No

tice a

nd

Dis

cla

imer

This

com

mun

ication a

nd a

ny a

ttachm

ent(

s)

conta

ins info

rmation w

hic

h is c

onfidential and m

ay

als

o b

e legally

privile

ge

d. It is in

ten

ded

fo

r th

e e

xclu

siv

e u

se o

f th

e r

ecip

ient(

s)

to w

hom

it is

addre

ssed. If y

ou a

re n

ot th

e inte

nded r

ecip

ient, a

ny d

isclo

sure

, co

pyin

g, d

istr

ibutio

n o

r a

ny

actio

n t

aken

or

om

itte

d to b

e ta

ke

n

in r

elia

nce o

n it, is p

rohib

ited a

nd m

ay b

e u

nla

wfu

l. If

you h

ave r

eceiv

ed th

is c

om

munic

ation in e

rro

r p

lease e

ma

il us b

y r

etu

rn m

ail

an

d th

en d

ele

te th

e e

ma

il fr

om

your

sys

tem

togeth

er

with a

ny c

opie

s o

f it. P

lease n

ote

that you a

re n

ot perm

itted to p

rint, c

op

y, d

isclo

se o

r use p

art

or

all

of th

e c

onte

nt in

any w

ay.

Em

ails

and a

ny info

rmation tra

nsm

itte

d there

under

ma

y b

e inte

rcepte

d, corr

upte

d o

r dela

yed. A

s a

resu

lt, S

LR

do

es n

ot a

ccep

t a

ny

resp

onsib

ility

fo

r an

y err

ors

or

om

issio

ns h

ow

soever

caused a

nd S

LR

accepts

no r

esponsib

ility

for

changes m

ade to this

em

ail

or

any a

tta

chm

ent after

tra

nsm

issio

n f

rom

SL

R.

Whils

t all

reasonable

endeavours

are

taken b

y S

LR

to s

cre

en a

ll em

ails

for

know

n v

iruses, S

LR

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ara

nte

e th

at a

ny tra

nsm

issio

n w

ill b

e v

iru

s f

ree.

Any v

iew

s o

r opin

ions a

re s

ole

ly those o

f th

e a

uth

or

and d

o n

ot necessarily

repre

sent th

ose o

f S

LR

Ma

na

gem

en

t Ltd

, or

an

y o

f its s

ubsid

iaries, u

nle

ss

specific

ally

sta

ted.

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g (

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Afr

ica)

(Pro

prieta

ry)

Lim

ited a

nd S

LR

Consultin

g (

Afr

ica)

(Pro

prieta

ry)

Lim

ite

d a

re b

oth

su

bsid

iaries o

f S

LR

Ma

na

gem

ent Ltd

. R

eg

iste

red O

ffic

e:

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rways M

anor

Offic

e P

ark

, C

nr

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nd M

acb

eth

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nw

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nw

yn

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war

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erb

s (O

per

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trec

ht,

KZ

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298

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l: 0

84

24

6 9

22

3 |

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34

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7

E-m

ail:

urb

anec

oli

fe@

gm

ail.

com

Web

sit

e: w

ww

.go

od

eart

hh

erb

s.n

et

Ma

tth

ew

He

mm

ing

Afr

ican E

SIA

Technic

al D

iscip

line M

anag

er

SLR

Consu

ltin

g

Em

ail:

mhem

min

g@

slrconsu

ltin

g.c

om

Mob

ile: +

27

82 9

40

82

74

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mhem

min

g@

slrconsu

ltin

g.c

om

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ile: +

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Mat

thew

- I

am

no

w a

skin

g t

his

agai

n,

for

the

thir

d t

ime.

P

leas

e re

mo

ve

the

par

agra

ph

s in

cla

use

s 4

.5.6

an

d

4.5

.7 t

hat

we

fin

d c

on

trad

icto

ry,

mar

ked

in

red

. S

ee b

elo

w:

4.5

.6 C

OR

E B

OR

EH

OL

E D

RIL

LIN

G

Co

re b

ore

ho

le2

dri

llin

g i

s n

o l

on

ger

in

clu

ded

in

th

e p

rop

ose

d ‘

earl

y-p

has

e ex

plo

rati

on

’ w

ork

fo

r w

hic

h

Rh

ino

Oil

an

d G

as a

re s

eek

ing e

nv

iro

nm

enta

l ap

pro

val

.

Fo

llo

win

g p

ara

gra

ph

s to

be

rem

ove

d (

in r

ed):

Rh

ino

Oil

an

d G

as

wo

uld

sti

ll p

rop

ose

to

un

der

take

co

re

ho

le d

rill

ing

as

pa

rt o

f fu

rth

er e

arl

y-p

ha

se e

xplo

rati

on

. T

he

loca

tio

n o

f co

re h

ole

sit

es i

s cu

rren

tly

un

kno

wn

,

as

thes

e w

ou

ld u

ltim

ate

ly b

e d

eter

min

ed b

ase

d o

n t

he

fin

din

gs

of

the

init

ial

exp

lora

tio

n a

ctiv

itie

s u

nd

erta

ken

in Y

ear

1 a

nd

2.

Ta

rget

lo

cati

on

s w

ou

ld i

nit

iall

y b

e d

eter

min

ed f

rom

an

ass

essm

ent

of

geo

log

ica

l

info

rma

tio

n d

eriv

ed f

rom

th

e a

vail

ab

le d

ata

an

d F

TG

su

rvey

. S

ince

th

e ex

act

lo

cati

on

of

an

exp

lora

tio

n

core

ho

le i

s fl

exib

le,

it c

an

be

ad

just

ed t

o a

cco

mm

od

ate

lo

cal

fea

ture

s, l

an

do

wn

er’

nee

ds

an

d l

oca

l

envi

ron

men

tal

sen

siti

viti

es.

Th

is p

roce

ss o

f a

dju

stin

g a

sit

e’s

loca

tio

n w

ou

ld a

lwa

ys i

nvo

lve

con

sult

ati

on

wit

h t

he

lan

d o

wn

er t

o r

each

a n

ego

tia

ted

acc

ess

ag

reem

ent.

In p

rop

osi

ng

lo

cati

on

s fo

r d

rill

sit

es,

con

sid

era

tion

wo

uld

be

giv

en t

o e

nvi

ron

men

tal

crit

eria

. E

ach

dri

ll

site

s w

ou

ld b

e su

bje

ct t

o t

he

req

uis

ite

envi

ron

men

tal

ass

essm

ent

an

d a

uth

ori

sati

on

pro

cess

.

4.5

.7 S

EIS

MIC

DA

TA

AC

QU

ISIT

ION

Sei

smic

su

rvey

s ar

e n

o l

on

ger

in

clu

ded

in

th

e p

rop

ose

d ‘

earl

y-p

has

e ex

plo

rati

on

’ w

ork

fo

r w

hic

h R

hin

o O

il

and

Gas

are

see

kin

g e

nv

iro

nm

enta

l ap

pro

val

.

Fo

llo

win

g p

ara

gra

ph

s to

be

rem

ove

d (

in r

ed):

Rh

ino

Oil

an

d G

as

wo

uld

sti

ll p

rop

ose

to

un

der

take

sei

smic

surv

eys

as

pa

rt o

f fu

rth

er e

arl

y-p

ha

se e

xplo

rati

on

. T

he

loca

tio

n o

f se

ism

ic l

ines

is

curr

entl

y u

nkn

ow

n,

as

thes

e w

ou

ld u

ltim

ate

ly b

e d

eter

min

ed b

ase

d o

n t

he f

ind

ing

s o

f th

e in

itia

l ex

plo

rati

on

act

ivit

ies

un

der

take

n i

n

Yea

r 1

an

d 2

. T

arg

et r

oute

s w

ou

ld i

nit

iall

y b

e d

eter

min

ed f

rom

an

ass

essm

en

t o

f g

eolo

gic

al

info

rma

tio

n

der

ived

fro

m t

he

ava

ila

ble

da

ta,

FT

G s

urv

eys

an

d c

ore

bo

reh

ole

dri

llin

g.

Sin

ce t

he

exa

ct a

lig

nm

ent

of

a

seis

mic

lin

e is

fle

xib

le,

it c

an

be

ad

just

ed t

o a

cco

mm

od

ate

lo

cal

fea

ture

s, l

an

do

wn

er’

nee

ds

an

d l

oca

l

envi

ron

men

tal

sen

siti

viti

es.

Th

is p

roce

ss o

f a

dju

stin

g a

sei

smic

lin

e’s

rou

te w

ou

ld a

lwa

ys i

nvo

lve

con

sult

ati

on

wit

h t

he

land

ow

ner

to

rea

ch a

neg

oti

ate

d a

cces

s a

gre

emen

t.

In p

rop

osi

ng

ro

ute

s fo

r se

ism

ic s

urv

ey a

lig

nm

ents

, co

nsi

der

ati

on

wo

uld

be

giv

en t

o e

nvi

ron

men

tal

cri

teri

a.

Ea

ch r

ou

te w

ou

ld b

e su

bje

ct t

o t

he

req

uis

ite

envi

ron

men

tal

ass

essm

ent

an

d a

uth

ori

sati

on

pro

cess

.

If y

ou

do

n't

fin

d t

hes

e p

arag

rap

hs

con

trad

icto

ry,

so b

e it

- b

ut

we

do

. A

nd

if

yo

u r

efu

se t

o t

ake

ou

t th

ese

par

agra

ph

s, p

leas

e giv

e u

s a

logic

al r

easo

n w

hy y

ou

do

no

t w

ish

to

do

so

. B

y y

ou

r o

wn

ad

mis

sio

n,

thes

e

par

agra

ph

s ar

e n

o l

on

ger

val

id,

so t

her

e is

no

rea

son

fo

r yo

u t

o r

etai

n t

hem

in

th

e E

IA d

ocu

men

t.

�

Kin

d r

egar

ds

Jock

Tam

e &

Bro

nw

yn

Ho

war

d

Bro

nw

yn

Ho

war

d

Go

od

Ear

th H

erb

s (O

per

atio

ns)

&

Go

od

Ear

th L

ivin

g D

igit

al M

agaz

ine

(Ed

ito

r)

P O

Bo

x 3

49

, U

trec

ht,

KZ

N,

298

0

Cel

l: 0

84

24

6 9

22

3 |

Tel

: 0

34

33

1 4

37

7

E-m

ail:

urb

anec

oli

fe@

gm

ail.

com

Web

sit

e: w

ww

.go

od

eart

hh

erb

s.n

et

On

Wed

, D

ec 1

4,

20

16

at

4:3

1 P

M,

Mat

thew

Hem

min

g <

mh

emm

ing@

slrc

on

sult

ing.c

om

> w

rote

:

��

��

� ��

��

��

� ��

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� ��

�� !

To:

Mat

thew

Hem

min

g

Cc:

plu

@p

etro

leu

mag

ency

sa.c

om

; fr

ack

ing@

dw

s.go

v.z

a; N

qo

bil

e.k

han

yil

e@d

mr.

go

v.z

a; F

rack

Fre

e S

A;

imp

act@

frac

kfr

eesa

.org

.za;

wat

er a

nd

bio

div

ersi

ty;

riv

ers

and

wat

er;

Ed

ith

Ell

iott

; S

usa

n C

arte

r-B

row

n;

Bo

bb

y P

eek

; jo

nat

han

.dea

l@tr

easu

reth

ekar

oo

.co

.za;

Bra

dle

y G

ibb

on

s; R

od

ger

Mth

eth

wa;

Gav

in T

ame;

Gav

in A

nd

erso

n;

info

@ta

lan

a.co

.za;

in

fo@

wat

erlo

ofa

rm.c

o.z

a; g

erh

ard

t@n

uw

ebeg

in.o

rg;

rian

dre

@cr

azyw

eb.c

o.z

a; N

ick

y M

cLeo

d

Su

bje

ct:

Re:

EIA

Rep

ort

- P

etro

leu

m R

eso

urc

es E

xp

lora

tio

n A

pp

lica

tio

n b

y R

hin

o O

il &

Gas

(1

2/3

/31

7

ER

) in

No

rth

ern

KZ

N

Dea

r M

atth

ew,

I am

sti

ll n

ot

sati

sfie

d,

I b

elie

ve

yo

u h

ave

stil

l n

ot

dea

lt w

ith

th

e q

ues

tio

n I

po

sed

to

yo

u.

Th

is w

ill

bec

om

e

par

t o

f m

y c

om

men

ts o

n t

he

EIA

Rep

ort

, w

hic

h I

wil

l b

e su

bm

itti

ng t

om

orr

ow

.

Kin

d r

egar

ds

Bro

nw

yn

"

Bro

nw

yn

Ho

war

d

Go

od

Ear

th H

erb

s (O

per

atio

ns)

& G

oo

d E

arth

Liv

ing D

igit

al M

agaz

ine

(Ed

ito

r)

P O

Bo

x 3

49

, U

trec

ht,

KZ

N,

298

0

Cel

l: 0

84

24

6 9

22

3 |

Tel

: 0

34

33

1 4

37

7

E-m

ail:

urb

anec

oli

fe@

gm

ail.

com

Web

sit

e: w

ww

.go

od

eart

hh

erb

s.n

et

On

Wed

, D

ec 1

4,

20

16

at

3:5

5 P

M,

Mat

thew

Hem

min

g <

mh

emm

ing@

slrc

on

sult

ing.c

om

> w

rote

:

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o l

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rop

ose

d ‘

earl

y-

ph

ase

exp

lora

tio

n’

wo

rk f

or

wh

ich

Rh

ino

Oil

an

d G

as

are

see

kin

g e

nvi

ron

men

tal

ap

pro

val!��

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be

sub

ject

to t

he

req

uis

ite

envi

ron

men

tal

ass

essm

ent

an

d a

uth

ori

sati

on

pro

cess!��

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Dea

r M

atth

ew,

Yo

ur

resp

on

se i

s n

ote

d,

as i

s yo

ur

exp

lan

atio

n.

Ho

wev

er,

it i

s th

e E

IA w

e ar

e n

ow

wo

rkin

g o

n,

no

t o

ther

corr

esp

on

den

ce,

info

rmat

ion

giv

en a

t m

eeti

ngs,

etc

. T

hes

e cl

ause

s as

cu

rren

tly s

et o

ut

in t

he

EIA

are

con

trad

icto

ry t

o t

he

rest

of

the

do

cum

ent.

T

he

par

agra

ph

s as

th

ey s

tan

d s

till

rea

d a

s fo

llo

ws:

4.5

.6 C

OR

E B

OR

EH

OL

E D

RIL

LIN

G

Co

re b

ore

ho

le d

rill

ing

is

no

lo

ng

er i

ncl

ud

ed i

n t

he

pro

po

sed

‘ea

rly-

ph

ase

exp

lora

tio

n’

wo

rk f

or

wh

ich

Rh

ino

Oil

an

d G

as

are

see

kin

g e

nvi

ron

men

tal

ap

pro

val.

