Environmental Effects Report - EPA Tasmania Excavations...Final Adam Pandelis 19/09/2014 This report...

Environmental Effects Report

Mark Lardner Excavations

White Hills Pit

Irishtown Road, Beacom Hills

September 2014

Prepared by Environmental Service and Design Pty Ltd ABN 97 107 517 144 ACN 107 517 144 Office 14 Cattley Street Burnie TAS 7320 Phone: (03) 6431 2999 Fax : (03) 6431 2933 www.esandd.com.au

Postal PO Box 651 Burnie TAS 7320 ProjectNo. 4852

White Hills Pit EER – June 2014

Environmental Service and Design Pty Ltd – PAF#4852

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Document Control

Prepared & Published by: Environmental Service & Design (ES&D)

Version: Final

File: 4852

Contact: Adam Pandelis

Phone No: (03) 6431 2999

Prepared For: Mark Lardner

Version: Reviewed/Approved By Date

Draft Hamish Howe 11/12/2013

Review Rod Cooper 13/12/2013

V1 Hamish Howe 20/12/2013

V2 Hamish Howe 30/06/2014

V3 Adam Pandelis 09/09/2014

Review Gillian Rasmussen 09/09/2014

Final Adam Pandelis 19/09/2014

This report has been prepared, based on information generated by Environmental Service and Design Pty Ltd from a wide range of sources. If you believe that Environmental Service and Design Pty Ltd has misrepresented or overlooked any relevant information, it is your responsibility to bring this to the attention of Environmental Service and Design Pty Ltd before implementing any of the report’s recommendations.

In preparing this report, we have relied on information supplied to Environmental Service and Design Pty Ltd, which, where reasonable, Environmental Service and Design Pty Ltd has assumed to be correct. Whilst all reasonable efforts have been made to substantiate such information, no responsibility will be accepted if the information is incorrect or inaccurate.

This report is prepared solely for the use of the client to whom it is addressed and Environmental Service and Design Pty Ltd will not accept any responsibility for third parties.

In the event that any advice or other services rendered by Environmental Service and Design Pty Ltd constitute a supply of services to a consumer under the Trade Practices Act 1974 (as amended), then Environmental Service and Design Pty Ltd’s liability for any breach of any conditions or warranties implied under the Act shall not be excluded but will be limited to the cost of having the advice or services supplied again.

Nothing in this Disclaimer affects any rights or remedies to which you may be entitled under the Trade Practices Act 1974 (as amended).

Each paragraph of this disclaimer shall be deemed to be separate and severable from each other. If any paragraph is found to be illegal, prohibited or unenforceable, then this shall not invalidate any other paragraphs.



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Table of Contents

Document Control ............................................................................................ 1

Part A – Proponent Information ........................................................... 6 1.0

Part B – Project Description ................................................................ 9 2.0

2.1 Project Description .............................................................................. 9

2.1.1 Mine Plan ............................................................................. 10

2.2 Project Area ...................................................................................... 21

2.3 Map and Site Plan ............................................................................. 27

2.4 Rationale and Alternatives ................................................................ 29

Part C – Potential Environmental Effects .......................................... 30 3.0

3.1 Flora and Fauna ................................................................................ 30

3.1.1 Weeds ................................................................................. 35

3.1 Rivers , creeks, wetlands and estuaries ............................................ 37

3.2 Significant areas ................................................................................ 48

3.3 Coastal zone ..................................................................................... 48

3.4 Marine areas ..................................................................................... 48

3.5 Air emissions ..................................................................................... 50

3.6 Liquid effluent .................................................................................... 51

3.7 Solid wastes ...................................................................................... 51

3.8 Noise emissions ................................................................................ 54

3.9 Transport impacts.............................................................................. 54

3.10 Fire hazard ........................................................................................ 55

3.11 Other off-site impacts ........................................................................ 55



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3.12 Hazardous substances and chemicals .............................................. 55

3.13 Site contamination ............................................................................. 56

3.14 Sustainability and climate change ..................................................... 56

3.15 Cultural heritage ................................................................................ 57

3.16 Sites of high public interest ............................................................... 57

3.17 Rehabilitation .................................................................................... 57

Part D - Management Commitments ................................................. 61 4.0

Part E – Public Consultation .............................................................. 62 5.0

References ........................................................................................ 63 6.0

List of Figures

Figure 1. Working faces and crushing and screening plant. ............................ 7

Figure 2.Flow chart of quarrying process. ........................................................ 8

Figure 3. Current quarry layout.. .................................................................... 12

Figure 4. Stage 1: Mine plan.. ........................................................................ 13

Figure 5. Stage 2: Mine plan.. ........................................................................ 14

Figure 6. Final Mine plan. .............................................................................. 15

Figure 7. Areas of vegetation clearing. .......................................................... 16

Figure 8. Acidic rock vein. .............................................................................. 17

Figure 9. Sources of acidity. .......................................................................... 18

Figure 10. White Hills Pit with contours. ......................................................... 24

Figure 11. TasVeg 3.0 mapping. .................................................................... 25

Figure 12. Title information. ........................................................................... 26

Figure 13. Proximity to Smithton. ................................................................... 27

