January - February 2014
MODERN QUARRYING
33
FACE TO FACEWITH
ASPASA
Ugly sight left for evermore in St Helena Bay.
recently set up a committee which is
actively working towards allying con-
cerns on both sides. “We acknowledge
that the establishment of borrow pits is
sometimes a necessity especially when
no suitable quarries exist nearby,” Pienaar
tells
MQ
.
“Where borrow pits are justifiable, it
is imperative that they are operated and
maintained according to the law. Mining
plans need to be submitted, environmen-
tal impact assessments need to be car-
ried out and rehabilitation plans need to
be lodged before a mining permit can be
issued.”
With the aim of assisting road con-
struction companies, municipalities and
borrow pit operators, Aspasa has com-
piled a booklet entitled ‘Road building,
borrow pits, construction material, quar-
ries: Affects on the commercial quarry
industry’.
“Provided the operators make use of
reasonable management systems and
make use of the comprehensive audit
system supplied in the booklet, compli-
ance should not be a problem,” he says.
“This booklet gives a comprehensive
overview of the requirements for oper-
ating a borrow pit, as well as providing a
full management system audit to ensure
compliance with requirements.”
Beware of bogus mine consultants
The demand for qualified consultants
has exploded in recent years as mining
companies move towards implement-
ing more responsible and sustainable
practices involving workers, surrounding
communities and the environment. In a
growing number of instances, the health,
safety and environmental requirements
of mines has become too specialised for
general staff to cope with, resulting in
fuelling the requirement for outsourced
services through consulting firms and
individual consultants.
Aspasa has, however, issued a stern
warning to members and the industry,
to check the credentials of consultants
beforehand to prevent disastrous conse-
quences in the future.
Pienaar says that although the vast
majority of consultants fulfil an invaluable
role in assisting the industry to comply
with legislation and best practices, “there
are a number of ill-qualified shysters who
moonlight as legitimate experts. We have
seen instances where mines have been
closed down for blatant non-compliance
issues despite having employed the ser-
vices of so-called consultants who never
correctly identified important contra-
ventions on site. There have even been
instances where lives were lost and large-
scale environmental damage caused as a
result of misinformation.
“Both our environmental manage-
ment as well as our health and safety audi-
tors visit member quarries on an annual
basis to conduct our own internal industry
audits. In a number of instances, they have
found management programmes and
advice given by the company’s so-called
consultants to be dangerously inadequate.”
Members of Aspasa have the benefit
of undergoing regular compliance audits,
in line with the Association’s requirements,
as well as all other legal requirements.
Non-members (or mines outside of the
quarrying industry), have no such luxury,
however, and may be vulnerable.
Report and photos by Dale Kelly
The ‘Road building, borrow pits, construction material, quarries:
Affects on the commercial quarry industry’ booklet is available to
members online or from Aspasa directly. Visit
for
further details.
