Metal Smelting & Refining Facility, Thailand
SLP Environmental consultants was appointed to prepare the Environmental & Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) for a proposed secondary metals smelting and refining facility planned for the Eastern Seaboard of Thailand. The ESIA was instructed to fulfill the corporate good governance commitments of the client and the environmental and social assessment requirements of the export credit agency and other project investors. The ESIA study was primarily bench-marked against:
• International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standards;
• IFC Environmental Health and Safety General Guidelines;
• IFC EHSG—Base Metal Smelting and Refining;
• IFC EHSG—Waste Management Facilities; and
• OECD ‘Common Approaches for Environmental and Social Due Diligence’.
Detailed baseline studies were designed and conducted to determine the prevailing environmental and social conditions in the project site area. The stakeholders within the projects area of influence were identified and consulted via questionnaire, community meetings and semi-structured interviews in accordance with the principle of informed consultation and participation (ICP).
Air dispersion modelling (ADM) was undertaken to assess whether the proposed project activities would result in an unacceptable deterioration in air quality and or have potentially adverse impacts on sensitive human and environmental receptors situated within the projects area of influence. Greenhouse gas emissions were quantified and assessed against Good International Industrial Practice (GIIP).
Project impacts were evaluated (in accordance with international best practice) with regard to their potential adverse (and positive) impacts on the identified environmental and social receptors arising as a consequence of project activities during its construction and operational phases.
A detailed Environmental and Social Management and Monitoring Plan (ESMMP) was prepared to ensure that the identified adverse impacts to environmental and social receptors were appropriately mitigated and that the positive impacts of the project were enhanced in accordance with the principles of sustainable development.