CO2 Capture and Storage in Basalts, Mpumalanga, RSA – Pilot Project from CGS of South Africa

NEMUS was appointed by CGS, the Council of Geosciences of South Africa (formerly the Geological Survey of South Africa) to develop the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment of the CO2 Capture and Storage Pilot Project, through an international tender grant by the World Bank.
On 28 June 2023, the public consultation period for the CO2 Storage Project in the Ventersdorp Supergroup Basalts of the Mpumalanga province, approximately 90 km east of Johannesburg, was concluded. The project is a pilot and innovator study developed by the CGS, within the framework of the South African government’s strategy to decarbonise the economy and adapt to climate change.
The aim is to store 10,000 to 50,000 tonnes of CO2 in the basalts of the Ventersdorp Supergroup formation, at a depth of around 1,200 metres. The CO2 will be captured at the Secunda petrochemical complex, one of the major CO2 emitting units in the world.
NEMUS developed the ESIA for the pilot project and the public consultation was carried out in collaboration with NEMAI, a consultant from South Africa. The project is now going for approval by the DFFE (Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment), South Africa’s EIA authority.