WATERANGA PROJECT - Department of Environment and Heritage ...

Wateranga Project
Queensland Industrial Minerals Ltd Initial Advice Statement
5.3.2. Stage Two
The Stage Two mining process is similar to that detailed in Stage One with the
following principle differences:
Stage Two mining activities will only be conducted on the areas above the FSL of
the Burnett River Dam.
Upon removal of the resource from the current extraction cell, the ore will be
immediately processed, and tailings produced from that ore will be placed directly
back into the rehabilitation cell upon de-watering.
Due to the percentage of the original material removed from the gravity
separation stage of the processing plant, and taking into account the swelling
factor of the de-watered tailings (approximately 30%) and the ability to
supplement the Stage Two tails from Stage One tails stockpile, the final land form
of the rehabilitated cell will be approximately equal to the existing surface level.
To remove a large percentage of the remaining moisture in the tailings, a lucerne
crop will be planted in each rehabilitated cell as an initial ground cover. The
lucerne crop will effectively stabilise the landform by removing a large percentage
of the remaining water, increase the nitrogen levels in the soils and provide
valuable stockfeed for livestock.
Upon completion of the lucerne crop, a final vegetation cover species mix will be
sown. The re-growth on each cell will be monitored and maintained as necessary
to ensure the area re-generates to meet the appropriate sign-off criteria.
For the tailings dams and other areas which have been mined, final land uses will
be determined and may include any of the following activities:
Commercial timber production
Vineyards
Orchards
Grazing
The total area of disturbance as a direct result of extraction activities during the
Stage Two mining activities will be less than those of Stage One and is expected
to not exceed 15 ha at any one time.
Commencement of the Stage Two mining operations will not occur until such time as
the ore stockpiles from the Stage One mining operation are almost exhausted and as
demand requires. Based on the expected commissioning date of the processing
plant and the annual production figure, the Stage Two mining operations are not
expected to commence until at least 2006.
All clean stormwater will be diverted around the stockpiles and any stormwater
draining from the ROM pad will be directed to the process water dam which will be
part of the regular water monitoring program.
For the Stage Two mining activities, tailings produced by the processing of ore will be
pumped back into the cell being rehabilitated at that time. Before being placed into
the rehabilitation cell, the tailings will be de-watered. Upon completion of extraction
and processing operations on the current extraction cell, the cell being rehabilitated,
(i.e. containing the tailings from the current cell) will be re-contoured and the top soil
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