Newlands mine achieves Queensland rehabilitation first

Glencore recently received certification for a 73 hectares area of rehabilitation at Newlands open cut operations.

“Although this is the third area in history to be certified in Queensland, it is the first time that rehabilitation of coal mine overburden spoil has ever been certified,” Glencore Coal’s Queensland Environment & Community Manager, Pieter Swart, said.

“We maintain a very strong focus on progressive rehabilitation across all our coal mining operations, with each site required to achieve annual targets that go beyond regulatory requirements. “As an example, last year alone Newlands mine completed over 270 hectares of rehabilitation and in 2017 the mine has set itself an even higher target of 285 hectares of rehabilitation.”

Mr Swart said certification of the Newlands rehabilitation had been achieved after Glencore worked collaboratively with Government, the Queensland Resources Council and other resource industry members to develop a formal process that properly evaluates rehabilitation against agreed standards for a project.

“This is an important step not only for Glencore, but for the wider industry,” he said.

“The Newlands work is the first of several areas in our Queensland mining operations that we will be submitting for possible certification, including additional areas at Newlands, Collinsville, Oaky Creek and Rolleston coal mines.” Mr Swart said in the past five years (2012-2016), 53% of land disturbed by Glencore’s coal operations in Queensland over that period has been rehabilitated, with a 2017 target to rehabilitate more land than the mines will disturb. Follow us on social media: “We are committed to rehabilitating and restoring the land progressively during the mine life as well as when our mining activities have ceased,” he said.

“We aim to return the land to either self-sustaining native ecosystems, agricultural use or other suitable purposes that meet the requirements set down by Government and the expectations of our communities. “In the case of Newlands, the requirement that we have achieved was to provide habitat suitable for flora and fauna within overarching objectives of being safe, stable, non-polluting and sustainable.”

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/environment-sustainability/18072017/newlands-mine-achieves-queensland-rehabilitation-first/