Figure 14. Areas to be cleared. ...................................................................... 28

Figure 15. Vegetation to be cleared. .............................................................. 30



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Figure 16. Threatened flora and fauna .......................................................... 33

Figure 17. Threatened species around Lake Mikany. .................................... 34

Figure 18. Weeds onsite. ............................................................................... 36

Figure 19. Swamp vegetation. ....................................................................... 38

Figure 20. Swamp vegetation. ....................................................................... 39

Figure 21. Water monitoring locations. .......................................................... 40

Figure 22. Water monitoring location CK2. .................................................... 43

Figure 23. Water monitoring location:Pit. ....................................................... 44

Figure 24. Water monitoring location: WL1. ................................................... 44

Figure 25. Watercourses near the White Hills Pit.. ......................................... 49

Figure 26. Distance to residences. ................................................................. 51

Figure 27. Topsoil and waster rock stockpiles. .............................................. 53

Figure 28. Topsoil stockpiles.......................................................................... 58

Figure 29. Final quarry state. ......................................................................... 59

List of tables

Table 1. Proponent information ........................................................................ 5

Table 2. Rock and silty clay vein analysis ...................................................... 19

Table 3. Water monitoring: physical analysis ................................................. 60

Table 4. Water monitoring: metals analysis ................................................... 60

Table 5. Management commitments .............................................................. 60



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Appendices

Appendix 1: Mining Plan

Appendix 2: PAF Management Plan

Appendix 3: Raw Data

Appendix 4: TasVeg 3.0 Key

Appendix 5: Weed Management Plan

Appendix 6: Phytophthora Management Plan

Appendix 7: Circular Head council planning permit

Appendix 8: Traffic Impact Assessment



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Part A – Proponent Information 1.0

Table 1. Proponent information

Name Mark Lardner

Business Name Lardner Excavations

ABN 99 472 941 202

Residential Address 105 Green Hills Road, Stanley TAS 7331

Registered Business Address

105 Green Hills Road, Stanley TAS 7331

Postal Address P O Box 76, Stanley TAS 7331

Phone 03-64581191 or mobile 0438 581 191

Facsimile 03-6458 1191

Email [email protected]

Other Leases Held 15M/2002, 1809P/M

Lease Number 16M/1993

M.I. Lardner (the Proponent) owns and operates Lardner Excavations Unit

Trust which is a supplier of screened and crushed stone from this pit. Based in

Stanley, the operation supplies materials to construction companies, road

base, fill and as well as bulk haulage.



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Figure 1. White Hills Pit showing working face and crushing/screening plant.



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Figure 2.Flow chart of quarrying process.



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Part B – Project Description 2.0

2.1 Project Description

It is proposed that the existing Level 1 operation be upgraded to a Level 2

operation as listed in Schedule 2 of the Environmental Management and

Pollution Control Act, 1994, thus allowing for greater than 5000 cubic

metres to be extracted per annum and greater than 1000 cubic metres to be

crushed from the White Hills Pit. The existing quarry operation has been

granted approval by the Circular Head Council under planning permit (DA

2006 / 0002) details of this permit can be found in appendix 7. It is proposed

that there is to be a maximum 20 000 cubic metres of material mined and

crushed each year. The quarry produces crushed stone to varying

specifications. Figure 2 shows the quarrying process.

Broadly, the source materials are mudstone and quartzite, this is blasted

from the quarry face to form lose material that can be easily crushed. This

loose material is then placed in the jaws of the mobile crushing plant where

it is fed to a series of belts which separate the grades of crushed stone.

Once the material has undergone the crushing/ screening process it is then

stockpiled onsite awaiting transportation off site. There are no permanent

structures onsite, nor will there be any constructed as part of the proposed

expansion. The nearest residences are located approximately 1000 metres

away from the location of the main working face. Due to the nature of the

location of the White Hills Pit, with the surrounding quarrying operations,

the noise from the crushing, screening and infrequent blasting has not

impacted, nor are operations at this higher rate likely to impact significantly

on the local residences. Operating hours are to be consistent with the

Quarry Code of Practice 1999; 0700 – 1900 weekdays and 0800 – 1600 on

Saturdays with operations at the site being continuous.

Due to the nature of the underlying geology, there is blasting required at

the site. The pit currently has one bench and two working faces from which

material can be sourced, with these working faces being 13m and 8m

(approximately) high. The mining will no longer continue to extract directly



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from the main bench, but rather from the back and side, in order to reduce

the bench height and begin the rehabilitation on the site, with the operating

bench height to be less than 10m. Plant and equipment proposed includes

a mobile crushing and screening plant with a 10 tonne (loading capability)

and a Caterpillar 950H Loader. The crushing/screening plant is mobile and

only used periodically to generate enough material to ensure stockpiles are

large enough to cope with demand.

The increase in production will begin upon receiving approval for expansion

and continue for approximately ten years, or until the Proponent indicates

his wish to cease operation at Level 2.

Production rates will be relatively constant throughout the year, however,

there will be increases to production rates in summer due to the added

demand from the local dairy farmers constructing cow lanes and from

clients requiring general fill.

