Motuoane Energy (Pty) Ltd (Motuoane) (hereafter referred to as the applicant) wishes to convert a portion of their existing Exploration Right area (ER315) into a Production Right (PR). The proposed extraction and production will target helium and methane gas, and will consist of up to 43 production wells, gas gathering pipelines, a helium recovery and gas processing plant (CNG or LNG) and associated infrastructure. In addition, ongoing exploration activities will include drilling of exploration wells, seismic and/or audio magnetotelluric surveys.
The proposed project falls within the Masilonyana and Matjhabeng Local Municipalities, in the Lejweleputswa District Municipality, Free State Province. The application area covers approximately 14 440 hectares (ha), and the approximate centre point of the site is located at 28°14’38.37″S and 26°57’54.97″E. The site boundary is ~15km south east of the town of Virginia, ~28km south east of the town of Welkom, ~13km south west of the town of Ventersburg and ~21km north east of the town of Theunissen. A locality map is included below for ease of reference.
Motuoane has appointed Environmental Impact Management Services (Pty) Ltd (EIMS) as the Independent Environmental Assessment Practitioner (EAP) to assist with undertaking the required authorisation processes (including the statutory public participation), and to compile and submit the required documentation in support of application for:
- Environmental Authorisation (EA) in accordance with the National Environmental Management Act (Act 107 of 1998) (NEMA), Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Regulations, 2014 as amended for the following listed activity – GNR 984 Activity 20.
- Water Use Licence (WUL) in accordance with the National Water Act – NWA (Act 36 of 1998).
- Waste Management Licence in accordance with the requirements of the National Environmental Management: Waste Act- NEM:WA (Act 59 of 2008).
- Atmospheric Emissions Licence variation in accordance with the requirements of the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act- NEM:AQA (Act 39 of 2004).
EIMS will be following the procedures defined in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Regulations (GRN982 of 2014, as amended) for undertaking a Scoping and EIA process. In accordance with Chapter 6 of the EIA Regulations, a public participation process will be undertaken. You are hereby invited to register and comment on the proposed project and application/s. In order to ensure that you are identified and registered as an Interested and Affected Party (I&AP) and that your comments are captured, please submit your name, contact details, the reason for your interest in writing or telephonically, to EIMS. Please note that only registered I&AP’s will be informed of future project information and opportunities for participation.