Bu

t th

e n

ext

par

t o

f th

is s

ecti

on

th

en r

ead

s: R

hin

o O

il a

nd

Ga

s w

ou

ld s

till

pro

po

se t

o u

nd

erta

ke

core

ho

le

dri

llin

g a

s p

art

of

furt

her

ea

rly-

ph

ase

ex

plo

rati

on

. T

he

loca

tio

n o

f co

re h

ole

sit

es i

s cu

rren

tly

un

kn

ow

n,

as

thes

e w

ou

ld u

ltim

ate

ly b

e d

eter

min

ed b

ase

d o

n t

he f

ind

ing

s o

f th

e in

itia

l ex

plo

rati

on

act

ivit

ies

un

der

take

n i

n

Yea

r 1

an

d 2

. T

arg

et l

oca

tio

ns

wo

uld

in

itia

lly

be

det

erm

ined

fro

m a

n a

ssess

men

t o

f g

eolo

gic

al

info

rma

tio

n

der

ived

fro

m t

he

ava

ila

ble

da

ta a

nd

FT

G s

urv

ey.

Sin

ce t

he

exa

ct l

oca

tio

n o

f a

n e

xplo

rati

on

co

re h

ole

is

flex

ible

, it

ca

n b

e a

dju

sted

to

acc

om

mo

da

te l

oca

l fe

atu

res,

la

nd

ow

ner

’ n

eed

s a

nd

lo

cal

envi

ron

men

tal

sen

siti

viti

es.

Th

is p

roce

ss o

f a

dju

stin

g a

sit

e’s

loca

tio

n w

ou

ld a

lwa

ys i

nvo

lve

con

sult

ati

on

wit

h t

he

lan

d

ow

ner

to

rea

ch a

neg

oti

ate

d a

cces

s a

gre

emen

t.

4.5

.7 S

EIS

MIC

DA

TA

AC

QU

ISIT

ION

Sei

smic

su

rveys

are

no

lo

ng

er i

ncl

ud

ed i

n t

he

pro

po

sed

‘ea

rly-

ph

ase

exp

lora

tio

n’

wo

rk f

or

wh

ich

Rh

ino

Oil

an

d G

as

are

see

kin

g e

nvi

ron

men

tal

ap

pro

val.

Bu

t th

e n

ext

pa

rt o

f th

is s

ecti

on

th

en r

ead

s: R

hin

o O

il a

nd

Ga

s w

ou

ld s

till

pro

po

se t

o u

nd

erta

ke

seis

mic

surv

eys

as

pa

rt o

f fu

rth

er e

arl

y-p

ha

se e

xp

lora

tio

n.

Th

e lo

cati

on

of

seis

mic

lin

es i

s cu

rren

tly

un

kno

wn

, a

s

thes

e w

ou

ld u

ltim

ate

ly b

e d

eter

min

ed b

ase

d o

n t

he f

ind

ing

s o

f th

e in

itia

l ex

plo

rati

on

act

ivit

ies

un

der

take

n i

n

Yea

r 1

an

d 2

. T

arg

et r

oute

s w

ou

ld i

nit

iall

y b

e d

eter

min

ed f

rom

an

ass

essm

en

t o

f g

eolo

gic

al

info

rma

tio

n

A

der

ived

fro

m t

he

ava

ila

ble

da

ta,

FT

G s

urv

eys

an

d c

ore

bo

reh

ole

dri

llin

g.

Sin

ce t

he

exa

ct a

lig

nm

ent

of

a

seis

mic

lin

e is

fle

xib

le,

it c

an

be

ad

just

ed t

o a

cco

mm

od

ate

lo

cal

fea

ture

s, l

an

do

wn

er’

nee

ds

an

d l

oca

l

envi

ron

men

tal

sen

siti

viti

es.

Th

is p

roce

ss o

f a

dju

stin

g a

sei

smic

lin

e’s

rou

te w

ou

ld a

lwa

ys i

nvo

lve

con

sult

ati

on

wit

h t

he

land

ow

ner

to

rea

ch a

neg

oti

ate

d a

cces

s a

gre

emen

t.

We

are

awar

e th

at t

he

met

ho

ds

emp

loyed

fo

r 'e

arly

ph

ase

exp

lora

tio

n' h

ave

chan

ged

an

d,

as p

er t

he

rest

of

the

EIA

, w

ill

no

w b

e co

nfi

ned

to

aer

ial,

FT

G s

urv

eys.

A

s m

enti

on

ed p

rev

iou

sly,

if t

he

app

lica

nt

do

es n

ot

inte

nd

to

un

der

tak

e co

reh

ole

dri

llin

g o

r se

ism

ic s

urv

eys

du

rin

g 'e

arly

ph

ase

exp

lora

tio

n',

thes

e cl

ause

s

sho

uld

acc

ord

ingly

be

amen

ded

so

as

to r

efle

ct t

his

. A

s th

ey s

tan

d,

it w

ou

ld a

pp

ear

that

th

e ap

pli

can

t is

kee

pin

g t

hes

e o

pti

on

s o

pen

, w

hic

h w

e, a

s I&

AP

s ar

e n

ot

com

fort

able

wit

h.

Reg

ard

s

Bro

nw

yn

Ho

war

d

Go

od

Ear

th H

erb

s (O

per

atio

ns)

& G

oo

d E

arth

Liv

ing D

igit

al M

agaz

ine

(Ed

ito

r)

P O

Bo

x 3

49

, U

trec

ht,

KZ

N,

298

0

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l: 0

84

24

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: 0

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37

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ail:

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anec

oli

fe@

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ail.

com

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sit

e: w

ww

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od

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n,

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rill

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ctiv

itie

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is w

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e

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rmed

by a

furt

her

ap

pli

cati

on t

o P

AS

A a

nd

a s

epar

ate

envir

on

men

tal

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roce

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ll s

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n w

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en t

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nvir

on

menta

l cr

iteri

a. E

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rill

sit

e w

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be

sub

ject

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l cr

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ject

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?@*

Dea

r M

atth

ew,

I h

ave

bee

n g

oin

g t

hro

ug

h t

he

EIA

fo

r th

e ab

ov

e p

etro

leu

m e

xp

lora

tio

n a

pp

lica

tio

n f

or

Rh

ino

Oil

& G

as i

n

no

rth

ern

KZ

N (

Ref

no

. 1

2/3

/31

7 E

R)

and

hav

e d

isco

ver

ed s

om

eth

ing w

hic

h a

pp

ears

to

be

in c

on

flic

t w

ith

the

rest

of

the

rep

ort

.

Sec

tio

n 4

.5.5

on

pag

e 4

-24

(p

age

13

3)

of

the

rep

ort

dea

ls w

ith

th

e is

sue

of

FT

G s

urv

eys,

wh

at t

hey a

re a

nd

ho

w t

hey

are

co

nd

uct

ed.

Sec

tio

n 4

.5.6

on

pag

e 4

-25

(p

age

13

4)

of

the

rep

ort

dea

ls w

ith

co

re b

ore

ho

le d

rill

ing.

Th

e fi

rst

par

agra

ph

stat

es t

hat

"C

ore

bo

reh

ole

dri

llin

g i

s n

o l

on

ger

in

clu

ded

in

th

e p

rop

ose

d ‘

earl

y-p

ha

se e

xplo

rati

on

’ w

ork

fo

r

wh

ich

Rh

ino

Oil

an

d G

as

are

see

kin

g e

nvi

ron

men

tal

ap

pro

val.

" T

his

is

con

sist

ent

wit

h t

he

rest

of

the

EIA

rep

ort

an

d a

lso

ech

oes

wh

at w

as c

ateg

ori

call

y s

tate

d b

y S

LR

Co

nsu

ltin

g a

nd

it's

cli

ent,

Rh

ino

Oil

& G

as,

at

pu

bli

c m

eeti

ngs

in n

ort

her

n K

ZN

in

No

vem

ber

20

16

(I

atte

nd

ed t

he

on

e h

eld

in

Utr

ech

t o

n 2

4 N

ov

20

16

)

Ho

wev

er,

this

sec

tio

n t

hen

co

nti

nu

es a

s fo

llo

ws:

=

Rh

ino

Oil

an

d G

as

wo

uld

sti

ll p

rop

ose

to

un

der

take

co

re h

ole

dri

llin

g a

s p

art

of

furt

her

ea

rly-

ph

ase

exp

lora

tio

n.

Th

e lo

cati

on

of

core

ho

le s

ites

is

curr

entl

y u

nkn

ow

n,

as

thes

e w

ou

ld u

ltim

ate

ly b

e d

eter

min

ed

ba

sed

on

th

e fi

nd

ing

s o

f th

e in

itia

l ex

plo

rati

on

act

ivit

ies

un

der

take

n i

n Y

ear

1 a

nd

2.

Ta

rget

lo

cati

on

s w

ou

ld

init

iall

y b

e d

eter

min

ed f

rom

an

ass

essm

ent

of

geo

log

ica

l in

form

ati

on

der

ived

fro

m t

he

ava

ila

ble

da

ta a

nd

FT

G s

urv

ey.

Sin

ce

the

exa

ct l

oca

tio

n o

f a

n e

xplo

rati

on

co

re h

ole

is

flex

ible

, it

ca

n b

e a

dju

sted

to

acc

om

mo

da

te l

oca

l fe

atu

res,

la

nd

ow

ner

’ n

eed

s a

nd

lo

cal

envi

ron

men

tal

sen

siti

viti

es.

Th

is p

roce

ss o

f

ad

just

ing

a s

ite’

s lo

cati

on

wo

uld

alw

ays

in

volv

e co

nsu

lta

tio

n w

ith

th

e la

nd

ow

ner

to

rea

ch a

neg

oti

ate

d

acc

ess

ag

reem

ent.

In p

rop

osi

ng

lo

cati

on

s fo

r d

rill

sit

es,

con

sid

era

tion

wo

uld

be

giv

en t

o e

nvi

ron

men

tal

crit

eria

. E

ach

dri

ll

site

s w

ou

ld b

e su

bje

ct t

o t

he

req

uis

ite

envi

ron

men

tal

ass

essm

ent

an

d a

uth

ori

sati

on

pro

cess

.

Th

e sa

me

occ

urs

wit

h s

ecti

on

4.5

.7 o

f th

e re

po

rt.

Th

e fi

rst

par

agra

ph

th

ereo

f st

ates

th

at:

Sei

smic

su

rvey

s a

re

no

lo

ng

er i

ncl

ud

ed i

n t

he

pro

po

sed

‘ea

rly-

ph

ase

exp

lora

tio

n’

wo

rk f

or

wh

ich

Rh

ino

Oil

an

d G

as

are

see

kin

g

envi

ron

men

tal

ap

pro

val.

Ho

wev

er,

the

rest

of

the

sect

ion

co

nti

nu

es a

s fo

llo

ws:

Rh

ino

Oil

an

d G

as

wo

uld

sti

ll p

rop

ose

to

un

der

take

sei

smic

su

rveys

as

pa

rt o

f fu

rth

er e

arl

y-p

ha

se

exp

lora

tio

n.

Th

e lo

cati

on

of

seis

mic

lin

es i

s cu

rren

tly

un

kno

wn

, a

s th

ese

wo

uld

ult

ima

tely

be

det

erm

ined

ba

sed

on

th

e fi

nd

ing

s o

f th

e in

itia

l ex

plo

rati

on

act

ivit

ies

un

der

take

n i

n Y

ear

1 a

nd

2.

Ta

rget

ro

ute

s w

ou

ld

init

iall

y b

e d

eter

min

ed f

rom

an

ass

essm

ent

of

geo

log

ica

l in

form

ati

on

der

ived

fro

m t

he

ava

ila

ble

da

ta,

FT

G

surv

eys

an

d c

ore

bo

reh

ole

dri

llin

g.

Sin

ce t

he

exa

ct a

lig

nm

ent

of

a s

eism

ic l

ine

is f

lexi

ble

, it

ca

n b

e a

dju

sted

to a

cco

mm

od

ate

lo

cal

fea

ture

s, l

an

do

wn

er’

nee

ds

an

d l

oca

l en

viro

nm

enta

l se

nsi

tivi

ties

. T

his

pro

cess

of

ad

just

ing

a s

eism

ic l

ine’

s ro

ute

wo

uld

alw

ays

in

volv

e co

nsu

lta

tio

n w

ith

th

e la

nd

ow

ner

to

rea

ch a

neg

oti

ate

d a

cces

s a

gre

em

ent.

In p

rop

osi

ng

ro

ute

s fo

r se

ism

ic s

urv

ey a

lig

nm

ents

, co

nsi

der

ati

on

wo

uld

be

giv

en t

o e

nvi

ron

men

tal

cri

teri

a.

Ea

ch r

ou

te w

ou

ld b

e su

bje

ct t

o t

he

req

uis

ite

envi

ron

men

tal

ass

essm

ent

an

d a

uth

ori

sati

on

pro

cess

.

As

refl

ecte

d i

n S

ecti

on

4.2

of

the

rep

ort

, "G

ener

al O

ver

vie

w o

f th

e E

xp

lora

tio

n P

roce

ss"

(fro

m p

age

4-3

/

pag

e 1

12

) an

d t

he

dia

gra

m o

n p

age

4-5

(1

14

) o

f th

e IE

A r

epo

rt,

ther

e ar

e th

ree

ph

ases

to

th

is p

roce

ss -

ear

ly

ph

ase

exp

lora

tio

n,

app

rais

al,

and

fu

rth

er d

rill

ing.

Th

is w

as c

ov

ered

ex

ten

siv

ely a

t th

e p

ub

lic

mee

tin

g I

atte

nd

ed i

n Ü

trec

ht

in N

ov

emb

er 2

01

6 a

s w

ell.

It i

s ca

tego

rica

lly s

tate

d t

hro

ugh

ou

t th

e E

IA R

epo

rt t

hat

th

ere

wil

l b

e N

O c

ore

bo

reh

ole

dri

llin

g o

r se

ism

ic

test

ing d

uri

ng t

he

'ea

rly

ph

ase

exp

lora

tion

' an

d w

e h

ave

bee

n g

iven

to

un

der

stan

d (

as p

er t

he

EIA

an

d i

n

pu

bli

c m

eeti

ngs)

th

at t

his

EIA

on

ly d

eals

wit

h t

he

'ear

ly e

xp

lora

tio

n' p

has

e o

f ex

plo

rati

on

, w

hic

h w

ou

ld o

nly

inv

olv

e d

esk

top

stu

die

s, d

ata

anal

ysi

s an

d F

TG

su

rveys

- co

nd

uct

ed f

rom

an

air

craf

t in

a n

on

-in

vas

ive

man

ner

, w

hic

h w

ill

no

t re

sult

in

an

y i

mp

acts

beyo

nd

so

me

po

ten

tial

fo

r v

ery s

ho

rt-t

erm

no

ise

dis

turb

ance

and

po

ssib

ly l

ives

tock

dis

turb

ance

, as

th

ese

flig

hts

nee

d t

o t

ake

pla

ce a

t re

lati

vel

y l

ow

lev

els.