2.1.1 Mine Plan

The mine plan is shown in the following figures, with a more detailed mining

plan contained in Appendix 1. As shown in Figures 1 and 3, the working

faces are currently too high (13 and 8 metres, approximately) for safe and

effective remediation of the site to be carried out.

As shown in Figure 3, the quarry currently has limited drainage control and

two main faces, which have 3rd faces being cut into them from the north

and from the south.

Figure 4 shows the proposed first stage of the mine plan, which is to extract

materials working back from the north towards the south thereby joining

the middle bench together to make 3 whole benches, thus resulting in an

extra bench being cut into the existing faces.

Drainage modifications will occur to centralize drainage from the site into a

singular settling pond via three channels, two of which are lined with

limestone cobbles. The limestone cobbles will be aggravated to prevent



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armoring occurring through the motion of vehicles driving over the cobbled

channel. Armoring occurs when minerals and sediment precipitate out of

the runoff and coat the limestone, thus reducing its effectiveness.

Stage 2 of the mining plan is shown in Figure 5. There is an extra bench

included in the figure to the east of the main quarry workings, resulting

from splitting the top working face in half. There may be some clearing of

vegetation (Figure 7) associated with the construction of this bench. The

location of the limestone cobbles in the northern drainage line will be

moved to be across the access road, for easier stimulation by vehicle

movements and to reflect the changes to the quarry face.



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Figure 3. Current quarry layout. The yellow areas highlight the mining lease. Blue lines indicate drainage and drainage direction and red lines

indicate bench faces. Brown areas outline the waste rock stockpiles.



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Figure 4. Stage 1 of mine plan. The yellow areas highlight the mining lease. Blue lines indicate drainage and drainage direction and red lines

indicate bench faces. Grey areas indicate drainage channels with limestone cobbles present.



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Figure 5. Stage 2 of mine plan. The yellow areas highlight the mining lease. Blue lines indicate drainage and drainage direction and red lines indicate

bench faces. Grey areas indicate drainage channels with limestone cobbles present.



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Figure 6. Final quarry layout. The yellow areas highlight the mining lease. Blue lines indicate drainage and drainage direction and red lines indicate

bench faces. Grey areas indicate drainage channels with limestone cobbles present. Green areas show where rehabilitation is to occur. Although the

whole lease area will be revegetated, the areas entitled “revegetated” on the above figure are the areas which will have topsoil spread over them and

planted, rather than being deep ripped, like the quarry floor.



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Figure 7. Areas of vegetation to be cleared as a result of the expansion of the quarry. The area of vegetation to be cleared is highlighted in red and

the yellow border indicates the mining lease.



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Figure 6 depicts the final quarry state, showing proposed rehabilitation

methods and final bench structure. All the drainage modifications will be

retained. The bench floors will have topsoil spread over and be planted with

native species (See Appendix 1).

The presence of acidic waste rock, which has the potential to cause acidic

drainage onsite complicates the proposed mine plan (See Appendix 2: PAF

Management Plan). The acidic rock is located onsite in the form of thin veins

(approximately 100 – 500mm wide) that rise up the face of the quarry (Figure

8).

There is a silty clay vein present onsite which also presents a low degree of

acidity (Table 2) exposed on the southern wall of the quarry and on the

northern wall that is attached to the main quarry workings (Figure 9).

Figure 8. PAF rock vein in quarry face.



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Two separate composite grab samples from the acidic rock vein and from the

clay vein were taken on the 13/11/13. These samples were taken in

accordance with the methods described in Australian Standard 1141 –

Methods for Sampling and Testing Aggregates. The laboratory analysis and

quality control reports are located in Appendix 3. The mineralogy of the PAF

material was not analysed due to the high costs and minimal benefits

associated with mineralogy assessment.

As shown in Table 2, both the clay and rock veins are acidic in nature. There

are low levels of acid produced shown by the Net Acid Production Potential

(NAPP) values in Table 2, with the actual strength of the acid being low also.

This is highlighted by the pH of the materials once oxidised and the lack of

acid (H2SO4) produced at pH 4.5 (Table 2). This, coupled with the acidic

Figure 9. Sources of acidity at the quarry. The clay vein is highlighted in red. The black

rocks (crushed) at the base of the image are also PAF material.



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nature of the receiving environment, means detrimental environmental

effects from the exposure and subsequent production of acid by the

aforementioned sources, will be minimal. Although, the Net Acid Generation

(NAG) analysis shows that there was no detectable acid produced at pH 4.5,

the acid from the silty clay and rock vein will be produced upon exposure and

subsequently released into the drainage as runoff. However, due to the very

limited presence and random distribution of the acid rock veins, the most

viable means of avoiding potential acidic drainage, is to avoid disturbing the

veins, thereby minimizing the exposure of new PAF material and controlling

the amount of acid released through runoff. This physical avoidance method

will allow for normal quarry operation. With the avoidance of exposure and

through centralising the drainage through a settling pond, the effects of the

acidity will be mitigated. The drainage modifications as shown in Figures 4, 5

and 6, will result in the quarry runoff passing through the drainage channels

that have limestone cobbles in them. The limestone will increase the pH of

the runoff and, therefore, the settling pond will receive very dilute acidic or

neutral runoff. Overflow out of the settling pond will be into the swamp to

the north of the site, with pH, TSS and electrical conductivity monitoring

undertaken monthly and quarterly monitoring of total and dissolved metals

as per the Environmental Effects Report Guidelines for M & C Lardner –

Beacom Hills Quarry Expansion – Circular Head Council dated 9th of

September 2013. Drainage and water quality is further discussed in Part C

1.2.



