Environmental Assessment
Volume A-7
Introduction
EA Methods and Study Area
Plant, Tailings and Port Facilities
The socioeconomic study area includes the footprints of the facilities including
potentially affected communities such as Toamasina. Study areas for
resettlement have been determined based on the project footprint. However the
complete socioeconomic study area is broader, to also assess the impacts of the
tailings area on surrounding populations who will not need to be resettled.
7.3
TEMPORAL SCOPE
The temporal scope of the EA is defined primarily by the anticipated project
duration, which is as follows:
•
Construction – 3 years;
•
Operation – 27 years; and
•
Closure – 30 years and beyond.
The main project phases include construction, operations, and closure
(Volume A, Sections 3 and 4). Some effects are limited to the period of time that
the project activity is occurring, such as the socioeconomic effect of the peak
construction workforce. Other effects, however, will extend beyond the period of
time of project activity. For example, certain project facilities, such as the
tailings landscape, will become permanent features of the environment.
Some EA disciplines, particularly terrestrial, examine the project under three
temporal conditions: pre-development, full development (i.e., maximum extent of
disturbance) and closure. Although there will be sequential removal and
reclamation of terrestrial components, this sequential development and
reclamation process will not be included in the assessment. Therefore, the
assessment will be conservative in its approach as the maximum possible extent
of disturbance will be considered. As requested in the ToR, the extent of existing
disturbance from ongoing exploration in the mine area has been captured and
reported separately in the EA. For the terrestrial assessments, closure was
defined as ten years following reclamation.
7.4
IMPACT ANALYSIS
Impact analyses will be performed for the key questions for each EA component
(discipline). The impact analysis consists of five main steps:
Ambatovy Project
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