Sintoukola Mine, Republic of Congo

A visual analysis has been undertaken to assess and evaluate the potential impacts of the Sintoukola Mine Project, Republic of Congo on greenfield sites ranging from tropical forest, savanah and coastal forests.   Landscape character, landscape quality and “sense of place” where used to determine the value of the visual resource (scenic beauty of the study area).  The visual intrusion of the project was established and then qualified in terms of its visibility intrusion and exposure to determine the severity of impact.  Photographic panoramas were taken from representative viewpoints and altered through a computer simulation technique to characterise the nature of the visual intrusion of the project components on the landscape.