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Table 2. Rock and clay vein analysis results.

Analysis Unit PAF Rock Vein Silty Clay

Net Acid Production Potential (NAPP) Kg H2SO4/t 1.8 2.1

NAG pH pH Unit 6.4 5.3

Net Acid Generation (pH 4.5) Kg H2SO4/t <0.1 <0.1

Net Acid Generation (pH 7.0) Kg H2SO4/t 0.7 2.4

The Proponent does not see the encapsulation of PAF rock material in a clay

lined pit onsite an appropriate option. This is not considered a viable option for

the management of PAF material onsite due to the poor quality of the clay

reserves onsite, thus requiring clay of sufficient quantity for encapsulation to be

brought onsite, thus significantly increasing the probability of bringing external

weeds and pathogens onsite. Due to the acidic nature of the receiving

environment, the low sulphide, low strength and the low quantities of PAF

material currently discovered onsite, the excavation and subsequent

encapsulation of PAF veins is not recommended.

There is a small patch (approx. 50mm2) of iron staining on the southern end of

the upper face, which indicates the possible presence of iron sulfides in the rock.

If there are greater quantities of iron sulfides present in the quarry, then the

potential for acid metalliferous drainage (AMD) is considerably greater. AMD is

particularly harmful for the receiving environment, causing “dead creeks” along

with riparian vegetation dieback and localized fauna deaths. Upon inspection by



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ES & D on the 13/11/2013 and 28/05/2014 there were no signs of an increased

area of iron staining, despite works having been done to that region of the

quarry. Should greater areas- of iron staining become visible onsite, then the

proponent is to immediately cease extraction from that region of the quarry and

contact ES&D, who will immediately contact the EPA, as per Section 32 of

Environmental Management and Pollution Control Act 1994. This is included in

the PAF management plan, found as Appendix 2.

2.2 Project Area

The site is situated in the Beacom Hills region near Lake Mikany, Smithton. The

region is very densely populated with other quarries, particularly adjacent to this

quarry. As shown in Figure 3, the drainage offsite currently moves through a

number of small, uncontrolled channels, which will eventually flow onto the

adjacent paddock. The proposed drainage modifications as shown in Figures 4,

5 and 6, will act to control the drainage and centralise it through a single settling

pond. The settling pond will act to control the amount of sediment leaving site

as well as reduce the acidity of the runoff through the limestone cobbles added

to the drainage channels. The settling pond will overflow offsite and into the

nearby swampy area. This treatment process will ensure water leaving the site is

similar to the reseeding environment and at an acceptable level. The increased

pH (compared to the pH of the runoff entering the settling pond) will minimize

offsite contamination with metals as they will be precipitated in the settling

pond and drainage channels. Further information on the settling pond function

and the resulting water chemistry is discussed in Part C-1.2. The swamp has

continually been interrupted by historical disturbance. Continual disturbance

within habitats has the ability to increase the resilience of existing flora and

increase plant diversity1. Broadly the flora within the west coast of Tasmania has

1 Osland M.J, Gonzalez E and Richardson C.J (2011). Restoring diversity after cattail expansion:

disturbance, resilience, and seasonality in a tropical dry wetland. Ecological Application, 21 (3)

715:728



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adapted to harsh conditions including acid sulfate soils2, where species survive

in soils with high metal content3. The quarry is situated back into the White Hills

on the eastern side, with flat paddocks lying to the west and north (Figure 12).

The site is located in an area of native vegetation with farmland bordering the

western and northern side of the lease, with native vegetation to the east.

Immediately south of the Proponent’s mining lease is another quarry (mining

lease 29M/1993), with farmland south of the adjacent quarry (Figure 13). The

forest the mining lease is located in is dominated by Eucalyptus nitida (Smithton

Peppermint Gum), which is distinguished by the canopy of E. nitida and the

closed secondary tree canopy, consisting of Leptospermum sp. with Pteridium

esculentum (Bracken Fern) forming the main understory. The forest is

structurally and florally similar to Eucalyptus obliqua forests, but is found on

poorer quality soils, like those the lease is situated on. The forest is not a rare or

threatened community. The soils present in the lease are of poor quality and are

a quartzite based sandy loam4.

The land the mining lease is situated on is made up of two separate Crown Land

titles and is adjacent to numerous other leases, as previously stated (Figure 12).

