Appendix D Terrestrial and Aquatic Biodiversity - Environment ...

D-6. Port Development
6.1 Introduction
WDRL proposed to develop a stockyard area, conveyor route (with maintenance track), and barge loading
facility as part of their coastal development.
Biological surveys conducted for the port development as part of the EIS investigation included:
• Preliminary Vegetation Mapping in the vicinity of the proposed port infrastructure, with effort towards
identifying sensitive or restricted habitat.
• Terrestrial Fauna Surveys. One fauna survey (including seven sites) was conducted to include the
main vegetation types to be impacted by the port development.
• Shorebird Habitat Potential. Targeted the tidal flats adjacent to the proposed barge loading facility
(i.e. which is the currently Bing Bong Port). Helicopter survey of the surrounding coastline was also
conducted to gain broader scale perspective of the site.
• Opportunistic Weed Surveys. Conducted in the general project area to gain an understanding of
what weeds currently exist in the area.
The vegetation for the port area has been previously described as part of the McArthur River Mine EIS to a
rough scale of 1:50,000 (Hollingsworth et al. 1992). Several vegetation communities were identified,
including coastal vine thickets, mangroves, coastal plains, coastal woodlands, salt flats, and cypress pine.
6.2 Land Systems
Three land systems fall within the proposed port development (Aldrick and Wilson 1990), including:
• Littoral – Tidal mud flat with channel and estuaries;
• Fletcher – Level to very gently undulating plains on ferruginous material that has been re-exposed
from a former sub-marine position, with swales in a sub-coastal orientation; and
• Spillen – Coastal sand sheet, dune and cheniers with minor intervening tidal flats.
Location of these land systems in relation to the proposed port development is illustrated in Figure 39.
Client: Western Desert Resources Ltd Page 115 of 150
Doc No. DW120004-C0302-EIA-R-0036
Doc Title: Appendix D – Terrestrial Biodiversity Technical Report