It

has

cate

go

rica

lly b

een

sta

ted

th

at n

o c

ore

bo

reh

ole

dri

llin

g,

no

r se

ism

ic s

urv

eys

wil

l b

e co

nd

uct

ed a

t th

is s

tage,

alth

ou

gh

th

ey m

ay w

ell

be

du

rin

g t

he

late

r ex

plo

rati

on

ph

ases

(ap

pra

isal

an

d d

rill

ing).

B

If c

ore

bo

reh

ole

dri

llin

g a

nd

sei

smic

tes

tin

g a

re t

o b

e co

nd

uct

ed d

uri

ng 'e

arly

ph

ase

exp

lora

tio

n' (

wh

ich

we

un

der

stan

d i

s th

e p

has

e th

is a

pp

lica

tio

n i

s cu

rren

tly i

n a

nd

fo

r w

hic

h t

he

EIA

no

w o

n t

he

tab

le i

s re

late

d t

o),

then

, in

ou

r o

pin

ion

, th

e E

IA R

epo

rt a

s su

bm

itte

d t

o u

s is

nu

ll a

nd

vo

id a

nd

sh

ou

ld b

e am

end

ed o

r re

- do

ne

in

its

enti

rety

wit

h a

fu

ll d

iscl

osu

re o

f th

e fa

cts,

as

wel

l as

th

e an

tici

pat

ed i

mp

acts

th

ereo

f an

d p

rop

ose

d

mit

igat

ion

th

eref

ore

, to

get

her

wit

h t

he

sub

mis

sio

n o

f re

lev

ant

spec

iali

st s

tud

ies,

as

req

uir

ed.

(Th

e E

IA r

epo

rt

as i

t st

and

s re

pea

ted

ly s

tate

s th

at c

erta

in i

mp

acts

hav

e n

ot

bee

n d

iscu

ssed

an

d c

erta

in s

pec

iali

st s

tud

ies

hav

e

no

t b

een

do

ne/

sub

mit

ted

du

e to

th

e fa

ct t

hat

on

ly d

esk

top

stu

die

s, d

ata

anal

ysi

s an

d F

TG

su

rveys

wil

l b

e

do

ne.

)

We

loo

k f

orw

ard

to

hea

rin

g f

rom

yo

u u

rgen

tly a

s to

wh

at e

xac

tly i

s en

vis

aged

fo

r 'f

irst

ph

ase

exp

lora

tio

n'

and

at

wh

at p

oin

t co

re b

ore

ho

le d

rill

ing a

nd

sei

smic

tes

tin

g w

ill

be

do

ne.

F

rom

Sec

tio

ns

4.5

.6 a

nd

4.5

.7 a

s

they

sta

nd

, it

ap

pea

rs t

hat

'ear

ly p

has

e ex

plo

rati

on

' may

in

clu

de

thes

e ac

tiv

itie

s.

As

per

ou

r co

mm

ents

on

the

Sco

pin

g R

epo

rt,

ther

e is

so

me

con

cern

ab

ou

t th

e p

ote

nti

al n

egat

ive

imp

acts

of

thes

e ac

tiv

itie

s.

We

insi

st

that

th

e cu

rren

t E

IA b

e am

end

ed o

r re

-do

ne

in i

ts e

nti

rety

, sh

ou

ld t

hes

e co

mp

rise

par

t o

f 'e

arly

ph

ase

exp

lora

tio

n' a

ctiv

itie

s fo

r th

is a

pp

lica

tio

n,

as o

pp

ose

d t

o a

ctiv

itie

s d

uri

ng a

pp

rais

al a

nd

dri

llin

g.

Alt

ern

ativ

ely,

sho

uld

co

re b

ore

ho

le d

rill

ing a

nd

sei

smic

su

rvey

s in

dee

d n

ot

form

par

t o

f 'e

arly

ph

ase

exp

lora

tio

n' w

hat

soev

er,

then

Sec

tio

ns

4.5

.6 a

nd

4.5

.7 o

f th

e cu

rren

t E

IA s

ho

uld

be

amen

ded

acc

ord

ingly

to

refl

ect

this

.

As

com

men

ts o

n t

he

exis

tin

g E

IA a

re d

ue

by 1

5 D

ecem

ber

20

16

, yo

ur

urg

ent

clar

ific

atio

n o

f th

is m

atte

r is

req

ues

ted

to

en

able

us

to s

ub

mit

ou

r co

mm

ents

tim

eou

sly.

Ple

ase

also

ad

vis

e u

s if

th

e ex

isti

ng E

IA i

s to

be

amen

ded

an

d/o

r re

-do

ne

in t

he

ligh

t o

f th

e ab

ov

e.

Bro

nw

yn

Ho

war

d &

Jo

ck T

ame

Urb

an E

co L

ife

/ F

rack

Fre

e S

A

P O

Bo

x 3

49

, U

trec

ht,

KZ

N

E-m

ail:

urb

anec

oli

fe@

gm

ail.

com

Ma

tth

ew

He

mm

ing

Afr

ican E

SIA

Technic

al D

iscip

line M

anag

er

SLR

Consu

ltin

g

Em

ail:

mhem

min

g@

slrconsu

ltin

g.c

om

Mob

ile: +

27

82 9

40

82

74

Tel:

+27

33 3

43

58

26

Fax:

+27

11 4

67

09

78

C

SLR

Consu

ltin

g (

Fo

urw

ays

off

ice)

Blo

ck 7

Fourw

ays M

anor

Off

ice P

ark

C

nr

Roos a

nd M

acbe

th S

treets

F

ourw

ays

, Jo

han

nesburg

, 2060

South

Afr

ica

Co

nfi

den

tiality

No

tice a

nd

Dis

cla

imer

This

com

mun

ication a

nd a

ny a

ttachm

ent(

s)

conta

ins info

rmation w

hic

h is c

onfidential and m

ay

als

o b

e legally

privile

ged

. It is in

ten

ded

for

the e

xclu

siv

e u

se o

f th

e r

ecip

ient(

s)

to w

hom

it is

addre

ssed. If y

ou a

re n

ot th

e inte

nded r

ecip

ient, a

ny d

isclo

sure

, co

pyin

g, d

istr

ibutio

n o

r a

ny

actio

n t

aken

or

om

itte

d to b

e ta

ke

n

in r

elia

nce o

n it, is p

rohib

ited a

nd m

ay b

e u

nla

wfu

l. If

you h

ave r

eceiv

ed this

com

munic

ation in e

rro

r p

lease e

ma

il us b

y r

etu

rn m

ail

an

d th

en d

ele

te th

e e

ma

il fr

om

your

sys

tem

togeth

er

with a

ny c

opie

s o

f it. P

lease n

ote

that you a

re n

ot perm

itted to p

rint, c

op

y, d

isclo

se o

r use p

art

or

all

of th

e c

onte

nt in

any w

ay.

Em

ails

and a

ny info

rmation tra

nsm

itte

d there

under

ma

y b

e inte

rcepte

d, corr

upte

d o

r dela

yed. A

s a

resu

lt, S

LR

do

es n

ot a

ccep

t a

ny

resp

onsib

ility

fo

r an

y err

ors

or

om

issio

ns h

ow

soever

caused a

nd S

LR

accepts

no r

esponsib

ility

for

changes m

ade to

th

is e

ma

il o

r a

ny a

tta

chm

ent after

tra

nsm

issio

n f

rom

SL

R.

Whils

t all

reasonable

endeavours

are

taken b

y S

LR

to s

cre

en a

ll em

ails

for

know

n v

iruses, S

LR

can

not gu

ara

nte

e th

at a

ny tra

nsm

issio

n w

ill b

e v

iru

s f

ree.

Any v

iew

s o

r opin

ions a

re s

ole

ly those o

f th

e a

uth

or

and d

o n

ot necessarily

repre

sent th

ose o

f S

LR

Ma

na

gem

en

t Ltd

, or

an

y o

f its s

ubsid

iaries, u

nle

ss

specific

ally

sta

ted.

SLR

Consultin

g (

South

Afr

ica)

(Pro

prieta

ry)

Lim

ited a

nd S

LR

Consultin

g (

Afr

ica)

(Pro

prieta

ry)

Lim

ited a

re b

oth

su

bsid

iaries o

f S

LR

Ma

na

gem

en

t L

td.

Regis

tere

d O

ffic

e:

Unit 7

Fourw

ays M

anor

Offic

e P

ark

, C

nr

Ro

os a

nd M

acbeth

Str

eet, F

ourw

ays,

219

1, G

aute

ng

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ou

th A

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SIA

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iscip

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SLR

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ltin

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Em

ail:

mhem

min

g@

slrconsu

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om

Mob

ile: +

27

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Dea

r M

atth

ew,

You

r re

spon

se i

s no

ted,

as

is y

our

expl

anat

ion.

How

ever

, it

is t

he E

IA w

e ar

e no

w w

orki

ng o

n, n

ot o

ther

co

rres

pond

ence

, inf

orm

atio

n gi

ven

at m

eeti

ngs,

etc

. T

hese

cla

uses

as

curr

entl

y se

t ou

t in

the

EIA

are

co

ntra

dict

ory

to t

he r

est

of t

he d

ocum

ent.

The

par

agra

phs

as t

hey

stan

d st

ill

read

as

foll

ows:

4.

5.6

CO

RE

BO

RE

HO

LE

DR

ILL

ING

C

ore

bo

reh

ole

dri

llin

g i

s n

o l

on

ger

in

clu

ded

in

th

e p

rop

ose

d ‘

earl

y-p

ha

se e

xplo

rati

on

’ w

ork

fo

r w

hic

h

Rh

ino

Oil

an

d G

as

are

see

kin

g e

nvi

ron

men

tal

ap

pro

val.

B

ut t

he n

ext

part

of

this

sec

tion

the

n re

ads:

Rh

ino

Oil

an

d G

as

wo

uld

sti

ll p

rop

ose

to

un

der

tak

e co

re h

ole

dri

llin

g a

s p

art

of

furt

her

ea

rly-

ph

ase

ex

plo

rati

on

. T

he

loca

tio

n o

f co

re h

ole

sit

es i

s cu

rren

tly

un

kn

ow

n,

as

thes

e w

ou

ld u

ltim

ate

ly b

e d

eter

min

ed b

ase

d o

n t

he f

ind

ing

s o

f th

e in

itia

l ex

plo

rati

on

act

ivit

ies

un

der

take

n i

n

Yea

r 1

an

d 2

. T

arg

et l

oca

tio

ns

wo

uld

in

itia

lly

be

det

erm

ined

fro

m a

n a

ssess

men

t o

f g

eolo

gic

al

info

rma

tio

n

der

ived

fro

m t

he

ava

ila

ble

da

ta a

nd

FT

G s

urv

ey.

Sin

ce t

he

exa

ct l

oca

tio

n o

f a

n e

xplo

rati

on

co

re h

ole

is

flex

ible

, it

ca

n b

e a

dju

sted

to

acc

om

mo

da

te l

oca

l fe

atu

res,

la

nd

ow

ner

’ n

eed

s a

nd

lo

cal

envi

ron

men

tal

sen

siti

viti

es.

Th

is p

roce

ss o

f a

dju

stin

g a

sit

e’s

loca

tio

n w

ou

ld a

lwa

ys i

nvo

lve

con

sult

ati

on

wit

h t

he

lan

d

ow

ner

to

rea

ch a

neg

oti

ate

d a

cces

s a

gre

emen

t.

4.5.

7 S

EIS

MIC

DA

TA

AC

QU

ISIT

ION

S

eism

ic s

urv

eys

are

no

lo

ng

er i

ncl

ud

ed i

n t

he

pro

po

sed

‘ea

rly-

ph

ase

exp

lora

tio

n’

wo

rk f

or

wh

ich

Rh

ino

Oil

an

d G

as

are

see

kin

g e

nvi

ron

men

tal

ap

pro

val.

B

ut

the

nex

t p

art

of

this

sec

tio

n t

hen

rea

ds:

Rh

ino

Oil

an

d G

as

wo

uld

sti

ll p

rop

ose

to

un

der

tak

e se

ism

ic

surv

eys

as

pa

rt o

f fu

rth

er e

arl

y-p

ha

se e

xp

lora

tio

n.

Th

e lo

cati

on

of

seis

mic

lin

es i

s cu

rren

tly

un

kno

wn

, a

s

thes

e w

ou

ld u

ltim

ate

ly b

e d

eter

min

ed b

ase

d o

n t

he f

ind

ing

s o

f th

e in

itia

l ex

plo

rati

on

act

ivit

ies

un

der

take

n i

n

Yea

r 1

an

d 2

. T

arg

et r

oute

s w

ou

ld i

nit

iall

y b

e d

eter

min

ed f

rom

an

ass

essm

en

t o

f g

eolo

gic

al

info

rma

tio

n

der

ived

fro

m t

he

ava

ila

ble

da

ta,

FT

G s

urv

eys

an

d c

ore

bo

reh

ole

dri

llin

g.

Sin

ce t

he

exa

ct a

lig

nm

ent

of

a

seis

mic

lin

e is

fle

xib

le,

it c

an

be

ad

just

ed t

o a

cco

mm

od

ate

lo

cal

fea

ture

s, l

an

do

wn

er’

nee

ds

an

d l

oca

l

envi

ron

men

tal

sen

siti

viti

es.

Th

is p

roce

ss o

f a

dju

stin

g a

sei

smic

lin

e’s

rou

te w

ou

ld a

lwa

ys i

nvo

lve

con

sult

ati

on

wit

h t

he

land

ow

ner

to

rea

ch a

neg

oti

ate

d a

cces

s a

gre

emen

t.

We

are

awar

e th

at t

he m

etho

ds e

mpl

oyed

for

'ear

ly p

hase

exp

lora

tion

' hav

e ch

ange

d an

d, a

s pe

r th

e re

st o

f th

e E

IA, w

ill

now

be

conf

ined

to

aeri

al, F

TG

sur

veys

. A

s m

enti

oned

pre

viou

sly,

if

the

appl

ican

t do

es n

ot

inte

nd t

o un

dert

ake

core

hole

dri

llin

g or

sei

smic

sur

veys

dur

ing

'ear

ly p

hase

exp

lora

tion

', th

ese

clau

ses

shou

ld a

ccor

ding

ly b

e am

ende

d so

as

to r

efle

ct t

his.

As

they

sta

nd, i

t w

ould

app

ear

that

the

app

lica

nt i

s ke

epin

g th

ese

opti

ons

open

, whi

ch w

e, a

s I&

AP

s ar

e no

t co

mfo

rtab

le w

ith.