Under the Circular Head Interim Planning Scheme 2013, the site and surrounding

area is zoned as “Rural Resource”. As shown in Figure 12, there is a residence

1000m to the west of the quarry, which, along with the mining leases; 1085P/M

(Frankcombe M K + G J and McBain P), 1279P/M (Leis T J + M J) and 29M/1993

(CCG (Tas) Pty Ltd), utilizes the same access road to the quarry. There is a verbal

agreement between the various quarry operators and the residents of the house

2 Gurun S Tasmanian Geological Survey Record 2001/05 Report 1 Acid drainage from abandoned

mines in Tasmania

3 DPIPWE (2014). URL: http://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/agriculture/land-management-soils/soil-

management/acid-sulfate-soils. Accessed 05/09/2014

4 Harris, S and Kitchener, A (2005). From Forest to Fjaeldmark: Descriptions of Tasmania’s

Vegetation. Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment, Printing Authority of

Tasmania. Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.



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with regards to travel speeds along the access road and crushing and blasting at

the quarries. There are no other sensitive users within 1km of the site.



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Figure 10. White Hills Pit and highlighted (red) mining lease (16M/1993), with contours.



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Figure 11. TasVeg 3.0 mapping of the White Hills Pit and surrounding area. The mining lease (16M/1993) is highlighted in red. The types of

vegetation are highlighted. Key: FAG = Agricultural land, FUM = Extra-Urban miscellaneous, SLS = Leptospermum scoparium heathland and scrub,

SLW = Leptospermum scrub, WNU = Eucalyptus nitida wet forest. A full TasVeg 3.0 key can be found as Appendix 4 to this report. Sourced from

Land Information Systems Tasmania.



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Figure 12. Title details for the White Hills Pit and surrounding land. The mining lease which covers the White Hills Pit is highlighted in red

(16M/1993), with the adjacent leases hatched in brown. The crown land that the White Hills Pit is situated on is shown in yellow. The property

identification numbers (PID) for the surrounding areas are shown. The two residences and access road are also highlighted.



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2.3 Map and Site Plan

The site is located on Irishtown road, 4.3 km south of Smithton (Figure 13).

Irishtown Road has moderate traffic levels from forestry, agriculture and other

quarrying operations.

There is to be minimal clearing of vegetation on the lease as part of the

expansion of operations, as much of the region to be quarried has already been

cleared by the Proponent as part of his current operations (Figure 7). It is in the

Proponent’s interests to retain as much of the vegetation on the site in order to

screen the quarrying operations.

There are two main regions where there will be significant earthworks on the

site as part of the operations expansion. Along with these two areas shown in

Figure 14, there will be very minor earth works associated with the construction

of the drainage channels on the site. See previous Figures; 10, 11 and 12 for

further maps of the site relating to; topography (10), vegetation (11) and

planning (12).

Figure 13. White Hills Pit and surrounding region. Sourced from Land Information

Systems Tasmania.



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Figure 14. Areas of significant earthworks to be undertaken onsite. Note that the construction of drainage channels is not included. The “S ite of major

quarry works” should be viewed with respect to the mining plans shown in Figures; 4, 5, 6 and 7.



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2.4 Rationale and Alternatives

The Proponent has had substantial increase in demand for products quarried

from the site, resulting in his wish to increase the production levels at the

White Hills Pit. Due to the location of the quarry, there are numerous

potential contracts for the product produced from the quarry in the north

west of Tasmania. By increasing production to a maximum of 20 000 cubic

metres annually, it allows the Proponent to undertake larger contracts,

thereby increasing his financial security.

There are limited alternatives to the increase in production from this pit. The

most likely alternative would be to operate another lease in the region at

level 1. This however is not feasible due to the increased costs of travel and

operating a fourth lease. This quarry can provide road base and clean fill

material to a variety of customers, ranging from local farmers and

construction contractors to DIER. There has been a steep increase in material

demand in the area to the point where the available quarries cannot provide

the required material.



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Part C – Potential Environmental Effects 3.0

3.1 Flora and Fauna

Due to the location of the site and its proximity to other mining leases, its

individual impact on the local environment, aesthetically, physically and from

noise is not considered to increase significantly with the increasing

production levels.

Native vegetation, as mentioned in Part B; 1.3, will be cleared as part of the

expansion process. The amount of native vegetation to be cleared is

approximately 850m2 (Figures, 7, 11, 14 and 15) and is not ‘virgin’ forest, i.e.

it has been cleared historically. The cleared vegetation will not have a notable

effect on the local fauna populations or plant communities. As shown in

Figure 11, and described in Part B; 1.2, the vegetation community making up

the majority of the lease is dominated by E. nitida, however the area to be

cleared is comprised mainly of small Leptospermum sp. and E. nitida shrubs,

Figure 15. The highlighted area shows some of the region where there will be

vegetation cleared.



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with P. esculentum common also (Figure 15).

A detailed flora and fauna survey has not been undertaken for the site due to

the limited amount of vegetation to be cleared as part of the increase in

production and the current disturbed nature of the vegetation.

There are no threatened vegetation communities likely to be impacted by the

increase in production (Figures 11 and 15), nor are there any threatened

fauna likely to be impacted by the increased production (Figure 16 and 17).

