The Orom-Cross Graphite project in Akurumo parish, Orom East sub county in Kitgum district is being developed by Consolidated African Resources (Uganda) Limited. It has been on-going since 2013 but focusing mainly on exploration and a drilling campaign to assess the mineral resource among others. The environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) for the project was undertaken in 2017 and subsequently approved by NEMA on 13th June 2017 under certificate no. NEMA/EIA/10207 which has now expired. The Developer equally secured a mining license (ML1959) from the Directorate of Geological Survey and Mines (DGSM) to undertake mining after securing the surface access rights from Locomo Communal Land Association for 21km2. Orom Cross Mining Licence 1959 issued on 20/06/2019 encompasses 2,073 ha of land. The project is on schedule for implementation in 2025 but requires the completion of a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) to be finalized before the end of 2024. Significant scope changes to the original ESIA include expanded production along with access roads, power, water which were not previously considered along with the need for alignment to the IFC standards, the U.S Federal Laws and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) Environmental and Social Policy and Procedures.
The Project comprises the staged development of an open pit mine, processing plant and associated infrastructure,
including water supply, power connection to the grid network, accommodation village and waste rock and tailings management facility. Preliminary pit optimization and mining schedule have been completed, with mining expected to be undertaken by conventional open-cut mining techniques on a contract or ownermining basis. The plant will be initially designed to process 800 kt/y (stage 1). It will be expanded in Stage 2 with an additional parallel module during Year 3 to process 1.6 Mt/y of ore and a Stage 3 expansion to process a total of 2.4 Mt/y from year seven. The proposed method of graphite recovery will be by well-proven crushing, grinding and flotation processes. A product grade of 95% TGC (average) at a nominal 91% recovery will be filtered, dried, screened and bagged ready for transport to market. A dry tailings storage facility will be integrated with a Waste Rock Dump with tailings dewatered, filtered and co-disposed with the waste rock from the mine pit. The bagged product will be transported to a downstream Ugandan Graphite Refinery by truck for further processing/ refining to produce 99.9% purity final graphite in addition to direct transport to world markets through Port of Mombasa in Kenya. The expected life of mine is 14 years.
The ESIA included:
- Biodiversity (Flora and Fauna) assessment
- Hydrological surveys
- Climate Risk Assessment
- Household socio-economic survey
- Cultural and archaeological surveys
- Extensive stakeholder consultations
The following management plans are being developed to align the study to IFC.
- Environmental and Social Management and Monitoring Plan.
- Stakeholder Engagement Plan.
- Community Development Plan.
- Livelihood Restoration Plan
- Emergency Management Plan
- Waste Management Plan
- Biodiversity Management Plan
- Greenhouse Gas and Climate Change Mitigation Plan
- Life of Mine Rehabilitation and Closure Plan
- Occupational Health and Safety Plan.