R

egar

ds

Bro

nwyn

How

ard

Goo

d E

arth

Her

bs (

Ope

rati

ons)

&

Goo

d E

arth

Liv

ing

Dig

ital

Mag

azin

e (E

dito

r)

�

P O

Box

349

, Utr

echt

, KZ

N, 2

980

Cel

l: 0

84 2

46 9

223

| Tel

: 03

4 33

1 43

77

E-m

ail:

urb

anec

olif

e@gm

ail.

com

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eb s

ite:

ww

w.g

oode

arth

herb

s.ne

t O

n M

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ec 1

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�

Dea

r M

atth

ew,

I ha

ve b

een

goin

g th

roug

h th

e E

IA f

or t

he a

bove

pet

role

um e

xplo

rati

on a

ppli

cati

on f

or R

hino

Oil

& G

as i

n no

rthe

rn K

ZN

(R

ef n

o. 1

2/3/

317

ER

) an

d ha

ve d

isco

vere

d so

met

hing

whi

ch a

ppea

rs t

o be

in

conf

lict

wit

h th

e re

st o

f th

e re

port

.

Sec

tion

4.5

.5 o

n pa

ge 4

-24

(pag

e 13

3) o

f th

e re

port

dea

ls w

ith

the

issu

e of

FT

G s

urve

ys, w

hat

they

are

and

ho

w t

hey

are

cond

ucte

d.

Sec

tion

4.5

.6 o

n pa

ge 4

-25

(pag

e 13

4) o

f th

e re

port

dea

ls w

ith

core

bor

ehol

e dr

illi

ng.

The

fir

st p

arag

raph

st

ates

tha

t "C

ore

bo

reh

ole

dri

llin

g i

s n

o l

on

ger

in

clu

ded

in

th

e p

rop

ose

d ‘

earl

y-p

ha

se e

xplo

rati

on

’ w

ork

fo

r

wh

ich

Rh

ino

Oil

an

d G

as

are

see

kin

g e

nvi

ron

men

tal

ap

pro

val.

" T

his

is c

onsi

sten

t w

ith

the

rest

of

the

EIA

re

port

and

als

o ec

hoes

wha

t w

as c

ateg

oric

ally

sta

ted

by S

LR

Con

sult

ing

and

it's

cli

ent,

Rhi

no O

il &

Gas

, at

publ

ic m

eeti

ngs

in n

orth

ern

KZ

N i

n N

ovem

ber

2016

(I

atte

nded

the

one

hel

d in

Utr

echt

on

24 N

ov 2

016)

How

ever

, thi

s se

ctio

n th

en c

onti

nues

as

foll

ows:

Rh

ino

Oil

an

d G

as

wo

uld

sti

ll p

rop

ose

to

un

der

take

co

re h

ole

dri

llin

g a

s p

art

of

furt

her

ea

rly-

ph

ase

exp

lora

tio

n.

Th

e lo

cati

on

of

core

ho

le s

ites

is

curr

entl

y u

nkn

ow

n,

as

thes

e w

ou

ld u

ltim

ate

ly b

e d

eter

min

ed

ba

sed

on

th

e fi

nd

ing

s o

f th

e in

itia

l ex

plo

rati

on

act

ivit

ies

un

der

take

n i

n Y

ear

1 a

nd

2.

Ta

rget

lo

cati

on

s w

ou

ld

init

iall

y b

e d

eter

min

ed f

rom

an

ass

essm

ent

of

geo

log

ica

l in

form

ati

on

der

ived

fro

m t

he

ava

ila

ble

da

ta a

nd

FT

G s

urv

ey.

Sin

ce

the

exa

ct l

oca

tio

n o

f a

n e

xplo

rati

on

co

re h

ole

is

flex

ible

, it

ca

n b

e a

dju

sted

to

acc

om

mo

da

te l

oca

l fe

atu

res,

la

nd

ow

ner

’ n

eed

s a

nd

lo

cal

envi

ron

men

tal

sen

siti

viti

es.

Th

is p

roce

ss o

f

ad

just

ing

a s

ite’

s lo

cati

on

wo

uld

alw

ays

in

volv

e co

nsu

lta

tio

n w

ith

th

e la

nd

ow

ner

to

rea

ch a

neg

oti

ate

d

acc

ess

ag

reem

ent.

In p

rop

osi

ng

lo

cati

on

s fo

r d

rill

sit

es,

con

sid

era

tion

wo

uld

be

giv

en t

o e

nvi

ron

men

tal

crit

eria

. E

ach

dri

ll

site

s w

ou

ld b

e su

bje

ct t

o t

he

req

uis

ite

envi

ron

men

tal

ass

essm

ent

an

d a

uth

ori

sati

on

pro

cess

.

The

sam

e oc

curs

wit

h se

ctio

n 4.

5.7

of t

he r

epor

t. T

he f

irst

par

agra

ph t

here

of s

tate

s th

at:

Sei

smic

su

rvey

s a

re

no

lo

ng

er i

ncl

ud

ed i

n t

he

pro

po

sed

‘ea

rly-

ph

ase

exp

lora

tio

n’

wo

rk f

or

wh

ich

Rh

ino

Oil

an

d G

as

are

see

kin

g

envi

ron

men

tal

ap

pro

val.

How

ever

, the

res

t of

the

sec

tion

con

tinu

es a

s fo

llow

s:

Rh

ino

Oil

an

d G

as

wo

uld

sti

ll p

rop

ose

to

un

der

take

sei

smic

su

rveys

as

pa

rt o

f fu

rth

er e

arl

y-p

ha

se

exp

lora

tio

n.

Th

e lo

cati

on

of

seis

mic

lin

es i

s cu

rren

tly

un

kno

wn

, a

s th

ese

wo

uld

ult

ima

tely

be

det

erm

ined

ba

sed

on

th

e fi

nd

ing

s o

f th

e in

itia

l ex

plo

rati

on

act

ivit

ies

un

der

take

n i

n Y

ear

1 a

nd

2.

Ta

rget

ro

ute

s w

ou

ld

init

iall

y b

e d

eter

min

ed f

rom

an

ass

essm

ent

of

geo

log

ica

l in

form

ati

on

der

ived

fro

m t

he

ava

ila

ble

da

ta,

FT

G

surv

eys

an

d c

ore

bo

reh

ole

dri

llin

g.

Sin

ce t

he

exa

ct a

lig

nm

ent

of

a s

eism

ic l

ine

is f

lexi

ble

, it

ca

n b

e a

dju

sted

to a

cco

mm

od

ate

lo

cal

fea

ture

s, l

an

do

wn

er’

nee

ds

an

d l

oca

l en

viro

nm

enta

l se

nsi

tivi

ties

. T

his

pro

cess

of

�

ad

just

ing

a s

eism

ic l

ine’

s ro

ute

wo

uld

alw

ays

in

volv

e co

nsu

lta

tio

n w

ith

th

e la

nd

ow

ner

to

rea

ch a

neg

oti

ate

d a

cces

s a

gre

em

ent.

In p

rop

osi

ng

ro

ute

s fo

r se

ism

ic s

urv

ey a

lig

nm

ents

, co

nsi

der

ati

on

wo

uld

be

giv

en t

o e

nvi

ron

men

tal

cri

teri

a.

Ea

ch r

ou

te w

ou

ld b

e su

bje

ct t

o t

he

req

uis

ite

envi

ron

men

tal

ass

essm

ent

an

d a

uth

ori

sati

on

pro

cess

.

As

refl

ecte

d in

Sec

tion

4.2

of

the

repo

rt, "

Gen

eral

Ove

rvie

w o

f th

e E

xplo

rati

on P

roce

ss"

(fro

m p

age

4-3

/ pa

ge 1

12)

and

the

diag

ram

on

page

4-5

(11

4) o

f th

e IE

A r

epor

t, t

here

are

thr

ee p

hase

s to

thi

s pr

oces

s -

earl

y ph

ase

expl

orat

ion,

app

rais

al, a

nd f

urth

er d

rill

ing.

Thi

s w

as c

over

ed e

xten

sive

ly a

t th

e pu

blic

mee

ting

I

atte

nded

in

Ütr

echt

in

Nov

embe

r 20

16 a

s w

ell.

It i

s ca

tego

rica

lly

stat

ed t

hrou

ghou

t th

e E

IA R

epor

t th

at t

here

wil

l be

NO

cor

e bo

reho

le d

rill

ing

or s

eism

ic

test

ing

duri

ng t

he 'e

arl

y p

has

e ex

plo

rati

on' a

nd w

e ha

ve b

een

give

n to

und

erst

and

(as

per

the

EIA

and

in

publ

ic m

eeti

ngs)

tha

t th

is E

IA o

nly

deal

s w

ith

the

'ear

ly e

xplo

rati

on' p

hase

of

expl

orat

ion,

whi

ch w

ould

onl

y in

volv

e de

skto

p st

udie

s, d

ata

anal

ysis

and

FT

G s

urve

ys -

con

duct

ed f

rom

an

airc

raft

in

a no

n-in

vasi

ve

man

ner,

whi

ch w

ill

not

resu

lt i

n an

y im

pact

s be

yond

som

e po

tent

ial

for

very

sho

rt-t

erm

noi

se d

istu

rban

ce

and

poss

ibly

liv

esto

ck d

istu

rban

ce, a

s th

ese

flig

hts

need

to

take

pla

ce a

t re

lati

vely

low

lev

els.

It

has

cate

gori

call

y be

en s

tate

d th

at n

o co

re b

oreh

ole

dril

ling

, nor

sei

smic

sur

veys

wil

l be

con

duct

ed a

t th

is s

tage

, al

thou

gh t

hey

may

wel

l be

dur

ing

the

late

r ex

plor

atio

n ph

ases

(ap

prai

sal

and

dril

ling

).

If c

ore

bore

hole

dri

llin

g an

d se

ism

ic t

esti

ng a

re t

o be

con

duct

ed d

urin

g 'e

arly

pha

se e

xplo

rati

on' (

whi

ch w

e un

ders

tand

is

the

phas

e th

is a

ppli

cati

on i

s cu

rren

tly

in a

nd f

or w

hich

the

EIA

now

on

the

tabl

e is

rel

ated

to)

, th

en, i

n ou

r op

inio

n, t

he E

IA R

epor

t as

sub

mit

ted

to u

s is

nul

l an

d vo

id a

nd s

houl

d be

am

ende

d or

re-

done

in

its

enti

rety

wit

h a

full

dis

clos

ure

of t

he f

acts

, as

wel

l as

the

ant

icip

ated

im

pact

s th

ereo

f an

d pr

opos

ed

mit

igat

ion

ther

efor

e, t

oget

her

wit

h th

e su

bmis

sion

of

rele

vant

spe

cial

ist

stud

ies,

as

requ

ired

. (T

he E

IA r

epor

t as

it

stan

ds r

epea

tedl

y st

ates

tha

t ce

rtai

n im

pact

s ha

ve n

ot b

een

disc

usse

d an

d ce

rtai

n sp

ecia

list

stu

dies

hav

e no

t be

en d

one/

subm

itte

d du

e to

the

fac

t th

at o

nly

desk

top

stud

ies,

dat

a an

alys

is a

nd F

TG

sur

veys

wil

l be

do

ne.)

We

look

for

war

d to

hea

ring

fro

m y

ou u

rgen

tly

as t

o w

hat

exac

tly

is e

nvis

aged

for

'fir

st p

hase

exp

lora

tion

' an

d at

wha

t po

int

core

bor

ehol

e dr

illi

ng a

nd s

eism

ic t

esti

ng w

ill

be d

one.

Fro

m S

ecti

ons

4.5.

6 an

d 4.

5.7

as

they

sta

nd, i

t ap

pear

s th

at 'e

arly

pha

se e

xplo

rati

on' m

ay i

nclu

de t

hese

act

ivit

ies.

As

per

our

com

men

ts o

n th

e S

copi

ng R

epor

t, t

here

is

som

e co

ncer

n ab

out

the

pote

ntia

l ne

gati

ve i

mpa

cts

of t

hese

act

ivit

ies.

We

insi

st

that

the

cur

rent

EIA

be

amen

ded

or r

e-do

ne i

n it

s en

tire

ty, s

houl

d th

ese

com

pris

e pa

rt o

f 'e

arly

pha

se

expl

orat

ion'

act

ivit

ies

for

this

app

lica

tion

, as

oppo

sed

to a

ctiv

itie

s du

ring

app

rais

al a

nd d

rill

ing.

Alt

erna

tive

ly, s

houl

d co

re b

oreh

ole

dril

ling

and

sei

smic

sur

veys

ind

eed

not

form

par

t of

'ear

ly p

hase

ex

plor

atio

n' w

hats

oeve

r, t

hen

Sec

tion

s 4.

5.6

and

4.5.

7 of

the

cur

rent

EIA

sho

uld

be a

men

ded

acco

rdin

gly

to

refl

ect

this

.

�

As

com

men

ts o

n th

e ex

isti

ng E

IA a

re d

ue b

y 15

Dec

embe

r 20

16, y

our

urge

nt c

lari

fica

tion

of

this

mat

ter

is

requ

este

d to

ena

ble

us t

o su

bmit

our

com

men

ts t

imeo

usly

. P

leas

e al

so a

dvis

e us

if

the

exis

ting

EIA

is

to b

e am

ende

d an

d/or

re-

done

in

the

ligh

t of

the

abo

ve.

Bro

nwyn

How

ard

& J

ock

Tam

e

Urb

an E

co L

ife

/ F

rack

Fre

e S

A

P O

Box

349

, Utr

echt

, KZ

N

E-m

ail:

urb

anec

olif

e@gm

ail.

com

Ma

tth

ew

He

mm

ing

A

fric

an E

SIA

Technic

al D

iscip

line M

anag

er

SLR

Consu

ltin

g

Em

ail:

mhem

min

g@

slrconsu

ltin

g.c

om

Mob

ile: +

27

82 9

40

82

74

Tel:

+27

33 3

43

58

26

Fax:

+27

11 4

67

09

78

SLR

Consu

ltin

g (

Fo

urw

ays

off

ice)

Blo

ck 7

Fourw

ays M

anor

Off

ice P

ark

C

nr

Roos a

nd M

acbe

th S

treets

F

ourw

ays

, Jo

han

nesburg

, 2060

South

Afr

ica

Co

nfi

den

tiality

No

tice a

nd

Dis

cla

imer

This

com

mun

ication a

nd a

ny a

ttachm

ent(

s)

conta

ins info

rmation w

hic

h is c

onfidential and m

ay

als

o b

e legally

privile

ge

d. It is in

ten

ded

fo

r th

e e

xclu

siv

e u

se o

f th

e r

ecip

ient(

s)

to w

hom

it is

addre

ssed. If y

ou a

re n

ot th

e inte

nded r

ecip

ient, a

ny d

isclo

sure

, co

pyin

g, d

istr

ibutio

n o

r a

ny

actio

n t

aken

or

om

itte

d to b

e ta

ke

n

in r

elia

nce o

n it, is p

rohib

ited a

nd m

ay b

e u

nla

wfu

l. If

you h

ave r

eceiv

ed th

is c

om

munic

ation in e

rror

ple

ase e

ma

il us b

y r

etu

rn m

ail

an

d th

en d

ele

te th

e e

ma

il fr

om

your

sys

tem

togeth

er

with a

ny c

opie

s o

f it. P

lease n

ote

that you a

re n

ot perm

itted to p

rint, c

op

y, d

isclo

se o

r use p

art

or

all

of th

e c

onte

nt in

any w

ay.

