January 2006 (PDF 2.9 MB) - Barrick Gold Corporation

Cowal Gold Project – Cyanide Management Plan
1.3 OVERVIEW OF EXISTING ENVIRONMENT
The region supports mainly dryland agriculture with irrigation farming practised in the Jemalong/Wyldes
Plains to the north-east of Lake Cowal. The general landscape of the area is flat to very gently
undulating land with occasional hills such as Wamboyne Mountain. Lake Cowal is part of the wider
Lachlan River valley. When full, Lake Cowal overflows into Nerang Cowal to the north which in turn
overflows to Manna Creek, Bogandillon Creek and ultimately into the Lachlan River. The Lake Cowal
wetland forms part of the Wilbertroy-Cowal wetlands which includes Lake Cowal, Nerang Cowal and
Bogandillon Swamp. The Wilbertroy-Cowal wetland system has been described as one of the most
significant waterbird concentration areas in NSW by the Australian Heritage Commission (1992). In
1992 the Lake was listed by the Australian Heritage Commission on the Register of the National
Estate. Lake Cowal provides, albeit episodically and for relatively short periods of time, habitat for
wetland bird life that is of national significance.
1.4 PROJECT OVERVIEW
The Project includes the construction, operation and rehabilitation of the Cowal Gold Mine. Key
features of the Project are shown on Figures 1 and 2 and include:
• an open pit;
• a processing plant to extract the gold from the mined ore;
• waste rock emplacements which will contain mined rock which has no commercial quantities of
gold;
• two tailings storages which will contain the slurry residue from the processing plant;
• a lake isolation system between the mine and the lake to separate the mine from Lake Cowal over
the long term;
• a new relocated public road constructed in a new travelling stock reserve adjoining the western
boundary and part of the northern and southern boundaries of ML 1535; and
• a water pipeline and borefield located approximately 20 km to the north-east of the mine site.
The Project also includes a 132 kilovolt (kV) electricity transmission line from Temora to the mine site
and upgrading of an access road to the mine site (Figure 1).
A description of activities associated with the Project is provided in Table 1. Further details of activities
associated with the mine site are provided in Section 2 of the Project Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS) (North Limited, 1998) and in various Project management and operational plans.
HAL-02-07/1/25/CMP-01-Q.DOC 4 BARRICK