November 2004 (PDF 11.6 MB) - Barrick Gold Corporation

11 Reviewing performanceMonitoring of environmental noise levels from adevelopment to determine compliance with theconsent/licence conditions is essential to propermanagement of noise sources. This is the responsibilityof the development proponent, and shouldgenerally be performed at specific stages of a developmentand/or as a result of complaints fromaffected receivers. A good monitoring programshould involve the community in reviewing theperformance of a development by providing thecommunity with:• access to noise monitoring results• an opportunity to discuss concerns andimpacts.An additional way to monitor the performance of adevelopment is to establish a proponent-run complaintssystem. This is a beneficial managementtool, allowing further involvement of the communityin the performance review of a development.The sections below outline the various methods forreviewing and managing the performance of adevelopment.11.1 Monitoring environmental noise11.1.1 Options for noise monitoringMonitoring at specific stages of a developmentThis involves identifying the various stages of adevelopment where different noise outputs werepredicted during the assessment process, andmonitoring at each of these stages. For example, fora mine development, noise could be monitoredduring the first year of development and at four orfive other key years in the development of the mine(for example, years 2, 5, 10, 15 and 20).To assess the performance of the developmentadequately, noise monitoring should cover the fullcycle of operational activity at each of the identifiedstages. Noise could be monitored over a full day(day, evening and night), a week, or longer—depending on the development.It will usually be necessary to monitor noise atseveral sites, but these should at least include noisesensitivelocations where noise levels are likely to bethe highest.Monitoring as a result of community complaintsAnother option is to monitor noise levels as a resultof community complaints. This may be done inaddition to noise monitoring at various stages of thedevelopment described above, or could stand aloneas the sole driver for performance monitoring.With this option, noise should be monitored at thecomplainant’s premises. Monitoring should also beconducted to cover the time at which noise impactswere reported to occur.11.1.2 Notes on noise monitoringItems to be monitoredTo check compliance with the consent/licencecondition, the following items require monitoring:• noise levels from the development atlocations specified in the condition, or at thenearest affected receivers where no locationsare specified. During monitoring the metershould be set to ‘Fast’ time weighting and ‘A’frequency weighting and should recordusing the descriptor specified by theconsent/licence condition (that is, L Aeq, 15 minuteor L Aeq,periodor other)• the wind speed and direction• sky cloud cover, using direct observation fornight measurements.Where existing noise levels are high. When complianceis being measured it may be found that, inmany cases, existing noise levels are higher thannoise levels from the source, making it difficult toseparate out the source noise level. When thishappens, it may not be feasible to measure complianceat the specified location, and other methodswill be needed. In these cases, measurements maybe taken closer to the source and then calculatedback to the specified location. In doing this, takecare to account for the ‘near field’, a region in whichsound pressure levels do not decrease with distanceNSW industrial noise policy51