Em

ails

and a

ny info

rmation tra

nsm

itte

d there

under

ma

y b

e inte

rcepte

d, corr

upte

d o

r dela

yed. A

s a

resu

lt, S

LR

do

es n

ot a

ccep

t a

ny

resp

on

sib

ility

for

any

err

ors

or

om

issio

ns h

ow

soever

caused a

nd S

LR

accepts

no r

esponsib

ility

for

changes m

ade to this

em

ail

or

any a

tta

chm

ent afte

r tr

ansm

issio

n f

rom

SL

R.

Whils

t all

reasonable

endeavours

are

taken b

y S

LR

to s

cre

en a

ll em

ails

for

know

n v

iruses, S

LR

can

not gu

ara

nte

e th

at a

ny tra

nsm

issio

n w

ill b

e v

iru

s f

ree.

Any v

iew

s o

r opin

ions a

re s

ole

ly those o

f th

e a

uth

or

and d

o n

ot necessarily

repre

sent th

ose o

f S

LR

Ma

na

gem

en

t Ltd

, or

an

y o

f its s

ubsid

iaries, un

less

specific

ally

sta

ted.

SLR

Consultin

g (

South

Afr

ica)

(Pro

prieta

ry)

Lim

ited a

nd S

LR

Consultin

g (

Afr

ica)

(Pro

prieta

ry)

Lim

ited a

re b

oth

su

bsid

iaries o

f S

LR

Mana

gem

en

t Ltd

. R

egis

tere

d O

ffic

e:

Unit 7

Fourw

ays M

anor

Offic

e P

ark

, C

nr

Ro

os a

nd M

acbeth

Str

eet, F

ourw

ays,

219

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aute

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ir/ M

adam

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LIC

AT

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UP

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OR

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PL

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OR

PE

TR

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EU

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S O

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AR

IOU

S F

AR

MS

IN N

OR

TH

ER

N P

AR

TS

OF

KW

AZ

UL

U-N

AT

AL

PR

OV

INC

E (

12/3

/317

ER

): 3

0-

DA

Y R

EV

IEW

OF

EN

VIR

ON

ME

NT

AL

IMP

AC

T R

EP

OR

T A

ND

PU

BL

IC F

EE

DB

AC

K M

EE

TIN

GS

Our

pre

viou

s co

rres

pond

ence

of t

he 0

9th o

f Sep

tem

ber

2016

reg

ardi

ng th

e ab

ovem

entio

ned

proj

ect h

as r

efer

ence

.

Bac

kgro

un

d:

Rhi

no O

il an

d G

as E

xplo

ratio

n S

outh

Afr

ica

(Pty

) Lt

d (R

hino

Oil

and

Gas

) lo

dged

an

appl

icat

ion

for

an e

xplo

ratio

n rig

ht w

ith th

e

Pet

role

um A

genc

y S

outh

Afr

ica

(PA

SA

) in

term

s of

Sec

tion

79 o

f the

Min

eral

s an

d P

etro

leum

Res

ourc

es D

evel

opm

ent A

ct, 2

002

(MP

RD

A).

Rhi

no O

il an

d G

as a

lso

lodg

ed a

n ap

plic

atio

n to

PA

SA

for

envi

ronm

enta

l aut

horis

atio

n of

exp

lora

tion

activ

ities

in te

rms

of S

ectio

n 24

(5)

of th

e

Nat

iona

l Env

ironm

enta

l Man

agem

ent A

ct, 1

998

(NE

MA

). T

he a

pplic

atio

n is

sub

ject

to a

Sco

ping

and

Env

ironm

enta

l Im

pact

Ass

essm

ent (

EIA

)

proc

ess

that

is b

eing

und

erta

ken

in te

rms

of th

e E

IA R

egul

atio

ns 2

014

(GN

R 9

82, 8

Dec

embe

r 20

14).

The

Sco

ping

pro

cess

was

pre

viou

sly

com

plet

ed b

y S

LR C

onsu

lting

(P

ty)

Ltd

(SLR

). P

AS

A a

ccep

ted

the

Sco

ping

Rep

ort o

n 31

Aug

ust 2

016,

gra

ntin

g pe

rmis

sion

for

the

EIA

to b

e

unde

rtak

en in

term

s of

the

Pla

n of

Stu

dy fo

r E

IA.

Sco

pe

Ch

ang

es: S

ubse

quen

t to

the

acce

ptan

ce o

f the

Sco

ping

Rep

ort,

Rhi

no O

il an

d G

as h

as r

educ

ed th

e ex

tent

of t

he E

R a

pplic

atio

n ar

ea

thro

ugh

the

excl

usio

n of

all

know

n pr

otec

ted

area

s w

ith s

tatu

s de

fined

und

er S

ectio

n 48

of t

he N

atio

nal E

nviro

nmen

tal M

anag

emen

t: P

rote

cted

Are

as A

ct (

57 o

f 200

3). R

hino

Oil

and

Gas

als

o ac

quire

d an

d re

view

ed a

dditi

onal

geo

logi

cal d

ata

and

dete

rmin

ed fr

om th

is th

at c

erta

in a

reas

alon

g th

e ea

ster

n ex

tent

of t

he a

pplic

atio

n ar

ea a

re u

nlik

ely

to b

e pr

ospe

ctiv

e fo

r oi

l or

gas.

. See

the

oran

ge b

ound

ary

in th

e F

igur

e be

low

for

the

revi

sed

appl

icat

ion

area

.

:

Mor

e re

cent

ly, R

hino

Oil

and

Gas

has

als

o ex

clu

ded

gro

und-

base

d ex

plor

atio

n ac

tiviti

es in

clud

ing

core

hol

e dr

illin

g an

d se

ism

ic s

urve

ys fr

om

the

prop

osed

‘ear

ly-p

hase

exp

lora

tion’

wor

k fo

r w

hich

they

are

see

king

env

ironm

enta

l aut

horis

atio

n. T

he c

urre

nt fo

cus

of th

e ap

plic

atio

n an

d th

e

rela

ted

envi

ronm

enta

l ass

essm

ent w

ork

is n

ow o

nly

on r

emot

e ex

plor

atio

n te

chni

ques

(in

clud

ing

anal

ysis

of e

xist

ing

data

and

an

aeria

l ful

l

tens

or g

radi

omet

ry g

ravi

ty s

urve

y).

If th

e cu

rren

t app

licat

ion

is a

ppro

ved,

Rhi

no O

il an

d G

as w

ould

be

in a

pos

ition

to c

ondu

ct th

e re

mot

e ex

plor

atio

n te

chni

ques

and

to d

evel

op a

mor

e de

taile

d un

ders

tand

ing

of th

e po

tent

ial o

il an

d ga

s re

sour

ces

in th

e ap

plic

atio

n ar

ea. T

here

afte

r, s

houl

d R

hino

Oil

and

Gas

pro

pose

to

cond

uct g

roun

d ba

sed

expl

orat

ion

activ

ities

they

wou

ld n

eed

to b

e in

form

ed b

y a

furt

her

appl

icat

ion

to P

AS

A a

nd a

sep

arat

e en

viro

nmen

tal

asse

ssm

ent a

nd a

utho

risat

ion

proc

ess.

A b

enef

it of

this

rev

ised

app

roac

h is

that

any

futu

re a

pplic

atio

n fo

r gr

ound

bas

ed e

xplo

ratio

n ac

tiviti

es

wou

ld b

e fo

cuse

d on

spe

cifie

d si

tes.

Thi

s en

able

s in

tere

sted

and

affe

cted

par

ties

(I&

AP

s) to

kno

w w

here

Rhi

no O

il an

d G

as p

ropo

ses

to a

cces

s

land

and

con

duct

gro

und-

base

d ex

plor

atio

n ac

tiviti

es. T

he r

equi

red

envi

ronm

enta

l ass

essm

ent w

ould

be

focu

sed

on a

sses

sing

impa

cts

at th

ose

site

s.

EIR

fo

r R

evie

w:

Thi

s le

tter

serv

es to

info

rm y

ou, a

s a

regi

ster

ed I

&A

P o

n th

e pr

ojec

t, th

at S

LR h

as, o

n be

half

of R

hino

Oil

and

Gas

, pro

duce

d

an e

nviro

nmen

tal i

mpa

ct r

epor

t (E

IR),

incl

udin

g an

env

ironm

enta

l man

agem

ent p

rogr

amm

e, fo

r th

e ap

plic

atio

n. T

he p

urpo

se o

f the

EIR

is to

sum

mar

ise

the

EIA

pro

cess

follo

wed

to d

ate

and

prov

ide

an o

verv

iew

of t

he p

ropo

sed

proj

ect a

nd th

e af

fect

ed e

nviro

nmen

t. It

als

o pr

ovid

es a

n

asse

ssm

ent o

f the

pot

entia

l im

pact

s of

the

prop

osed

pro

ject

and

set

s ou

t the

man

agem

ent a

nd m

itiga

tion

mea

sure

s th

at a

re r

ecom

men

ded

shou

ld th

e ap

plic

atio

n be

app

rove

d.

The

EIR

is b

eing

mad

e av

aila

ble

to r

egis

tere

d I&

AP

s fo

r re

view

and

com

men

t on

the

findi

ngs

and

man

agem

ent m

easu

res

for

the

prop

osed

proj

ect.

In th

is r

egar

d, th

e E

IR w

ill b

e av

aila

ble

for

a 30

-day

com

men

t per

iod

from

the

09th

No

vem

ber

201

6 u

nti

l th

e 15

th o

f D

ecem

ber

201

6.

Har

d co

pies

of t

he E

IR h

ave

been

pla

ced

at th

e fo

llow

ing

loca

tions

for

publ

ic r

evie

w:

Nam

e an

d L

oca

tio

n

Ph

ysic

al A

dd

ress

0

The

E

IR

is

also

av

aila

ble

to

dow

nloa

d fr

om

the

SLR

w

ebsi

te.

To

dow

nloa

d th

e E

IR

and

App

endi

ces

go

to: �h

ttp://

ww

w.c

caen

viro

nmen

tal.c

o.za

/sub

-oil-

gas-

min

eral

s/��

Alte

rnat

ivel

y, c

onta

ct S

LR a

nd a

n el

ectr

onic

cop

y of

the

EIR

can

be

emai

led

to

you,

or

the

EIR

and

App

endi

ces

prov

ided

on

CD

. An

Exe

cutiv

e S

umm

ary

of th

e E

IR is

als

o av

aila

ble

on r

eque

st in

Eng

lish

or is

iZul

u.

All

com

men

ts o

n th

e E

IR s

houl

d be

sub

mitt

ed to

SLR

at t

he c

onta

ct d

etai

ls s

how

n in

the

tabl

e be

low

. Com

men

ts r

ecei

ved

will

be

used

to

upda

te th

e E

IR, a

s re

leva

nt, a

nd c

opie

s of

all

the

com

men

ts w

ill b

e in

clud

ed w

ith th

e E

IR w

hen

it is

sub

mitt

ed to

PA

SA

for

deci

sion

mak

ing.

Ple

ase

ensu

re th

at y

our

com

men

ts r

each

us

on o

r be

fore

the

15th

of

Dec

emb

er 2

016.

Det

ails

P

roje

ct M

anag

er

Nam

e of

the

prac

titio

ner

Mat

thew

Hem

min

g

Res

pons

ibili

ty o

n th

e pr

ojec

t E

AP

Tel

No.

: 01

1 46

7 09

45

Fax

No.

: 01

1 46

7 09

78

Pos

tal a

ddre

ss

PO

Box

159

6 C

ram

ervi

ew

2016

0

E-m

ail a

ddre

ss

mhe

mm

ing@

slrc

onsu

lting

.com

Pu

blic

Fee

db

ack

Mee

tin

gs:

I&A

PS

are

invi

ted

to a

ttend

one

of a

ser

ies

of o

pen

day

s an

d p

ub

lic m

eeti

ng

s. T

he p

urpo

se o

f the

ope

n da

y an

d

publ

ic m

eetin

g is

to in

form

I&A

Ps

of th

e fin

ding

s of

the

EIA

pro

cess

and

pro

vide

opp

ortu

nity

for

ques

tions

to b

e as

ked.

The

ope

n da

ys w

ill

prov

ide

I&A

Ps

with

opp

ortu

nity

to a

sk m

embe

rs o

f the

EIA

and

app

lican

t tea

m q

uest

ions

. The

form

al p

ublic

mee

ting

will

incl

ude

a pr

esen

tatio

n

by th

e E

IA te

am fo

llow

ed b

y a

ques

tion

and

answ

er s

essi

on. C

omm

ents

will

be

reco

rded

for

furt

her

cons

ider

atio

n. T

he d

etai

ls a

re p

rovi

ded

belo

w. D

ate

Ven

ue

Tim

e

22 N

ovem

ber

2016

C

ecil

Em

met

Hal

l, E

eufe

es S

port

s C

entr

e, U

trec

ht R

oad,

Vry

heid

14

:00

for

open

day

; 15:

00 fo

r m

eetin

g

23 N

ovem

ber

2016

D

unde

e H

igh

Sch

ool,

Cnr

Tat

ham

& O

xbur

row

Str

eets

, Dun

dee

8:30

for

open

day

; 9:3

0 fo

r m

eetin

g

23 N

ovem

ber

2016

D

anna

user

Pub

lic L

ibra

ry, D

anna

user

14

:00

for

open

day

; 15:

00 fo

r m

eetin

g

24 N

ovem

ber

2016

R

ichv

iew

Civ

ic H

all,

Off

Bou

ndar

y S

tree

t, R

ichv

iew

, New

cast

le

8:30

for

open

day

; 9:3

0 fo

r m

eetin

g

24 N

ovem

ber

2016

U

trec

ht M

useu

m H

all

14:0

0 fo

r op

en d

ay; 1

5:00

for

mee

ting

Ple

ase

pass

this

lette

r on

to a

ny o

ther

per

sons

who

m y

ou k

now

hav

e an

inte

rest

in th

e pr

ojec

t. W

e w

elco

me

any

com

men

t or

ques

tions

. Tha

nk

you

for

your

ong

oing

invo

lvem

ent i

n th

e S

copi

ng a

nd E

IA p

roce

ss.

