Environment
Minara strives to minimise the potential impacts that the company's activities have on the environment. Through effective management practices and training programs Minara is able to monitor and develop the company's environmental policy. Minara is committed to caring for the environment with stringent rehabilitation, water reduction and emission reduction programs.
Minara Resources Environmental Policy
Minara recognises that world-class environmental performance through sustainable development is essential to its long term success.
Water Conservation
Water management has always been a key environmental issue for Minara. During the period of drought currently being experienced across the country, Minara is heavily focused on water conservation techniques.
Minara's Water Management Committee focuses on strategic water management and planning issues. The Environment Team plays a key role on this committee, providing advice and ideas on water conservation opportunities across the site.
The use of recycled water wherever possible is the main strategy employed to reduce the consumption of water. There are various water recycling initiatives in place, including:
- reusing effluent water from the reverse osmosis plant in the calcrete plant and also for dust suppression;
- recycling evaporative pond liquor (EPL) for reuse in the tailings neutralisation circuit as a diluent and also as make-up wash water in the counter current decantation circuit;
- recovering water from the tailing storage facilities (TSF) seepage recovery bores and pumping it into the EPL where it is also used in the recycling process mentioned above; and
- investigating the use of grey water from the sewerage treatment plant to be used within the process and for dust suppression.
Minara's current primary focus is on dust suppression and reducing the amount of water used in this process. Trials are being carried out in relation to the use of amsul as a dust suppressant on haul roads. Amsul is a by-product of the plant and acts as a hardener for the haul roads, reducing emissions and water use.
Greenhouse Challenge Plus
Minara has taken its first steps in the global fight against climate change at its Murrin Murrin operations.
Minara is now participating in the Greenhouse Challenge Plus program, an initiative between the Australian Government and industry aimed at reducing greenhouse emissions.
This voluntary commitment encourages companies to become more greenhouse friendly, while making their operations more efficient. This has resulted in a number of plant improvements and projects being investigated for implementation. These include:
- implementing a mist recovery system to reduce acid plant down time which, in turn, reduces greenhouse gas production;
- commissioning the heap leach project to reduce the requirement for tailings neutralisation due to less calcrete being mined and transported;
- implementing a real time natural gas use tracker, which identifies gas use inefficiency and recommends actions for improvement in real time; and
- participating in the Commonwealth Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources' Energy Efficiency Opportunities program, commencing in 2007.
It is anticipated that Greenhouse Challenge Plus will contribute to a reduction of more than 15 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions every year from 2008 to 2012. This is equivalent to taking around 11 million cars off the road each year.