Land management and rehabilitation
We recognise the important role of land management and rehabilitation in responsible mining across the life of a mining operation and are committed to integrating rehabilitation considerations throughout all stages of our activities.
Our management approach
Land disturbance is an inevitable part of the mining process.
We recognise the important role of land management and rehabilitation in responsible mining across the life of a mining operation.
Landscape rehabilitation is critical to reinstate ecosystem functionality and land productivity to ensure the long-term stability and sustainability of the landforms, soils and hydrology at each mine site.
Rehabilitation
We aim to rehabilitate and close disturbed land in a way that is physically safe to humans and animals and capable of sustaining an agreed post-mining land use.
This commitment is in accordance with the WA Government Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) objectives for mining activities.
Mining rehabilitation fund
We aim to comply with all applicable legislation and standards, as poorly rehabilitated mine sites can leave significant legacy problems for the environment, local communities and governments.
The Mining Rehabilitation Fund Act 2012 established the Mining Rehabilitation Fund (MRF) as a pooled fund, levied annually according to the environmental disturbance existing on a tenement.
Levies paid into the MRF support rehabilitation efforts where an operator fails to meet their rehabilitation obligations and every other effort has been made to recover the funds from the operator.
Tenement holders operating on Mining Act 1978 tenure are required to report data on land disturbance and land under rehabilitation to DMIRS under the MRF.
Our Rehabilitation Strategy aligns with the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021–2030, developed “with the aim of supporting and scaling up efforts to prevent, halt, and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide and raise awareness of the importance of successful ecosystem restoration”.
Our Rehabilitation Strategy sets standards to define outcomes for core activities associated with the planning and design phases of rehabilitation, including waste management, topsoil/growth medium management, landform construction and revegetation.
To counterbalance any significant residual impacts due to applying the mitigation hierarchy, we identify suitable offsets areas.
Our overall management objective for offset areas is to maintain or enhance environmental outcomes through the protection, maintenance and enhancement of habitat and establishment of high-quality ecological communities for a wide range of species.
We manage rehabilitation-related risks through our Enterprise Business Risk Register and Operational Risk Registers facilitated at each of our mine sites.
These registers are presented to the Audit and Risk Committee, Sustainability Committee, and the Board on a quarterly basis.
We conduct regular rehabilitation monitoring to ensure we progress towards achieving self-sustaining native vegetation.
Refer to our 2023 Sustainability Report for our rehabilitation performance.