You

rs fa

ithfu

lly

New

cast

le L

ibra

ry

66 S

cott

Str

eet,

New

cast

le

Dun

dee

Libr

ary

Bou

ndar

y ro

ad (

next

doo

r to

Mun

icip

ality

), D

unde

e

Vry

heid

Lib

rary

C

orne

r M

ark

and

Hig

h S

tree

t, V

ryhe

id

Utr

echt

Lib

rary

V

oor

stre

et, U

trec

ht

Dan

nhau

ser

Libr

ary

8 C

hurc

h S

tree

t, D

annh

ause

r

Nqu

tu L

ibra

ry

1139

Man

gosu

thu

Driv

e, N

qutu

Mat

thew

Hem

min

g

Env

ironm

enta

l Ass

essm

ent P

ract

ition

er

� Wil

lia

m B

err

y

En

viro

nm

enta

l A

ssessm

ent P

ractitio

ner

SLR

Consu

ltin

g (

Afr

ica)

(Pty

) Ltd

E

mail:

wberr

y@

slrconsu

ltin

g.c

om

Mob

ile: +

27

72 4

75

58

89

Tel:

+27

11 4

67

09

45

Ext:

2004

Fax:

+27

11 4

67

09

78

SLR

Consu

ltin

g (

Fo

urw

ays

off

ice)

Blo

ck 7

Fourw

ays M

anor

Off

ice P

ark

C

nr

Roos a

nd M

acbe

th S

treets

F

ourw

ays

, Jo

han

nesburg

, 2060

South

Afr

ica

Co

nfi

den

tiality

No

tice a

nd

Dis

cla

imer

This

com

mun

ication a

nd a

ny a

ttachm

ent(

s)

conta

ins info

rmation w

hic

h is c

onfidential and m

ay

als

o b

e legally

privile

ge

d. It is in

ten

ded

for

the e

xclu

siv

e u

se o

f th

e r

ecip

ient(

s)

to w

hom

it is

addre

ssed. If y

ou a

re n

ot th

e inte

nded r

ecip

ient, a

ny d

isclo

sure

, co

pyin

g, d

istr

ibutio

n o

r a

ny

actio

n t

aken

or

om

itte

d to b

e ta

ke

n

in r

elia

nce o

n it, is p

rohib

ited a

nd m

ay b

e u

nla

wfu

l. If

you h

ave r

eceiv

ed th

is c

om

munic

ation in e

rro

r p

lease e

ma

il us b

y r

etu

rn m

ail

an

d th

en d

ele

te th

e e

ma

il fr

om

your

sys

tem

togeth

er

with a

ny c

opie

s o

f it. P

lease n

ote

that yo

u a

re n

ot perm

itted to p

rint, c

op

y, d

isclo

se o

r use p

art

or

all

of th

e c

onte

nt in

any w

ay.

Em

ails

and a

ny info

rmation tra

nsm

itte

d there

under

ma

y b

e inte

rcepte

d, corr

upte

d o

r dela

yed. A

s a

resu

lt, S

LR

do

es n

ot a

ccep

t a

ny

resp

onsib

ility

fo

r an

y err

ors

or

om

issio

ns h

ow

soever

caused a

nd S

LR

accepts

no r

esponsib

ility

for

changes m

ade to this

em

ail

or

any a

tta

chm

ent after

tra

nsm

issio

n f

rom

SL

R.

Whils

t all

reasonable

endeavours

are

taken b

y S

LR

to s

cre

en a

ll em

ails

for

know

n v

iruses, S

LR

can

not gu

ara

nte

e that a

ny tra

nsm

issio

n w

ill b

e v

iru

s f

ree.

Any v

iew

s o

r opin

ions a

re s

ole

ly those o

f th

e a

uth

or

and d

o n

ot necessarily

repre

sent th

ose o

f S

LR

Ma

na

gem

en

t Ltd

, or

an

y o

f its s

ubsid

iaries, u

nle

ss

specific

ally

sta

ted.

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Consultin

g (

South

Afr

ica)

(Pro

prieta

ry)

Lim

ited a

nd S

LR

Consultin

g (

Afr

ica)

(Pro

prieta

ry)

Lim

ited a

re b

oth

su

bsid

iaries o

f S

LR

Ma

na

gem

en

t L

td.

Regis

tere

d O

ffic

e:

Unit 7

Fourw

ays M

anor

Offic

e P

ark

, C

nr

Ro

os a

nd M

acbeth

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eet, F

ourw

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S

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pre

vio

us

corr

esp

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20

16

reg

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bo

ve-

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pro

ject

ref

ers.

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ind

icat

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n o

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pre

vio

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co

rres

po

nd

ence

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hin

o O

il a

nd

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lora

tio

n S

ou

th A

fric

a (P

ty)

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(R

hin

o O

il a

nd

Gas)

has

app

lied

to

the

Pet

role

um

Agen

cy S

outh

Afr

ica

(PA

SA

) fo

r an

exp

lora

tio

n r

ight

for

oil

and

gas

on v

ario

us

farm

s in

the

no

rther

n

par

ts o

f K

waZ

ulu

-Nat

al.

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rder

to

info

rm a

dec

isio

n o

n t

he e

nvir

on

menta

l auth

ori

sati

on t

hat

is

req

uir

ed,

the

app

lica

tio

n i

s

sub

ject

to

a S

cop

ing a

nd

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vir

on

menta

l Im

pac

t A

ssess

ment

pro

cess

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envir

on

menta

l im

pac

t re

po

rt (

EIR

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r th

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roje

ct w

as m

ade

avai

lab

le t

o r

egis

tere

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nte

rest

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arti

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I&A

Ps)

for

revie

w a

nd

co

mm

ent

fro

m t

he

9 N

ovem

ber

20

16

unti

l 1

5 D

ecem

ber

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16

, w

ith t

he

final

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due

for

sub

mis

sio

n t

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AS

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n

earl

y J

anuar

y 2

01

7.

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wev

er,

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o O

il a

nd

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has

bee

n s

ucc

essf

ul

in a

pp

lyin

g t

o P

AS

A f

or

an e

xte

nsi

on t

o t

he

EIR

sub

mis

sio

n d

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he

revis

ed s

ub

mis

sio

n d

ate

no

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l 2

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o O

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nd

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ap

pli

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or

the

exte

nsi

on a

s it

was

iden

tifi

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in 2

01

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hat

duri

ng t

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roce

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urc

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rop

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d

ow

ner

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form

atio

n f

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the

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eyo

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al,

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t al

l o

f th

e p

rop

erti

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hat

are

the

sub

ject

of

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app

lica

tio

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ere

iden

tifi

ed.

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s

thu

s nec

ess

ary f

or

the

pub

lic

par

tici

pat

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roce

ss t

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tend

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o a

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pro

vid

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e o

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itio

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pro

per

ties

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onab

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pp

ort

unit

y t

o c

om

men

t o

n t

he

app

lica

tio

n.

Sp

ecif

ic d

etai

ls r

egar

din

g t

he

way f

orw

ard

wil

l b

e p

rovid

ed i

n d

ue

cours

e.

Sho

uld

yo

u h

ave

an

y q

uer

ies

on t

he

abo

ve,

or

req

uir

e an

y f

urt

her

info

rmat

ion,

ple

ase

do

no

t hes

itat

e to

co

nta

ct u

s.

Yo

urs

sin

cere

ly

Wil

lia

m B

err

y

En

viro

nm

enta

l A

ssessm

ent P

ractitio

ner

SLR

Consu

ltin

g (

Afr

ica)

(Pty

) Ltd

Em

ail:

wberr

y@

slrconsu

ltin

g.c

om

Mob

ile: +

27

72 4

75

58

89

Tel:

+27

11 4

67

09

45

Ext:

2004

Fax:

+27

11 4

67

09

78

SLR

Consu

ltin

g (

Fo

urw

ays

off

ice)

Blo

ck 7

Fourw

ays M

anor

Off

ice P

ark

C

nr

Roos a

nd M

acbe

th S

treets

F

ourw

ays

, Jo

han

nesburg

, 2060

South

Afr

ica

+

Co

nfi

de

nti

ality

No

tice a

nd

Dis

cla

imer

Th

is c

om

mu

nic

ation a

nd a

ny a

ttachm

ent(

s)

conta

ins info

rmation w

hic

h is c

onfidential and m

ay

als

o b

e legally

privile

ged. It is inte

nded for

the e

xclu

siv

e u

se o

f th

e r

ecip

ien

t(s)

to w

hom

it is

addre

ssed. If y

ou a

re n

ot th

e inte

nded r

ecip

ient, a

ny d

isclo

sure

, copyin

g,

dis

trib

ution o

r any

action t

aken o

r om

itte

d to b

e t

aken

in r

elia

nce o

n it, is p

rohib

ited a

nd m

ay b

e u

nla

wfu

l. If

you h

ave r

eceiv

ed th

is c

om

munic

ation in e

rro

r ple

ase e

mail

us b

y r

etu

rn m

ail

an

d then d

ele

te th

e e

mail

from

you

r sys

tem

togeth

er

with a

ny c

opie

s o

f it. P

lea

se n

ote

that you a

re n

ot pe

rmitt

ed to p

rint, c

op

y, d

isclo

se o

r use p

art

or

all

of th

e c

onte

nt in

any w

ay.

Em

ails

an

d a

ny in

form

ation tra

nsm

itte

d there

under

may b

e inte

rcepte

d, corr

upte

d o

r dela

yed. A

s a

result,

SLR

does n

ot accept any

responsib

ility

for

any

err

ors

or

om

issio

ns h

ow

soever

caused a

nd S

LR

accepts

no r

espon

sib

ility

for

changes m

ade to this

em

ail

or

any a

tta

chm

ent after

transm

issio

n f

rom

SLR

. W

hils

t a

ll re

asona

ble

endeavours

are

taken b

y S

LR

to s

cre

en a

ll em

ails

fo

r know

n v

iruses, S

LR

cannot guara

nte

e that a

ny tra

nsm

issio

n w

ill b

e v

iru

s f

ree.

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iew

s o

r o

pin

ions a

re s

ole

ly those o

f th

e a

uth

or

and d

o n

ot necessarily

repre

sent th

ose o

f S

LR

Managem

ent

Ltd

, or

any o

f its s

ubsid

iaries, unle

ss

sp

ecific

ally

sta

ted.

SLR

Co

nsu

ltin

g (

So

uth

Afr

ica)

(Pro

prieta

ry)

Lim

ited

and S

LR

Consultin

g (

Afr

ica)

(Pro

prieta

ry)

Lim

ited a

re b

oth

subsid

iaries o

f S

LR

Managem

ent Ltd

. R

eg

iste

red

Offic

e:

Unit 7

Fourw

ays M

anor

Offic

e P

ark

, C

nr

Roos a

nd M

acbeth

Str

eet, F

ou

rways,

2191, G

aute

ng

, S

outh

Afr

ica

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ank

s,

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r v

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SIA

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ail:

mhem

min

g@

slrconsu

ltin

g.c

om

Mob

ile: +

27

82 9

40

82

74

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+27

33 3

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58

26

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11 4

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ns h

ow

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ail

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urt

her

info

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hesitate

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tact us.

Yours

sin

cere

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lia

m B

err

y

En

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nm

enta

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ssessm

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SLR

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ltin

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Afr

ica)

(Pty

) Ltd

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ail:

wberr

y@

slrconsu

ltin

g.c

om

Mob

ile: +

27

72 4

75

58

89

Tel:

+27

11 4

67

09

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2004

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+27

11 4

67

09

78

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ltin

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urw

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Blo

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Fourw

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th S

treets

F

ourw

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nfi

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nti

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tice a

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mu

nic

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ny a

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s)

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rmation w

hic

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ay

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e legally

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nd

ed for

the e

xclu

siv

e u

se o

f th

e r

ecip

ien

t(s)

to w

hom

it is

addre

ssed. If y

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aken

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elia

nce o

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ited a

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ay b

e u

nla

wfu

l. If

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eceiv

ed th

is c

om

munic

ation in e

rro

r ple

ase e

mail

us b

y r

etu

rn m

ail

an

d th

en d

ele

te the e

mail

from

you

r sys

tem

togeth

er

with a

ny c

opie

s o

f it. P

lea

se n

ote

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re n

ot perm

itted to p

rint, c

op

y, d

isclo

se o

r use p

art

or

all

of th

e c

onte

nt in

any w

ay.

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ails

an

d a

ny in

form

ation tra

nsm

itte

d there

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may b

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rcepte

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upte

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ela

yed. A

s a

result,

SLR

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ot accept any

responsib

ility

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any

err

ors

or

om

issio

ns h

ow

soever

caused a

nd S

LR

accepts

no r

espon

sib

ility

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ade to this

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ail

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any a

tta

chm

ent after

transm

issio

n f

rom

SLR

. W

hils

t a

ll re

asona

ble

endeavours

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y S

LR

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cre

en a

ll em

ails

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r know

n v

iruses, S

LR

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nte

e that a

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nsm

issio

n w

ill b

e v

irus f

ree.

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iew

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r o

pin

ions a

re s

ole

ly those o

f th

e a

uth

or

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o n

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sent th

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LR

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ubsid

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sp

ecific

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ltin

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uth

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ica)

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prieta

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anor

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cy S

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r an

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n r

ight

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ario

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farm

s in

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par

ts o

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al.

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rder

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rm a

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isio

n o

n t

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nvir

on

menta

l auth

ori

sati

on t

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uir

ed,

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app

lica

tio

n i

s

sub

ject

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cop

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vir

on

menta

l Im

pac

t A

ssess

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nte

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for

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nd

co

mm

ent

fro

m t

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9 N

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16

unti

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ple

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nm

enta

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ssessm

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ractitio

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SLR

Consu

ltin

g (

Afr

ica)

(Pty

) Ltd

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ail:

wberr

y@

slrconsu

ltin

g.c

om

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ile: +

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89

Tel:

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45

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art

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does n

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ow

soever

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no r

espon

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Consu

ltin

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Afr

ica)

(Pty

) Ltd

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ail:

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y@

slrconsu

ltin

g.c

om

Mob

ile: +

27

72 4

75

58

89

Tel:

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11 4

67

09

45

Ext:

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67

09

78

SLR

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ltin

g (

Fo

urw

ays

off

ice)

Blo

ck 7

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ays M

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treets

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han

nesburg

, 2060

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fid

en

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om

munic

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mail

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rn m

ail

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e e

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isclo

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art

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onte

nt in

any w

ay.

