Water Management
The Shalina water conservation policy is recognized both by the Company’s mining and processing operations and a clean water management programme for local communities.
We are committed to protecting the environment and recognizing the relationship of our sourcing and processing operations on the local environment. We are committed to reduce our environmental impact through any operation that we carry out. Our plant practices the concept of "reduce, recover, recycle & reuse". We have also made inroads into preserving the environment in which we operate. Digby Wells Consultants of South Africa were contracted to produce a full environmental study of Chemaf mining and processing with a special emphasis on hydrogeology.
Explosives
Chemaf use ammonium nitrate and fuel oil for blasting, when mixed properly these components produce an oxygen balanced explosive with minimum atmospheric disturbance. As the components do not become an explosive until they are mixed, special storage facilities are not necessary.
Emissions Reduction
We follow the world renowned environment risk assessment concept “black box” approach to assess for any environment impact for our operation and to ensure that it is fully safe for operation. Our processes are also built taking in to consideration the environmental impact. For example:
- the sulphuric acid plant that we operate is with double conversion double absorption (dcda) contact process, to reduce SO2 emissions into the environment.
- The plant is equipped with high conversion catalysts and the best in class mist eliminator. The plant also has tailing scrubbers (alkali scrubber) and an online SO2 analyzer. The system is fully operated though DCS with interlocks to take care of any abnormal situation. Also Magnesium is removed from the effluent after the cobalt hydroxide section of the Usoke plant by precipitation with quick lime.
Green Belt Improvement
The Green Belt initiative is a plantation of trees aimed at reducing pollution. The trees planted absorb both gaseous and particulate pollutants in the air, thus removing them from the atmosphere. Our aim is to continue to widen the Green Belt in our area of operation. The following characteristics are considered in the selection of plants for our Green Belt development project:
- The plant should be fast growing.
- It should have thick canopy cover.
- It should be perennial and evergreen.
- It should have large leaf area index.
- It should be efficient in absorbing pollutants without significant effects on plant growth.
We are also in the process of celebrating a “plantation day’ within our organization. A tree inventory is also being prepared for continuous monitoring and enhancement of our Green Belt. In 2009 the programme was responsible for planting 729 trees of Ficus Panda, Ficus Benzamina, Plumeria and Nerium Oleander varieties in and around Usoke plant. As a part of our green belt improvement drive, we have not only planted within our factory but also have gone to the neighbouring areas. The Company has invested $24,500/-and around 1500 Man days into this project. This has resulted in an improved air quality with the CO2 level in ambient air currently at 377 ppm and airborne dust reduction.
In future, we have various plans to maintain ecological balance through the development of new green belts and mass tree plantation as and where space is available and suited to growth of the trees, we are heading towards the introduction of new varieties of plants which will in help in achieving maximum attenuation of air and noise pollutants.
Reduction in Energy Consumption:
Energy conservation to us, is the reduction of quantity of energy used in our process. We have an excellent condensate recovery system, which we focus on continually and we also use energy efficient motors in our process. As a Company we always keep exploring the opportunities for energy conservation.