Modern Mining June 2016

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June 2016MODERN MINING47
CSR/GREEN MINING
ture
The Greenmined
Environmental team
from left: Sonette Smit,
MD; Daryn Price, office
administrator; Murchellin
Saal, project consultant;
and Jemma Bowles, legal
advisor.
includes that of all departmental processes and
even though the application process has been
dramatically simplified, Smit believes that it is
ever more critical for organisations to use the
services of practitioners who are able to seam-
lessly follow the requisite processes through
the ‘One Environmental System’.
An important differentiator that Greenmined
Environmental offers its client base is access to
an in-house legal advisor. “This assists with
the processes according to the legislation time
frame, and having this level of expertise on
hand is a real advantage as – should there be
any legal issues on a client site – we are able
to offer a legal service directly from our con-
sultancy,” Smit says. “This can translate into a
major cost saving in terms of time, which is of
the essence in such applications, and is obvi-
ously also a saving in bottom line costs.”
Another service offering that is seeing a
steady increase in demand is that of occupa-
tional hygiene. With the focus on uplifting
levels of occupational hygiene and the need
to comply with the requirements of the Mine
Health and Safety Act, operators are reviewing
current programmes to ensure that these are
in line with the mandatory codes of practice
applicable to individual sites.
“We are able to conduct a full audit on occu-
pational hygiene monitoring programmes and
this includes aspects such as personnel exposure
to noise, airborne pollutants, the thermal envi-
ronment and ergonomics. We are able to assess
both the physical and chemical stresses and pro-
vide comprehensive feedback,” Smit says.
Such programme audits will determine
any gaps in the management and monitoring
system, and then identify appropriate correc-
tive action to address any non-conformances.
Greenmined Environmental is able to make
recommendations in terms of implementing
the corrective action and then monitoring the
programme going forward.
Greenmined Environmental was founded
in early 2012 by Smit, whose environmental
management experience draws from her tenure
at private environmental consultancies and at
the Department of Water Affairs (DWA). The
company offers a depth of understanding of
government departmental mechanisms and the
functions that support the success of depart-
mental application processes.
Smit says that although the consultancy is
a small business, it has a solid reputation for
delivering results that ensure its client base
remains compliant with current legislation. 
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