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ails

an

d a

ny in

form

ation tra

nsm

itte

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under

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e inte

rcepte

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upte

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r dela

yed. A

s a

result,

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does n

ot accept any

responsib

ility

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any

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ors

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om

issio

ns h

ow

soever

caused a

nd S

LR

accepts

no r

espon

sib

ility

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ade to this

em

ail

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any a

tta

chm

ent after

transm

issio

n f

rom

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ESTCOURT, W

EENEN, KWAZULU-NATAL PROVINCE (Ref No. 12/3/317 ER)

Introduction





Gas (Pty) Ltd (Rhino)

– it abuts the proposed exploration area. No protected area exists in a






We have recently started a smallscale agricultural business growing culinary herbs and plants

suitable for essential oil production, which we hope to use in part to feed into local community

development projects, and are therefore particularly concerned at potential future negative

impacts on water and soil resources, as well as arable land within the application area. This is a

coal mining area, where there are concerns about productive farmland being taken out of



COMMENTS

Particular concerns: W

e are especially concerned about the following sections of the EIA

Report as it currently stands:

4.5.6 Core borehole drilling & 4.5.7 Seismic surveys

We note the first paragraph of these sections: Core borehole drilling/ seismic testing is no longer


environmental approval.

This is in line with the rest of the EIA report, which states repeatedly that the current

application is only for desktop studies, data analysis and aerial FTG surveys which, by their

nature, would be low impact.

However, subsequent paragraphs of section 4.5.6 read: Rhino Oil and Gas would still

propose to undertake core hole drilling as part of further early-phase exploration. The

location of core hole sites is currently unknown, as these would ultimately be determined based on

the findings of the initial exploration activities undertaken in Year 1 and 2. Target locations would


data and FTG survey. Since the exact location of an exploration core hole is flexible, it can be

adjusted to accommodate local features, landowner’ needs and local environmental sensitivities.

This process of adjusting a site’s location would always involve consultation with the land owner to

reach a negotiated access agreement.

In proposing locations for drill sites, consideration would be given to environmental criteria. Each

drill sites would be subject to the requisite environmental assessment and authorisation process.

Likewise, the subsequent paragraphs of section 4.5.7 read: Rhino Oil and Gas would still

propose to undertake seismic surveys as part of further early-phase exploration. The

location of seismic lines is currently unknown, as these would ultimately be determined based on

the findings of the initial exploration activities undertaken in Year 1 and 2. Target routes would


data, FTG surveys and core borehole drilling. Since the exact alignment of a seismic line is flexible,

it can be adjusted to accommodate local features, landowner’ needs and local environmental

sensitivities. This process of adjusting a seismic line’s route would always involve consultation with

the land owner to reach a negotiated access agreement.

In proposing routes for seismic survey alignments, consideration would be given to environmental

criteria. Each route would be subject to the requisite environmental assessment and authorisation

process.

From a reading of these clauses, it would appear that Rhino Oil and Gas wishes to consider

undertaking core borehole drilling and seismic testing as part of this application. If these are to

be

un

de

rta

ke

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rly

ph

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ex

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on

’, th

is m

ea

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tha

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e c

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IA r

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ort

as

it

stands is null and void and needs to be re-visited as the entire document (save for clauses 4.5.6

and 4.5.7) is based around the premise that the applicant intends only doing desktop studies,

data analysis and aerial FTG surveys.

We

to

ok

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att

er

up

wit

h S

LR

Co

nsu

ltin

g, t

he

ap

pli

can

t’s

en

vir

on

me

nta

l co

nsu

lta

nts

(represented by Mr Matthew Hemming) at the public meeting held in Utrecht on 24 November

2016 and were assured that only aerial FTG surveys were to be conducted – there would be no

core borehole drilling or seismic testing considered at this stage. According to information we

received at the meeting – and which is echoed in the EIA report under comment

– there are only

going to be three exploration phases

– a

n i

nit

ial

‘ea

rly

ex

plo

rati

on

ph

ase

’, fo

llo

we

d b

y a

pp

rais

al

and then exploratory drilling. While we understand this and also that, at any stage, the

applicant might halt the process if, for example, resources were not commercially viable or

proved impossible or uneconomical to extract, we are concerned that these two clauses leave an

open door for the applicant to potentially embark on core borehole drilling and seismic surveys

du

rin

g t

he

‘ea

rly

ph

ase

ex

plo

rati

on

’.

We have taken this matter up with Mr Hemming via e-mail on several occasions, the first of

which was sent to him on Sunday, 12 December 2016, and to which he responded the following

day. His standard response has been that the applicant only intends doing aerial FTG surveys

an

d n

ot

core

bo

reh

ole

dri

llin

g n

or

seis

mic

te

stin

g d

uri

ng

‘ea

rly

ph

ase

ex

plo

rati

on

’. H

e a

lso

continues to cite and paraphrase the final paragraphs of sections 4.5.6 and 4.5.7: In proposing

routes for seismic survey alignments, consideration would be given to environmental criteria. Each

route would be subject to the requisite environmental assessment and authorisation process.

After some to-ing and fro-ing, we specifically requested SLR Consulting (Mr Hemming)

to simply state in these clauses that Core borehole drilling/ seismic testing is no longer


environmental approval and remove all subsequent paragraphs from clauses 4.5.6 and 4.5.7 if it

is indeed not the intention of Rhino Oil and Gas to do core borehole drilling and seismic testing

du

rin

g ‘e

arl

y p

ha

se e

xp

lora

tio

n’.

Th

e r

em

ain

ing

pa

rag

rap

hs

are according superfluous. W

e

have also asked him, if he does not agree that these clauses should be removed, to tell us his

reasons for so doing.

We also spoke to Ms Phumla Ngesi at the Petroleum Agency of SA (PASA) on the afternoon of

Tuesday, 13 December 2016 and followed up by e-mail the following afternoon, advising her of

our concerns. She informed us that she is familiar with this application and that, to her

knowledge, the current exploration licence sought is only for aerial FTG surveys and not for

core borehole drilling or seismic testing. She further advised that, should the applicant wish to

include core borehole drilling or seismic testing in its activities for this application, it would

need to either amend the existing application or lodge a new application with PASA, the current

EIA report as it stands would be rendered null and void and the entire process would need to be

re-started.

Late afternoon on 14 December 2016, after more fruitless e-mail exchanges with Mr Hemming,

Ms Ngesi e-mailed me to say that she would look into the matter and would get back to me by

close of business on Thursday, 15 December 2016 (the deadline for comments on this EIA

report is also on that date). W

e received the following response from her via e-mail in the late

afternoon:

Firstly, I trust that you have submitted your comments to the Environmental Assessment

Practitioner i.e. SLR Consulting so that they are recorded and addressed in the final Environmental

Impact Assessment Report. The reason I am raising this is that it is the EAPs responsibility to

address all comments and concerns raised as part of the consultation process before submitting

the reports to the regulatory authority. Our role as the Agency is to assess the manner in which

such comments and concerns have been addressed.

As discussed with you, our understanding with respect to what is proposed is that, the applicant

intends undertaking an FTG which is basically an airborne survey, and assuming that the

Environmental Authorisation and exploration right are granted, and if FTG results show that

there is a potential for oil and gas, additional exploration activities such as seismic survey or core

drilling will be carried out. It is our understanding therefore that such will not take place without

the holder or EAP undertaking the following: (i) application for either an amendment of the

Environmental Authorisation or a new application for EA depending on the scope of what is

proposed, (ii) undertaking further consultation with the I&APs on the proposed activities which

were not part of the initial EA application. In our discussion yesterday we seemed we to be at the

same level of understanding. I hope nothing has changed from your side and if it is still the case, we

will be in a position to advise the EAP to provide clarity in that regard.

I would further like to reiterate that on receipt of the final EIR we will make an evaluation as to

how the I&APs comments have been addressed.

We would respectfully submit that PASA needs to establish wha

t R

hin

o O

il a

nd

Ga

s’s

inte

nti

on

s

are w

ith

re

ga

rd t

o ‘e

arl

y p

ha

se e

xp

lora

tio

n’ – are they going to confine their activities to desktop

studies, data analysis and aerial FTG surveys at this time without any possibility of core

borehole drilling and seismic testing? Alternatively, is there any possibility that they intend to

do core borehole drilling and seismic testing at this stage? If the latter is the case, we would

request that the current EIA process be halted and the applicant proceed as recommended by

PASA (see above) so that all the potential negative impacts of core borehole drilling and seismic

testing can be stated, together with specialist studies if required, and recommended mitigation

measures for I&APs who might potentially be affected by such activities.

Should Rhino Oil and Gas not be anticipating doing core borehole drilling or seismic

test

ing

du

rin

g ‘e

arl

y p

ha

se e

xp

lora

tio

n’ (

wh

ich

is

wh

at

I&A

Ps

ha

ve

be

en

to

ld r

ep

ea

ted

ly

and is in line with the rest of the EIA report document as it stands), then we request that

clauses 4.5.6 and 4.5.7 simply state that Core borehole drilling/ seismic testing is no longer


environmental approval with the remainder of the paragraphs under those clauses simply being

removed.

Other Comments:

Section 4.1.2 Applicant’s background

The second paragraph of this section reads: Rhino Resources’ goal is to develop these natural

resources with the benefit of enhanced prosperity for African host countries and communities.

However, I&APs were expressly told by the applicant at a public meeting held on 24 November

2016 that no jobs would be created by their activities, as they will be needing personnel who

have oil and gas experience, which most South Africans do not have. No opportunities for

unskilled workers, which comprise the majority of the available labour force in the application

area, would therefore be offered.





As

sta

ted

els

ew

he

re i

n t

he

EIA

re

po

rt, R

hin

o O

il &

Ga

s (P

ty)

Ltd

, Rh

ino

Re

sou

rce

s’ S

ou

th A

fric

an




proceeding.


Th

is s

ect

ion

of

the

EIA

Re

po

rt r

eit

era

tes

the

So

uth

Afr

ica

n g

ov

ern

me

nt’

s p

osi

tion that gas


few

er

em

issi

on

s th

an

co

al,

th

e c

urr

en

t b

asi

s o

f th

e c

ou

ntr

y’s

ele

ctri

city

su

pp

ly, w

ith

ov

er

90

% o

f

















We are also at a loss as to why the South African government is not placing more emphasis on

renewable energy options, rather than simply focusing on business-as-usual energy sources (i.e.

coal), as well as gas and nuclear. According to Greenpeace Africa, South Africa is ideally placed

to take advantage of renewable energy options, including wind and solar. There is already

significant wind energy development taking place in South Africa, especially in the Eastern and

Western Cape.

Th

e e

xe

cuti

ve

su

mm

ary

of

the

org

an

iza

tio

n’s

Powering the Future report states: “

Ve

ry o

fte

n i

t is

arg

ue

d t

ha

t re

ne

wa

ble

en

erg

y t

ech

no

log

y c

an

no

t p

rov

ide

th

e n

ece

ssa

ry ‘b

ase

loa

d’ e

lectricity








Esk

om

’s c

ap

aci

ty e

xp

an

sio

n p

rog

ram

me

, th

en

Esk

om

sh

ou

ld b

e i

nv

est

ing

in

re

ne

wa

ble

en

erg

y

sources

for

a s

ust

ain

ab

le f

utu

re.”

Th

e r

ep

ort

fu

rth

er

sta

tes:

“F

oss

il a

nd

nu

cle

ar

ba

sed

po

we

r is

str

on

gly

lo

bb

ied

fo

r a

nd

po

liti

cal





too expensive... In South Africa, the development of the RE Industry is held back by lack of

















mentioned previously, informed at a recent public meeting that no jobs would be created as

Rhino would seek personnel with oil and gas experience, of which this area has very few, if any.

Therefore, no jobs will be created, either now or in the future.



jobs. W

e do not know how these figures were arrived at; Jonathan Deal of the NGO Treasure the



4.4 Application area and regional setting

At public meetings, we have repeatedly been told that this particular IEA is for early-phase

exploration only, which we do understand. However, when we - as residents, property owners,

business owners and concerned citizens in the area - query what this application could

ultimately lead to, should commercially viable petroleum resources be discovered, we are told

not to concern ourselves with future impacts.

Yet, in the EIA Report, under this paragraph, it is stated: Future ground-based exploration

activities would not take place across all of the ER area but would be confined to strategic or

target areas. At this early stage of exploration Rhino Oil and Gas is not able to specify exactly

where within the ER application area future ground-based exploration activities would be

undertaken.

As these activities could potentially include drilling and even smallscale hydraulic fracturing

with potential negative impacts on local water supplies, human and animal health and rural

livelihoods, we are concerned as to the eventual outcome of this early-phase exploration and

subsequent exploration phases, including ground-based exploration activities.

4.42 Screening to define target areas

The provisions of this section have been duly noted. Would these constitute guarantees by

Rhino that they will proceed in the manner stipulated in this section? What confirmation do we

have that the applicant would abide by these provisions? W

hat about compliance with other

applicable laws?

4.5.1 Revised exploration work programme:

According to the final paragraph of the section, which reads:

A benefit of this revised approach is that any future application for ground-based exploration

activities would be focussed on specified sites, thereby enabling I&APs to have a better

understanding of where Rhino Oil and Gas proposes to access land and conduct ground-based

exploration activities. This addresses some of the concerns raised by I&APs relating to where the

proposed ground-based exploration activities may be located. The future environmental

assessment process would investigate and report on the environmental attributes of the specified

sites.

As I&APs in this area, we nevertheless remain concerned that ground-based exploration

activities, as well as eventual production (which, after all, is the ultimate aim of exploration), has

the potential to negatively impact local and regional water supplies, rural livelihoods, food

pro

du

ctio

n, h

um

an

an

d l

ive

sto

ck h

ea

lth

as

we

ll a

s th

e a

rea

’s s

ign

ific

an

t b

iod

ive

rsit

y a

nd

ecosystem services. W

e would therefore request that exploration, even early-phase exploration

using non-invasive techniques such as the anticipated FTG aerial surveys, not proceed and this

application be abandoned in favour of the precautionary principle.

The extraction of unconventional petroleum resources may well result in impacts that are

difficult to mitigate or reverse, according to well-documented experiences in the United States,

Australia and other countries where unconventional resources are being extracted. In northern

KZN, there are a significant number of poverty-stricken people with limited access to

information, who will not even know about this until it happens and they are negatively

impacted. This is an environmental justice and human rights issue.

4.7.3 Type of activity

The last paragraph of this section reads: Rhino Oil and Gas still intends to undertake core hole

drilling and seismic surveys as part of further early-phase exploration but would only do so after

target sites had been identified and each site subject to the requisite environmental assessment

and authorisation process.

This appears to be a reiteration of clauses 4.5.6 and 4.5.7 – as discussed earlier in these

comments.

4.7.5 The ‘No-go” alternative

As

I&A

Ps

liv

ing

an

d w

ork

ing

in

th

e a

pp

lica

tio

n a

rea

, we

wo

uld

str

on

gly

su

gg

est

th

at

the

‘no

go

’

alt

ern

ati

ve

be

co

nsi

de

red

. T

he

na

ture

of

the

re

sou

rce

s a

re u

nk

no

wn

, alt

ho

ug

h R

hin

o’s

ge

olo

gis

t

has indicated to me in writing that unconventional resources are sought. The extraction thereof

may well involve the controversial extraction method of hydraulic fracturing, which has a slew

of negative human and environmental impacts. It is our contention that, due to the high risks

such resource extraction is likely to place on communities (the negative impacts of which may

we

ll l

ast

fo

r d

eca

de

s), t

he

‘no

go

’ alternative be seriously considered.