There are multiple records of Aquila audax subsp. fleayi (Tasmanian Wedge

Tailed Eagle), Alcedo azurea subsp. diemenensis (Tasmanian Azure Kingfisher)

and Haliaeetus leucogaster (White Bellied Sea Eagle) 1200m away from the

quarry, (to the nearest point of the Lake) to the south east, around Lake

Mikany. The A. audax subsp. fleayi nests are located at approximately

1600m, 2300m and 2600m away from the White Hills Pit. The quarrying

operation is not expected to detrimentally impact the A. audax subsp. fleayi

utilising these nests and there is no line of site to any of the nests. Similarly,

the H. leucogaster and A. azurea subsp. diemenensis are not expected to be

affected by the quarry operations, due to their preferred habitat and feeding

ecology ensuring they need to reside close to the water body (Figure 17).

During a site visit, by ES&D on the 13/11/2013, it was confirmed that due to

site topography, there is no line of site to the existing nests.

As shown in Figure 16 there are numerous records of threatened species

within 5km from the lease, however only one record of a threatened species

within 1.5km from the lease. Although not recorded, there is the potential

for Sarcophilus harrisii (Tasmanian Devil), Dasyurus maculatus subsp.

maculatus (Spotted Tail Quoll) and Peramales gunnii (Eastern Barred

Bandicoot) to be present in the forested regions off the lease, as they are

present in the region around nearby Lake Mikany. The lack of encroachment

into the vegetation at the eastern side of the lease means that there will be

little or no impact on these species from the increase in quarry production.



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Upon inspection of the swamp, there were numerous calls from Crinea

signifera (Common Froglet) as well as evidence, from scats and tracks, of

many Thylogale billardierii (Tasmanian Pademelon), Macropus rufogriseus

(Bennett’s Wallaby). A Circus approximans (Swamp Harrier) was spotted

flying out of the vegetation at the swamp. The increased quarrying activities

are not expected to detrimentally impact the swamp habitat these species

reside in through the chemical composition of the runoff.

There are no local groundwater users nor is there to be any detrimental

effects on the groundwater through the quarrying intensification. Fuel and oil

spills onsite will be of such low volume that the groundwater will not be

impacted. Further information on fuel and oil spills can be found in Part C;

1.13.



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Figure 16. Threatened flora and

fauna in the vicinity of the White

Hills Pit. Approximate location of

the pit is highlighted in the center of

the image with a 5km radius

around the site highlighted.

Threatened flora are shown as

green triangles and threatened

fauna as orange squares.

www.thelist.tas.gov.au/listmap/app/

list/map



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Figure 17. Threatened species records around Lake Mikany, Smithton. The approximate location of the lease is highlighted in the

northwest corner of the image. Threatened species records are taken from www.thelist.tas.gov.au/listmap/app/list/map.



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3.1.1 Weeds

Overall, the site has very few weeds present, with the majority of the quarry

weed free. A survey of the weeds present onsite was undertaken on the

13/11/2013 by ES & D with the following results. There are two main areas on

the lease where there are weeds present; the southern face and the area

near the waste rock pile. The weeds range from Cirsium vulgare (Spear

Thistles), Ulex europaeus (Gorse) and various other species present on the

lease, with the thistles the most numerous. Figure 18 shows examples of the

weeds present on site. Control (spraying with Roundup) measures of the

weeds have been undertaken as of the 9/11/2013 as part of regular quarterly

weed management. A full weed and Phytophothora cinnamoni management

plan can be found as Appendix 5 and 6 respectively. There are numerous

weeds near to the lease, which are potential sources of weeds on the lease,

which will need to be controlled in discussion with the adjacent land owners.

Due to the isolated nature of the weeds on the lease, there is limited

evidence to suggest that the lease will provide a source of weeds for nearby

areas or areas where quarry vehicles may also operate. By implementing a

stringent and effective weed management plan, the site will continue to

maintain and further reduce its low weed levels and prevent the outbreak

and spread of weeds onsite.



Page 36

Figure 18. Examples of weeds onsite; 1. Dock and thistle on southern ridge. 2. Small thistles and small gorse plant on southern

ridge. 3. Example of thistle. 4. Thistles on southern ridge. 5. Small thistles and gorse on southern ridge. 6. Thistles on waste rock

pile.



Page 37

3.1 Rivers , creeks, wetlands and estuaries

There is little current infrastructure situated onsite to deal with water quality,

however there are a number of proposed developments to be undertaken

onsite as part of the drainage modifications. As shown in Figures 4, 5 and 6,

the drainage will be directed through a centralized settling pond to eliminate

sediment from the runoff and increase the pH of the runoff. The settling pond

will have the capacity to hold a 1/20 year rain event for 2 hours in the settling

pond. Therefore the settling pond will be a minimum of 40 m35. Further

details on the settling pond and drainage modifications can be found in

Appendix 1 and 3.

There will be a number of rocks suitable for rip-wrap placed in the drainage

channel on the northern road to slow the water flow downhill and therefore

minimise the erosion occurring in the channel. Where drainage lines cross

access roads (see Figures; 4, 5 and 6) there will be limestone cobbles added

to increase the alkalinity of the runoff. By placing the cobbles in the drainage

channel across the road, the stimulation of the cobbles by the vehicle

movements over the channel will prevent armoring occurring on the

limestone, thus increasing its neutralization capacity.

