November 2004 (PDF 11.6 MB) - Barrick Gold Corporation

Cowal Gold Project – Noise Management Plan2.3 NOISE GUIDELINESNSW Industrial Noise Policy, EPA, 2000The EPA’s NSW Industrial Noise Policy, 2000 (INP) has been referenced in the preparation of thisNMP with regard to:• monitoring of temperature inversions;• noise monitoring procedures;• noise monitoring instrumentation calibration; and• implementation of remedial measures.The INP provides a framework and process for deriving noise limit conditions for consents andlicenses to facilitate DEC regulation of premises scheduled under the Protection of the EnvironmentOperations Act 1997, including mining operations. In applying the policy:• project specific noise levels for intrusiveness and amenity that are relevant to the site must bedetermined;• existing background and ambient noise levels must be determined;• adjustments for annoying noise characteristics are to be applied to the noise levels produced bythe project;• regard must be had to meteorological effects in predicting or measuring noise levels produced bythe project;• predicted or measured noise levels must be compared with project-specific noise levels andimpacts must be assessed;• noise mitigation strategies must be considered where the project-specific noise levels areexceeded; and• environmental noise levels from the project must be monitored to determine compliance with theconsent/licence conditions.Sections of the INP relevant to Project noise management are referenced throughout the text and theINP is included in full as Appendix A.3 NOISE CRITERIAThis NMP is required to be prepared prior to the commencement of mining operations. In addition tonoise from operations, Barrick will manage noise emissions derived from construction activities.Noise criteria stipulated in the following subsections have been derived to meet the requirements ofConsent Condition 6.4(a) as a minimum.3.1 CONSTRUCTION NOISE CRITERIAConstruction noise will be subject to provisions of the Construction Environment Protection Licence(CEPL). For the purposes of this NMP and in accordance with DEC requirements (i.e. in accordancewith Chapter 171 of the Environmental Noise Control Manual [ENCM] [EPA, 1994] which appliesconstruction site noise level restrictions for periods not exceeding 26 weeks), “Construction Noise” isdefined as Project noise emitted during the first 26 weeks of the construction phase. The CEPLissued by DEC on 23 December 2003 contains construction noise limits which are consistent with thecriteria set out in Condition 6.4(a) of the Consent which are as follows (Table 1):HAL-02-07/1/NMP01-P/17/11/04 6 BARRICK