Carrington West Wing Modification of DA 450-10-2003 30 January 2013 - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Carrington West Wing

Modification of DA 450-10-2003

30 January 2013

Hunter Valley Operations - Overview

• Hunter Valley Operations is the largest and the
• ldest of the Coal and Allied sites.
• First production began in 1968
• Located 24km north of Singleton.
• A multi-seam, multiple pit mining operation.
• Production in 2011 reached 12.2Mt
• 1100 direct employees plus contractors
• Produces export thermal and semisoft coking

coal which is railed to the port of Newcastle.

• Insert site plan – noise and AQ

3 Presentation title 30 January 2013

Hunter Valley Operations

• 1968: Mining commenced at Howick
• 1971: Mining commenced at Lemington
• 1979: Mining commenced in Hunter Valley No. 1
• 1991: Mining commenced in Hunter Valley No. 2
• 2000: Howick (Novacoal) and Hunter Valley (C&A)

merged to create Hunter Valley Operations. Acquisition of Lemington Mine from Exxon.

• 2001: Lemington merged into HVO

History Hunter Valley Operations Production Mt (100% basis)

11.9 12.4 12.0 10.1 10.8 11.2 12.2 10.9

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

1 2 3 4

1.00 0.67 0.70 0.68 0.55 0.43 0.71 0.67

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

All Injury Frequency Rate

AIFR ratio; number of injuries and medical cases per 200,000 hours worked

• Coal & Allied mines operate in close proximity to a diversity of near neighbours, amidst

significant competing land uses and under the tightest of regulatory controls.

• We operate under the Rio Tinto HSEQ-Management System (ISO14001).
• Our noise, dust, cultural heritage and community engagement programs represent

industry best practice.

• Our goal remains Zero Harm, in all of its forms.

HSEC

Rehabilitation

Building relationships and investing in community partnerships

6

Community Relations A focus on sustainable communities

Community investment

• Since its inception in 1999, the Coal & Allied Community Development Fund has

contributed > $11 million to projects in the local community.

• Projects target social and education, economic and environmental objectives.

Working with our Aboriginal community

• Aboriginal Development Consultative Committee (ADCC) has been supporting

education, training, community and business development projects for Aboriginal people in the Upper Hunter Valley since 2006 - more than $1.7 million invested.

• Our Indigenous employment strategy aims to achieve five per cent Indigenous

employment at Rio Tinto Coal Australia by 2013. Cultural Heritage

• Our cultural heritage programme has been developed to ensure we meet our

internal, statutory and community obligations with respect to the consultation, identification, assessment, protection and management of Aboriginal cultural heritage and enable access to land for development activities for all of our

• perations, projects and lands.

We set out to build relationships with all of our communities that are characterised by mutual respect, active partnership and long term commitment. Our operations are part of local communities, which include Aboriginal communities, employees and contractors, near neighbours, as well as local businesses who provide goods and services to our operations. Our operations have an economic, social and environmental impact on neighbouring communities. In turn, the communities' concerns, needs, aspirations and activities impact on our business. Consultation and engagement with communities is essential and occurs in many formats.

THE GOAL IS ZERO

We want the day to be safe, enjoyable and interesting;

• Please follow any instructions from a HVO staff member
• Please watch your footing around site – “Eyes on Path”
• Please use handrails on stairs
• Please wear your seatbelt at all times
• Please wear your PPE (glasses, vest, hard hat) at all times when we are
• ut in the mine area.

Priorities For The Day

Proposal

Overview

• Extension of Carrington Pit to south-west to extract 16 mt of

in-situ coal

• Development of overburden emplacements to the north of the

extension area

• Construction of flood levees, temporary diversion, groundwater

barrier wall and extension of approved evaporative sink

• Construction of service corridor
• All other elements of the HVO Complex remain unchanged

• INSERT FINAL LANDFORM FIGURES

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• Key groundwater components

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Proposal

Development

• Detailed environmental constraints analysis
• Environmental risk management workshops
• Commitment to rehabilitation of Class 2 lands and return of pre-

mining landform

• Additional groundwater commitments
• Exclusion of Aboriginal heritage site CM-CD1 and associated buffer

Proposal

Need and benefits

• Access to low strip ratio coal through use of existing considerable

human and physical infrastructure – preventing resource sterilisation

• Net production benefits to society of $482M
• 777 direct and indirect jobs for region
• Opportunity to contemporise development consent

Consultation

Approach

• Consistent implementation of community engagement

tools

• Extensive consultation with regulators at all stages of the

EA process

Consultation

Key agencies

Agency Matters raised Outcome NOW Groundwater – including Hunter River base flows and volumetric licensing NOW concluded that it is reasonable to assume that barrier wall would function effectively. However, it highlighted the need for the g/w barrier wall to be properly designed, installed and maintained together with strict ongoing monitoring requirements. NOW satisfied that the loss of baseflow to the Hunter River is unlikely to be significant and can be licensed and /or managed within acceptable limits. Rigorous conditions of consent recommended. OEH/EPA Air quality, noise, biodiversity and Aboriginal heritage Aboriginal heritage site CM-CD1 excluded from mine plan. Recommended a number of conditions of approval to manage potential impacts .

