Mine to Market - Ernest Henry Mining

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2 : mine to market Steve de Kruijff WELCOME As you would all be aware, the current unprecedented global financial crisis is severely impacting most industries, including the resources industry. While Xstrata as a company is well positioned to weather the tough times ahead, the turmoil in financial markets coupled with a high cost environment and substantially lower commodity prices presents us with significant challenges. At our north Queensland operations, we need to take a set of deliberate, measured responses to optimise the cashflow from our operations and to ensure that our businesses remain sustainable in the longer term. Over the coming months we will be initiating a number of cost improvement and strategic business initiatives to ensure that our north Queensland Copper and Zinc operations meet these objectives. Water conservation remains a key focal point for our north Queensland operations. The low rainfalls recorded during the 2007/2008 north west Queensland wet season have required us to implement new initiatives to find large-scale water savings within our operations. Therefore we must remain committed to doing everything we can to reduce our fresh water usage and to maximise our recycled water usage in order to meet our future 30% reduction target if the water levels continue to decline. We also encourage you to do your bit, both at work and at home, to conserve this precious resource. We thank you for contributing your water-saving initiatives as part of our internal campaign to reduce water and hope you continue to do so. Please refer to page three for an overview of our water-saving initiatives throughout our north Queensland operations. During October, George Fisher Mine’s $10 million KG53 underground incline/ decline project, which now links George Fisher North and South, was successfully completed. This project is a significant step for Xstrata Zinc’s mining operations in Mount Isa and we congratulate all those involved in completing this project successfully and ahead of schedule. You will notice that we have included a publications survey inside this edition. We value your opinion and want to know what you, as employees and stakeholders of Xstrata North Queensland, think of our two key publications – Mine to Market newsletter and the annual Sustainability Reports. We encourage you all to take the time to fill out this survey so we can better understand your expectations and ensure our publications continue to meet your needs. By completing the survey, you have the chance to win one of five 8GB Apple iPod Nanos. For more information and your chance to win, please refer to the enclosed survey. Kevin Hendry STEVE DE KRUIJFF CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Xstrata Copper North Queensland KEVIN HENDRY EXECUTIVE GENERAL MANAGER Xstrata Zinc Mount Isa 4,500 10% FRONT COVER Monica Thomas, Senior Training Advisor, Mount Isa Copper Operations. CONTACT THE EDITOR Input from all Xstrata North Queensland operations is invited. Any articles, innovations, achievements, ideas or suggestions are very welcome. Please contact Catherine Peters, Community Relations, Mount Isa Mines on email: cpeters@xstratacopper.com.au or phone: 4744 3140. XSTRATA STOCK PRICE Xstrata is listed on the London and Zurich stock exchanges. As at 7 November 2008 the Xstrata share price on the London Stock Exchange (XTA.L) was 10.22 (GBp). Price (p) Volume (m) 4,000 3,500 3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 20 10 May-2008 Jul-2008 Sep-2008 0% -10% -20% -30% -40% -50% -60% -70% -80% Xstrata PLC Percentage Date
ISSUE 91 : 3 Xstrata conserving every drop We all know that we need to be water-wise when it comes to our water usage. And while everyone has generally been doing a good job, it’s time again to look at what we can do to further assist with the current water shortages at Mount Isa. As many of you might be aware, water levels at Lake Moondarra and Lake Julius are reaching critically low levels. Under the Drought Management Plan for Mount Isa, water restrictions of 30% will be triggered when Lake Julius reaches 50% or Lake Moondarra reaches 15%. Without rain, it’s expected that Lake Julius will reach 50% in January 2009 and Lake Moondarra 15% in February 2009. That’s why Xstrata Mount Isa Mines has been taking the necessary steps to address the water shortages and to reduce its water consumption on site under the direction of Water Project Manager, Matt O’Neill. Apart from the priority task of reviewing all on-site water usage practices, Xstrata has already begun substituting process (recycled) water for fresh water in a number of operations. “For example, we recognise that our copper and zinc concentrators use a significant amount of fresh water so we have therefore increased staffing resources Here are some basic tips on what you can do to help conserve water on-site. 1. Report or fix leaking pipework (leaking pipework can be reported through Xstrata’s water homepage at http://mountisa.copper.xstratanet via the ‘Water saving competition’ link). 2. Use process (recycled) water instead of fresh water where possible. 3. Minimise wastage of process (recycled) water as any reductions in use will benefit the system. 4. Don’t leave hoses running unnecessarily. 5. Reduce spillage that requires hosing down. And if you’d like to share your ideas or suggestions on how to save water, please let us know by visiting the above ‘water homepage’ link on the intranet. within these plants, including six dedicated engineers to specifically help the operations find ways to reduce their fresh water demand,” said Matt. “We have improved the performance of our water recycling system on site, and we’re working towards further improvements that will increase the amount of recycled water available to be substituted for fresh water.” Xstrata has also successfully completed the project of recycling water from its Rosehill Sewage Plant recently. Mr O’Neill said this project will provide an extra one megalitre per day of recycled water for Xstrata Mount Isa Mines. “On top of this, Xstrata has also improved its recovery of water from both the Tailings Dams and the underground copper mine on its Mount Isa Mines site which will provide additional recycled water that can then be substituted for fresh water,” he said. “To help employees become more water-wise both at work and at home, we’ve started an awareness campaign about water consumption at Xstrata.” Xstrata Mount Isa Mines looks forward to providing further updates about its water conservation strategies in upcoming editions of Mine to Market
Page 1: minetomarket ISSUE 91 : NOVEMBER 20
Page 5 and 6: ISSUE 91 : 5 Recent winners of Xstr
Page 7 and 8: ISSUE 91 : 7 New record achieved at
Page 9 and 10: ISSUE 91 : 9 MICO Devils reign vict
Page 11 and 12: ISSUE 91 : 11 The molten lead is tr
Page 13 and 14: ISSUE 91 : 13 ‘Hooked on Books’
Page 15 and 16: ISSUE 91 : 15 Another successful pl
Page 17 and 18: ISSUE 91 : 17 Taffy Jones hangs up
Page 19 and 20: ISSUE 91 : 19 SinoGold visits Xstra

Mine to Market - Ernest Henry Mining

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