The settling pond and drainage lines will be frequently checked for excess

sediment, and subsequently cleaned out, if there is found to be excessive

sediment in either. At a minimum this will be undertaken annually. Further

details are included in Appendix 1.

As mentioned, there will be limestone cobbles added to the two main

drainage lines where they cross the access roads, in order to increase the pH

of the quarry runoff. The limestone will be examined on an annual basis

(when the settling pond is cleaned out) to inspect for iron staining and

5 Information derived from www.bom.gov.au/water/designRainfalls/ifd/index.shtml. Accessed

on 28/10/2013.

http://www.bom.gov.au/water/designRainfalls/ifd/index.shtml.%20%20Accessed%20on%2028/10/2013

http://www.bom.gov.au/water/designRainfalls/ifd/index.shtml.%20%20Accessed%20on%2028/10/2013



Page 38

armoring. Visual inspections of the limestone will occur when operations are

occurring onsite.

Storm water from the site will drain through a settling pond and subsequently

drain into a swamp to the north of the site, as discussed in Part B; 1.2.

Figures 4, 5 and 6 show the proposed drainage plan for the site.

The swamp in which surface waters are to discharge into has previously been

interrupted by historical disturbance, this continual disturbance has the

ability to increase the resilience of existing flora and increase plant diversity

within wetlands6. Broadly the flora within the west coast of Tasmania has

adapted to harsh environmental conditions including; acid sulfate soils7,

where species survive in soils with high metal content8. Furthermore, the

volumes of water that are potentially draining into the swamp are low, thus

6 Osland M.J, Gonzalez E and Richardson C.J (2011). Restoring diversity after cattail

expansion: disturbance, resilience, and seasonality in a tropical dry wetland. Ecological

Application, 21 (3) 715:728

7 Gurun S Tasmanian Geological Survey Record 2001/05 Report 1 Acid drainage from

abandoned mines in Tasmania

8 DPIPWE (2014). URL: http://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/agriculture/land-management-soils/soil-

management/acid-sulfate-soils. Accessed 05/09/2014

Figure 19. Swamp to the north of the White Hills Pit. This is the receiving environment for the

overflow out of the settling pond.



Page 39

the impact is minimized significantly. However, as the following figures

(Figures 21 and 22) show, the swamp is thriving, despite there being two

quarries potentially draining into it.

Figure 20. Images of the swamp to the north of the Whit Hills Pit after heavy rain.

.

Testing of the physical characteristics and analysis of metals in the runoff

from the site, as well as from the swamp and nearby unnamed creek was

undertaken through late 2013 and early 2014 by ES & D. The sample

locations are shown in Figure 21.

The results from the field tests are shown in Table 3, with the laboratory

analysis shown in Table 4.



Page 40

Table 3. Mean field data from three water monitoring events at the White Hills Pit.

Data is limited due to the locations being dry during summer.

White Hills Pit Field Data

Site Temp (C⁰) pH EC (µs/cm)

CK2 12.83 4.67 263

WL1 12.15 4.25 316

PIT 13.52 4.52 263

Figure 21. Water monitoring locations and water courses near the White Hills Pit.

Monitoring locations are shown as blue dots.



Page 41

Table 4. Analysis of mean total metals at White Hills Pit. Highlighted values exceed

ANZECC 2000, trigger limits for toxicity in low – moderately disturbed fresh waters. ID

refers to insufficient data to derive a reliable trigger value.

White Hills Pit Metals Analysis

Site Al (µg/L) Cu (µg/L) Pb (µg/L) Mn (µg/L) Zn (µg/L) Fe (µg/L)

ANZECC 95% TL

ID 1.4 3.4 1900 8.0 ID

CK2 1103.3 3 2.3 71.3 44.3 843.3

WL1 1506.6 2.6 1.6 23 17 2890

PIT 5826.6 30 5 81.6 341.3 233.3

Each of the water monitoring points are shown in the following Figures; 22,

23 and 24. Site CK2 (Figure 22) is a small farm drainage creek that drains the

paddocks to the west and south of the quarry and flows into the farmlands to

the north of the quarry site. The creek is ephemeral and therefore is often dry

in the summer months. This creek was utilised as the background for the

monitoring, as the White Hills Pit has no impact on the creek, with the runoff

from the pit running down the access road and then into the paddock (see

Figure 4), not directly into the creek. As shown by the acidic nature of the

background site and WL1 (Table 3), the water in the region is naturally acidic.

WL1 samples are taken from a small drainage line on the edge of a clearing

and patch of Leucopogon vegetation (Figure 23). The water sampled was rich

in tannins and quite acidic, the most acidic site of all those sampled. This

acidity is most likely organic, not resulting from AMD, and naturally occurring

due to the vegetation communities and biological processes present in the



Page 42

swamp. The high iron levels also indicate the origin of the acidity as being

from the vegetation rather than as a result of quarrying.