This area is already subject to wind farm applications and is also ideally placed for solar (in fact,

many farms and households use solar for water heating, swimming pool pumps, lighting,

borehole pumps and the like). These energy sources have been evaluated as being relatively

low impact compared to oil and gas extraction.

Without this knowledge no oil or gas field development would be able to occur. In the absence of oil

and gas production there would obviously not be any of the potential risks related to detailed

exploration nor future production. Similarly the potential benefits of oil and gas production would

not be derived.

In my opinion, local communities, landowners and residents would not derive much benefit

from oil and gas production. Few jobs will be generated in the medium- to long-term, as few

people in South Africa have oil and gas job experience and the unskilled labour in this area most

certainly does not. In addition, should hydraulic fracturing – or even conventional drilling – be

used to access the resource, this may well create a slew of environmental impacts that would

als

o i

mp

act

th

e r

eg

ion

’s p

eo

ple

. A

mo

ng

th

ese

are

:

· Unsustainable water abstraction – hydraulic fracturing is purported to use around 20

million litres of water per frack per well (Treasure the Karoo Action Group). In an

increasingly dry country and region, where will this water come from? This is a coal

mining area and unsustainable water abstraction by mines has already reduced water

for farmers, towns and communities;

· Water pollution – oil and gas production and extraction in many parts of the world has

resulted in serious and at times irreparable water pollution. As a coal mining area, we

are already subject to water pollution impacts. Important water resources, such as river

sources and catchments, dams and wetlands are all included in the application area,

notwithstanding the provisions of Section 122 of the MPRDA;

· Loss of rural livelihoods

– Northern KZN is primarily a rangeland cattle and sheep

farming area with ecotourism and historical tourism (near Dundee) opportunities.

Productive agricultural land may be taken out of production due to the provisions of

Section 8 of the MPRDA regarding access to land by rights holders. Ecotourism and

historic tourism may also suffer

– who wants to enjoy ecotourism activities when these

are fronted by countless oil and gas wells? Birds and wildlife may also leave the area

due to factors such as disturbance, habitat destruction, unregulated hunting and the like.

These livelihoods will not be replaced by oil and gas jobs.

· Human and livestock health impacts

– In the USA in particular, people living near oil and

gas development have experienced considerable negative human health impacts due to

the use of toxic chemicals, water and air pollution and the like. Livestock have also been

negatively impacted, with a knock-on effect for rural livelihoods.

· Biodiversity loss – Birds and wildlife may be negatively impacted and mobile species

may migrate from the area. (See ecotourism impacts above.) There may also be a loss of

ecosystem services due to landscape change, infrastructure development, species loss

(through local extinction or migration) and the like.

Please explain how oil and gas development will improve our lives?!?

6.4 “No Go” alternative (2)

Given the wide array of unknown facts regarding the potential for economic growth and the

potential for environmental impacts arising from unconventional gas production, as well as the

unknown facts of the future energy mix in the absence of gas, the overall impact associated with

the “no-go” alternative is considered to be of unknown significance.

Clearly, the applicant does not live, work or have any other interest in this area beyond what it

can exploit. For residents, landowners, farmers and businesses (which are often directly

dependent on natural resources or offer support services to other businesses, such as

agriculture and ecotourism), the impleme

nta

tio

n o

f a

‘no

go

’ alt

ern

ati

ve

wo

uld

be extremely

significant, as it would mean that such people could continue to reside here and go about their

economic activities without needing to consider the potential risks posed by the development of

an oil and gas industry in this predominantly rural area.

6.5 Cumulative impacts

As mentioned previously, this is a coal mining area and there are numerous applications for

both opening new mines and re-opening old ones. This area is already being impacted by, inter

alia, polluted water, including acid mine drainage contamination, unsightly and polluting waste

dumps, unrehabilitated mines (the owners cannot always be found), loss of water due to de-

watering activities, historic and current infrastructural damage ranging from severely cracked

buildings to road infrastructure damage due to coal truck traffic, and the overall negative impact

of

‘bo

om

an

d b

ust

’ min

ing

eco

no

mie

s. O

il a

nd

ga

s e

xtr

act

ion

is

un

lik

ely

to

re

lie

ve

th

ese

im

pa

cts

and may well increase them and also add other negative impacts. Despite the legal obligations

of the extractive industry to limit pollution, employ locally, create social development

programmes and clean up on closure, mines appear to regularly evade these responsibilities.

Why should the oil and gas industry be any different?

Another aspect that has not been mentioned in any of the EIA Reports for these applications,

nor in the extensive discourse on the subject, is infrastructure development, including pipelines

to transport oil and gas, the development of well pads, wastewater pits, road building and the

like. These developments and their potential impacts (leaks, spills, reducing productive

agricultural land) are likely to add to the cumulative impacts of oil and gas development in KZN

and, indeed, other parts of South Africa.

Bron

wyn

Howa

rd &

Jock

Tam

e Registered I&APs

Utrecht, KZN

15 December 2016

Exploration Methods: Drilling

We are surprised that only 10 core holes would be planned across an area of some two million

hectares! Would the number of core holes increase, should initial drilling prove unsuccessful?

Concerns that we have with regard to drilling include:

· The fact that the applicant is unable to advise I&APs as to where these cores will be

drilled – when will we be advised?;

· Impacts on affected landowners, including taking land out of production, the destruction

of vegetation, loss of biodiversity, especially threatened species, impacts on

infrastructure such as farm roads and buildings, effects on stewardship agreements with

local conservation authorities, damage due to negligence, such as gates being left open,

potential for veld fires, stock theft, trapping of wildlife, break-ins at farmsteads, vehicle

theft and the like.

· Impacts on towns and cities, including infrastructure such as roads, buildings, houses,

water pipes, electricity and communications cables and supporting structures and the

like.

· Waste management is a concern, including waste from drilling such as drilling fluids and

muds, used oil and filters, spilled fuel and oil, drill cuttings, spent and/or unused

solvents, scrap metal and solid waste.

· Where will personnel be housed; if in caravans, as suggested in the BID document, how

will the security of landowners or townspeople (as the case may be) be ensured? What

arrangements will be made for sanitation, water supply, rubbish collection and the like?

· How will the impact of the drilling rig and associated equipment, outside personnel and

living arrangements for personnel be managed and mitigated, where necessary?

Exploration Methods: Seismic Surveys

At the public meetings and in the scoping report, we have been advised that seismic surveys will

be carried out to map the ground formations beneath the surface. We are concerned by the

following:

According to the document Promoting Environmental Responsibility in Seismic Operations by

David Gibson (USA) and Sean Rice (England), the average weight of a vibroseis truck is 29 500

kg, although some vehicles may weigh as much as 38 600 kg. The road system in northern KZN

is generally fragile, with a large number of unpaved roads. Tar roads are already compromised

by

th

e p

ass

ag

e o

f h

ea

vy

co

al

tru

cks

ma

kin

g t

he

ir w

ay

to

th

e R

ich

ard

’s B

ay

Co

al

Te

rmin

al

fro

m

inland and also transporting coal to power stations, resulting in potholes, poor road conditions

(roads are constantly being repaired) and fatal accidents. Much of the road network consists of

unpaved roads and the impact of extremely heavy vehicles on such roads, together with other

impacts including dust and the potential increase in road accidents, will need to be borne by the

local population, who use these roads regularly to go about their daily business. As it is, the

Provincial Roads Department and Amajuba District spend much time and effort keeping these

roads in good repair without the additional burden of exceedingly heavy vehicles traversing

them. (This would be another potential impact if fracking is ultimately used to facilitate

production.)

From the same document, a path 4 – 5 m wide at least would need to be cleared through existing

vegetation to enable the vehicle to reach the site where the shot-hole is to be drilled. Much of

the Amajuba District Municipal area falls within the grassland biome; in this region, some 30%

of the grasslands have been transformed, as opposed to the national average of 60% or more.

Th

e r

eg

ion

is

ho

me

to

a v

ari

ety

of

thre

ate

ne

d g

rass

lan

d s

pe

cie

s, i

ncl

ud

ing

Ru

dd

’s a

nd

Bo

tha

’s

Lark, W

attled and Grey Crowned Crane (it is an important breeding area for the Wattled and

Blue Crane), Yellow-breasted Pipit, D

en

ha

m’s

Bu

sta

rd, L

an

ne

r F

alc

on, Secretarybird and Oribi

antelope. The predominant agricultural activity is rangeland cattle farming, a form of land use

appropriate for grasslands, which depends on the integrity of the grassland ecosystem (which is

also one of the most complex in the world). Disturbance of the vegetation would compromise

the grasslands, which would never be able to be completely rehabilitated due to the complexity

of the ecosystem. In addition, vegetation clearing or stripping is likely to exacerbate potential

erosive impacts. Many landowners in the region also complain that mining companies who

accessed their land historically for prospecting never made good on promises to rehabilitate the

lands they traversed; on some farms, their tracks remain, many years later. This is an additional

concern regarding seismic surveys.

According to information on the internet regarding seismic surveys, it appears that helicopters,

dynamite and air guns may also be used. We would like clarity as to whether these methods

would be used and what impacts they are likely to have on infrastructure, both urban and rural,

land use, existing livelihoods, such as tourism and agriculture, biodiversity, vegetation, wildlife,

agricultural livestock and the like. How will negative impacts be mitigated? Will any

rehabilitation be done? Will landowners or municipalities, as the case may be, be compensated

for any damage?

Much of the groundwater in this area collects in perched aquifers, which in turn supply streams

and wetlands. These aquifers are on a rock base; if activities such as explosions or seismic

vibrations were to damage such rock bases, the water would drain away and would never be

replenished. As the increasing incidences of drought in this area, not to mention the current

mega-drought conditions, are rendering more people reliant on boreholes and groundwater

sources, as opposed to surface resources, the potential negative impact of seismic surveys on

aquifers is extremely serious. Many farmers and even certain towns in the region are now

exclusively dependent on groundwater for their water supply.

According to the Amajuba District Municipality IDP, a particular geohazard identified is that of

‘ca

tast

rop

hic

slo

pe

fa

ilu

res

or

oth

er

kin

ds

of

gro

un

d i

nst

ability... triggered by hydro-

meteorological factors, such as rainstorms or floods. Those parts of the Amajuba District that

are underlain by the Masotcheni Formation maybe prone to localised ground stability problems,

if they happen to be close to areas o

f a

ctiv

e d

on

ga

ero

sio

n.’

Acc

ord

ing

to

th

e a

cco

mp

an

yin

g

maps, more than half the Amajuba District, particularly to the west and south (falling within the

Newcastle and Dannhauser Local Municipalities, as well as the southern portion of the

Emadlangeni/Utrecht Local Municipality) are considered high to very high risk. Seismic surveys

could trigger such events, particularly if surveys are conducted during the summer rainy

season. Heavy rains may trigger floods, particularly in the catchments of major river systems

that traverse the Amajuba District, which may also impact seismic surveys and exacerbate

erosive impacts. Vehicles may also become bogged down, increasing risks to vegetation and

private and public road infrastructure, as outlined above.

According t

o t

he

Am

aju

ba

Dis

tric

t M

un

cip

ali

ty’s

ID

P, t

he

en

tire

mu

nic

ipa

l a

rea

, wh

ich

in

clu

de

s

the city of Newcastle, as well as the towns of Utrecht and Dannhauser, are at high risk for veld

fires, with almost the entire district being categorised as very high or high risk. If seismic

surveys are conducted at times when the veld is very dry on account of the season (i.e. in the

winter dry season) or as a result of drought, the risk would be exacerbated, particularly if

drilling or survey personnel were careless or if oils and inflammables were to catch alight.

As regards the seismic surveys, where would personnel be based? If informal caravan camps

are established, all rubbish would need to be removed, a fire control process would need to be

put in place, and adequate sanitation and ablution facilities would need to be provided. Where

would personnel get water and supplies such as food from? As there are relatively few tourist

accommodation establishments in parts of the Amajuba District in particular, the contention

raised at some public meetings that accommodation businesses could benefit from exploration

activities by virtue of offering accommodation to personnel has limitations. If local personnel

are employed, they may not necessarily require accommodation.

In the light of the above factors, we insist that a separate EIA be done for drilling and seismic

surveys. This appears to be standard practice in other parts of the world where oil and gas

exploration takes place frequently. We also need to know exactly where these surveys will be

done and whether affected communities and/or landowners would have any say in this regard.

Socio-economic Impacts:

As communities in the application area are well aware from experiences with coal mining in

particular, even rumours of potential jobs frequently result in an influx of often indigent people

to an area. As many such arrivals do not find the jobs they are seeking, often because

insufficient opportunities are available, they turn to crime, as they may be unable to afford to

return to their place of origin. In recent months, parts of the Amajuba District have seen an

increase in crime, particularly housebreakings and motor vehicle theft. In recent years, there

have also been farm murders around Utrecht. The commencement or reinstatement of some

mining operations around Utrecht have resulted in stock theft and increasing security concerns

for local farmers. An influx of indigent people is likely to exacerbate these problems, together

with unemployment, which has increased in recent years, according to the Amajuba District

Mu

nic

ipa

lity

’s I

DP, due to the economic situation in South Africa and globally. We are

concerned that potential socio-economic impacts of petroleum exploration and ultimate

exploitation have not been adequately addressed by Rhino.

We are also aware that the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) now

mandates that mining companies (and presumably oil and gas companies in future) contribute

to local community development. Part of the rationale for this is that, when mines stop

production and move out, local communities are left without work or skills, facing dwindling

resources and economies, not to mention environmental pollution and poor health as a result

thereof. There has been no indication as to whether Rhino would make use of local labour,

whether skills or unskilled, during exploration and/or be involved in any sort of local

community upliftment (e.g. training) during either the exploration or production phase.

Rehabilitation & Compensation

Exploration activities, especially drilling and seismic surveys, are likely to create certain

environmental impacts. More detail is required as to how the applicant plans to mitigate these

and rehabilitate any lands or infrastructure or part thereof that may be damaged as a result of

exploration activities, as well as whether they will be compensating farmers, landowners and

municipalities for any losses incurred (e.g. as a result of infrastructure damage, stock theft,

housebreaking, etc) that may occur while drillers and seismic operators and any related

personnel are on site.

We insist that, should the scoping report be accepted by PASA, a full EIA relating to exploration

be done, covering all the above concerns, and indicating how the applicant plans on mitigating

all negative impacts, as well as a separate, full EIA regarding drilling and seismic surveys, which

may have far-reaching negative impacts in their own right.

BRONWYN HOWARD

Documents

William Berry - Amazon S3