Consultation

Key agencies

Agency Matters raised Outcome DPI (Agriculture; OASFS) Rehabilitation of agricultural land and cumulative impacts of mining on agricultural resource lands Rigorous conditions of consent recommended, including preparation of Agricultural Land Reinstatement Management Plan. Recommendations adopted by DP&I and supported by Office of Agricultural Sustainability and Food Security (OASFS). DITIRIS (DRE) Groundwater and agricultural impacts Considered responses regarding residual groundwater and agricultural impacts following mine rehabilitation to be adequate and acceptable. Recommended conditions of consent which were adopted by DP&I.

Consultation

Key agencies

Agency Matters raised Outcome SSC Groundwater, including Hunter River and alluvium, and noise, air quality and visual impacts Rigorous management and monitoring of mining

• perations recommended.

Key matters

Groundwater

Key matters

Groundwater

– Experience Mining Eastern Limb

• similar geology
• no detectable impact on Hunter River
• no impact on GDEs
• proven barrier wall can be constructed effectively
• intensively monitored groundwater levels

Key matters

Groundwater

– West Wing – Groundwater Model

• model used data from Eastern Limb Paleochannel
• large dataset - one of best calibrated models in Hunter Valley
• low seepage rate to pit
• Hunter River baseflow - unmeasureable impact
• no impacted bores or GDEs
• all water take offset by water licenses

Key matters

Groundwater

– Barrier Wall

• installed before mining of Hunter River alluvials
• mixed with in-situ material with bentonite clay
• designed, supervised, tested & certified by geotechnical engineers

– Post Mining

• void backfilled
• evaporative sink captures groundwater flow

Key matters

Groundwater

• DP&I engaged independent peer review – Dr Kalf:
• “Provided it can be demonstrated that the ultimate magnitude of seepage of

groundwater from the more recent alluvium close to the river and that derived from the river itself is small in comparison to dry weather flows, then this would constitute no more than minimal harm”.

• Given the presence of the mine will arrest moderately saline to brackish

groundwater seepage to the river, this would seem to be more than enough compensation for the likely relatively modest flow (yet to be demonstrated) that would be direct away from the river”.

Key matters

Groundwater

• Potential worst case water take:
• Permian aquifer – 27ML/yr
• Hunter Regulated River and Unregulated Alluvial Water – 51ML/yr
• Current Part 5 licence adequate to cover worst case predicted water take
• Water take – held entitlements:
• Water Act 1912 part 5 Licence – 220ML/yr
• Hunter Regulated River – 4,165ML/yr (high security) and 479ML/yr (general

security)

• Appropriate disaggregation of existing Part 5 licence is required as acknowledged

by NOW

Key matters

Groundwater

• Rigorous conditions of consent
• Triggers and remediation mechanisms

Key matters

Agricultural land

Background

• Pre-mining land class of extension area - Class 2, 3 and 4
• Out-of-pit emplacement previously mined and rehabilitated to ag land

– Class 3 and 4

• All land owned by Coal & Allied

Outcomes

• All Class 2 land will be re-instated post mining
• Detailed AIS prepared

Key matters

Agricultural land

• AIS concluded that successful reinstatement:
• would enable the Proposal to provide substantial economic benefits without

compromising the long term use of prime agricultural land; and

• would ensure no long term, cumulative adverse social or economic impacts on

land critical for food and/or fibre production.

• Net foregone agricultural benefits if rehab successful = $0.47M
• Net foregone agricultural benefits if rehab unsuccessful = $0.82M
• Net foregone mining benefits = $482M

Key matters

Agricultural land

• AIS includes additional specific management measures and

reestablishment success criteria

• Establishment of paired control site
• Demonstrated ability to achieve rehabilitation objectives
• Rigorous conditions of consent

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Key matters

Aboriginal heritage (1)

Background

• Site well understood
• Cultural Heritage Working Group (CHWG)
• HVO Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Management Plan
• CM-CD1 highly significant to Aboriginal community

Key matters

Aboriginal heritage (2)

Outcomes

• DP&I of view that CM-CD1 is likely to be a Pleistocene site
• Proposal to ensure the avoidance and protection of CM-CD1
• Six sites of low significance comprising artefact scatters and isolated

finds will be disturbed

• AHIPs will be obtained under the NPW Act for all other sites

Key matters

Noise and dust (1)

Background

• Substantial ridgeline between extension area and closest receivers
• No proposed changes to extraction rate, processing or production

limits, and plant and equipment Outcomes

• The level of existing noise generated by the project would be

indistinguishable from the existing noise from the mine.

Key matters

Noise and dust (2)

• Air quality criteria met with exception of one minor exceedance of

max 24-hour PM10 criterion at one receiver which already has acquisition rights and has since been purchased

• Substantial amendments to consent to formalise requirement for

current best practice operational air quality and noise management

Opportunity to discuss the practicality of some draft conditions i.e. Schedule 6

• Online Communication of Operational Responses and Noise and Air Quality

Monitoring

• 11. The Applicant shall, by the end of March 2013:

make the following information for the development publicly available on its website,

• n a daily basis and in a clearly understandable form:
• daily weather forecasts for the coming week;
• proposed operational responses to these weather forecasts;
• real-time noise and air quality monitoring data (subject to any necessary

caveats); and

• any operational responses that were taken in response to the noise and air

quality monitoring data, and make provision on its website for the provision of on-line and/or email comments by members of the community regarding this information – to the satisfaction of the Director-General.

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