3.2.2 Amendment #2 There are no viable alternatives to Amendment #2. Updating Table A1 and associated Schedule 1 - Figure 1 in the EA is required to facilitate that the EA holder can lawfully conduct mining activities. Amendment #3 There are no viable alternatives to Amendment #3. Fixing erroneous information in the EA is required to facilitate that the EA holder can lawfully conduct mining activities. 3.2.3 3.3 Standard Criteria Assessment The EP Act requires ERAs to be authorised by DETSI. When considering an application to amend an EA or when deciding on the conditions of an EA, DETSI must consider certain matters set out under the EP Act. One of those matters is the ‘Standard Criteria’. The purpose of this assessment is to address each of these criteria to demonstrate how they will be met by Heritage Minerals for the amendments described within. An assessment of the proposed amendments against the
standard criteria is provided in Table 17. Table 17. Standard Criteria Assessment
Standard Criteria
Application Response
The following principles of environmental policy as set out in the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Environment- (i) The precautionary principle
The potential impacts to environmental values have been identified. Mitigation and management measures for reducing environmental harm for unavoidable impact to some environmental values have been proposed. Further studies are proposed to be undertaken to characterise groundwater and update existing groundwater models. The precautionary principle has been utlilised when determining the appropriate tailings management strategy. The requirement to construct Upper Mundic Gully TSF provides the only solution to manage generated tailings in the long term given the constraints with constructing Sandstone Gully TSF. The proposed amendment does not significantly impact intergenerational equity. The Mount Morgan Mine remediation and rehabilitation strategy, administered by the State, relies on latent tailings and waste rock removal and reprocessing. Heritage Minerals have entered into a commercial agreement with the State to undertake the tailings recovery through the Phase 3 agreement. The Mount Morgan Mine site has been discharging mine affected water into receiving environments for decades and removal of contaminant sources by Heritage Minerals is fundamental to the State’s cleanup strategy. Construction of the Upper Mundic Gully TSF provides greater resilience against climatic extremes and reduces potential overtopping risks. The Upper Mundic Gully TSF footprint is highly modified and surrounded by previous authorised mining disturbances that have reduced environmental values. The proposed amendment relating to the Upper Mundic Gully TSF construction in a previously disturbed area will not result in a net increase in disturbance. Unavoidable impact to two flora species will occur however implementation of management plans will reduce environmental impacts.
(ii) Intergenerational equity
(iii) Conservation of biological diversity and ecological integrity; and
Project number: 25B061
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