Mining & Resources
Biodiversity Offsets
Bluff Coal Mine, Queensland | Bluff PCI Management.
Gaia Environmental Consulting were the specialists of choice for NitroSolutions P/L (the Environmental Managers for Bluff PCI) when it came to the planning and management of biodiversity offsets for compliance with Federal and State government approvals for the Bluff Coal Mine. The Bluff Coal Project presented an interesting situation with a 6 year old approval from both Federal and State government. Due to timing issues, the State declared that Stage 1 of the Project was assessable under the superseded legislation whereas future stages would be assessable under current legislation (which was markedly different from an offsets perspective). Gaia Environmental managed the ecological assessments necessary to quantify and qualify proposed offset properties (with field work completed by EcoSM), as well as prepare the various documentation required by State and Federal government departments, including: Offsets Strategy, Baseline Offset Reports for two properties, RE Map change applications, Stage 1 Offset Delivery Plan (under Queensland Biodiversity Offsets Policy v1.1 2014) & Stage 2 Offset Delivery Plan (under Queensland Environmental Offsets Policy v1.7 2019) and Koala Management Plan & Biodiversity Offsets Management Plan (Federal). Gaia was also a key player in the submission of Environmental Approval (EA) amendments and provided valuable input during the assessment and negotiation process.
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) (terrestrial flora, terrestrial fauna, biological environment & Biodiversity Management Plan and Supplementary EIS)
Jervois Base Metal Project, Northern Territory | KGL Resources Ltd.
Gaia Environmental worked closely with NitroSolutions P/L to deliver a quality EIS to the Northern Territory Environment Protection Agency (NT EPA) for the Jervois Base Metal Project. The Project involved the re-opening of a mining tenement that has been active in various forms since 1929. The Project contains a significant and high-grade copper resource, as well as silver, gold, lead and zinc in several deposits. Gaia developed the terrestrial flora, terrestrial fauna and biological environment chapters of the EIS from specialist technical reports completed by local ecologists (Low Ecological). Gaia also produced the Biodiversity Management Plan (a section of the draft Environmental Management Plan) required for submission with the EIS under the Northern Territory Environmental Assessment Act (EA Act). The comments on the draft EIS from various stakeholders were received in December 2018, whereby the client as directed to supply a Supplement Report to the draft EIS to address all matters that were raised in the submissions. Gaia Environmental once again worked with Low Ecological and NitroSolutions P/L to prepare a response for all ecological issues in the Supplementary EIS.
Specialist ecological reports (flora, fauna and aquatic) for Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Offsets strategy
Olive Downs Coking Coal Project, Queensland | Pembroke Olive Downs P/L.
Gaia Environmental was asked by DPM Envirosciences to collaborate on the provision of specialist ecological reports for the Olive Downs Coking Coal Project. The Olive Downs Coking Coal Project is a large scale coal project in the Bowen Basin, with ecological issues encompassing threatened ecological communities (TEC’s) and threatened flora and fauna under EPBC Act and NC Act. Gaia was the lead author of the terrestrial flora, terrestrial fauna and aquatic ecology reports, whilst the field work, data summation and peer review was provided by DPM Envirosciences. The Project was managed for Pembroke by Resource Strategies P/L. The collaboration of experienced personnel lead to the production of very high quality documents, which were commended by the assessing Government bodies.
Environmental Impact Statement (fauna chapter)
Rolleston Coal Mine Expansion, Queensland | Rolleston Coal Joint Venture.
The expansion of the Rolleston Coal Mine is subject to an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) under both Commonwealth and State legislation. Gaia Environmental Consulting was commissioned to prepare the fauna chapter of the EIS. The chapter presents information regarding legislative requirements for the mine, existing environmental conditions of the site, potential impacts, mitigation measures and an assessment of the significance of residual impacts. The environmental offsets necessary to satisfy State and Commonwealth requirements were also calculated for the mine expansion. The fauna chapter of the EIS is based on field investigations and technical reports that were prepared by other consultants.
Ecological assessment and Offset Strategy
Meteor Downs South, Queensland | U & D Mining Pty Ltd.
A new small scale mine is proposed near Rolleston. As a result of the referral to the Department of Environment under the EPBC Act, it was determined that the mine requires further assessment based on ‘preliminary documentation’. Specific issues facing the mine include extensive areas of the natural grasslands threatened ecological community and the occurrence of protected grass species. Gaia teamed with EcoSure to undertake surveys to assess the condition of the natural grasslands (through BioCondition assessment) and target the threatened grass species. The good condition of the grasslands meant that surveys were successful in locating the threatened king blue grass Dichanthium queenslandicum. Gaia was then responsible for completing the ecology section in the preliminary documentation, including species impact statements (SIAs). Due to the high quality of the work completed and the level of understanding of the legislation demonstrated, Gaia was then given the opportunity to work further with the client to develop an Offsets Strategy (including identification of potential offset sites) to satisfy federal government requirements under the EPBC Act.
Flora and fauna assessments
New Acland mine expansion, Queensland | New Hope Group.
The New Acland mine near Oakey in Queensland is planning an expansion. The project required an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) under the federal EPBC Act. Jacobs Engineering Group (formerly SKM) invited Gaia Environmental to provide a lead ecologist for both flora and fauna surveys. Flora surveys involved undertaking BioCondition assessments on impact areas and potential offset areas. Fauna surveys were targeted at a selection of threatened birds, mammals (including bats) and reptiles. As well as providing a lead ecologist for all surveys, Gaia provided a bird survey design and report for submission with the EIS. The project won an appeal in the Land Court in 2019 and is likely to proceed on the ground in 2020.