Water samples taken from the main drainage line in the pit (Figure 24)

showed a pH of 4.52 (Table 3), indicating acidity present from the exposed

quarry rocks, however, the runoff was not significantly different to the other

areas sampled, including the background site. The highest levels of metals

were found at the pit sampling point, with levels of Copper and Zinc being

between 7.6 and 20 times higher than WL1 and CK2 (Table 4). The presence

of metals in the pit drainage will be mitigated through the centralization of

drainage through limestone cobbles prior to entering a settling pond. The

limestone cobbles will act to precipitate the metals from the pit drainage,

with further precipitation of the metals occurring in the settling pond prior to

discharge into the swamp. Future drainage (Figures 5 and 6) is likely to have

little or no impact on the swamp, particularly after the drainage modifications

occur onsite (Appendix 1). The sample taken from the pit (Figure 21 and 24) is

representative of the overall drainage from the quarry as it is the main

drainage line leaving the quarry.



Page 43

Figure 22. Water monitoring location CK2.

Figure 23. Water monitoring location CK2.



Page 44

Figure 24. Pit sample point is highlighted.

Figure 25. Sample point WL1, samples are taken from the water flowing through the

depression under the tree line.



Page 45

As shown in Table 3, levels of Aluminum, Copper, Zinc and Iron are above the

trigger levels stated in Table 3.4.1 of ANZECC, 2000. However, as per Chapter

3.4.3.1 of ANZECC 2000, the following applies; “The investigation and/or

regular monitoring may also result in refinement of the guideline figure to

suit regional or local water quality parameters and other conditions. Such

refinement would occur where exceedance of the trigger value was shown to

have no adverse effects upon the ecosystem.”

Mean total Aluminum levels were the highest in the pit runoff (5826µg/L),

with the background creek having the lowest levels; 1103µg/L. The swamp

returned results of 1506µg/L. Aluminum is generally not toxic to humans or

the environment in a non-dissolved form due to its abundance in the earth’s

crust, however it has been shown to be a potential aquatic toxicant in

dissolved form, particularly in acidic environments. There is also the potential

for Al3+ to become toxic to plant root systems in high concentrations in acidic

soil. There is limited dissolved metals data available for the site, however the

most current available data, along with the acidity of the pit runoff and

surrounding environment suggests that there will be a significant proportion

of the total in dissolved form (Appendix 3).

As shown in Table 4, the copper levels are between 1.9 and 21 times greater

than the trigger limits in Table 3.4.1 of ANZECC, 2000. Copper is rarely found

in a free, unbound state, rather it is found bound to small organic or inorganic

particles in the water course. As copper is an essential element for plant and

animal function, the uptake of copper occurs readily by vegetation, where it

is stored in the plant tissue. Copper transport in plants is undertaken through

the xylem where the Cu2+ ions (the form available to plants for uptake) binds

to amino acids for transport around the plant. Research suggests that by

increasing the copper available to the plant results in an increased production

of amino acids, therefore suggesting that plants have mechanisms to

minimise potential damage caused by excess copper. Wetlands have been

used as a treatment method to reduce metals from the environment through

this uptake. A study by Nelson (2002) showed copper concentrations as high



Page 46

as 180µg/L being reduced below 10µg/L within a wetland treatment system9.

Tolerance to Copper concentrations varies considerably among species with

invertebrate taxa within streams declining in levels of 5-10µg/L10 compared

to amphibians withstanding levels of 12-18µg/L11. As shown in Table 4, the

copper levels in the pit runoff was 30 µg/L, with the samples from the swamp

(WL1) and background (CK2) returning results of 3µg/L and 2.67µg/L

respectively. Therefore, the excess 27µg/L copper from the pit runoff, which

will drain into the swamp through a lightly vegetated area, has the ability to

be absorbed by the vegetation in the area without adverse effects, thus

mitigating the effects by excess copper. Furthermore, addition of lime to the

settling pond as well as the limestone lined drains will act to increase the pH

of the runoff, thereby keeping the copper, and other metals, out of solution,

and reducing the need for uptake by plants in the swamp.

Zinc is generally not toxic to plants until at concentrations in excess of

300mg/kg of leaf tissue12. Soil zinc levels can vary from 66 – 300mg/kg in

organic and agricultural soils, like those the receiving environment is situated

on, thus contributing to the elevated zinc levels in the surface waters,

particularly at the background site. Accumulation of zinc in the tissue of small

mammals has been shown in studies to be minimal, despite high background

concentrations in the environment, suggesting active regulation of the zinc by

9 Nelson E.A, W.L Specht, J.A Bowers and J.B Gladden, 2002. Constructed Wetlands for

removal of heavy metals from NPDES outfall effluent. U.S. Department of Commerce,

National Technical Information Service.

10 Leland H.V, S.V Fend, T.L Dudley and J.L Carter, 1989. Effects of copper on species

composition of benthic insects in a Sierra Nevada, California, Stream. Freshwater Biology, 21,

163-179

11 Schuytema G.S and A.V Nebeker, 1996. Amphibian Toxicity data for water quality criteria

chemicals. US EPA URL: http://nepis.epa.gov/Adobe/PDF/P100G6IF.pdf. Accessed 5/9/2014

12 Reichman S.M., 2002, The Responses of Plants to Metal Toxicity: A review focusing on

Copper, Manganese and Zinc. Australian Minerals & Energy Environment Foundation. 144 High St, Prahran, Victoria, 3181.



Page 47

the mammals over time13. The lack of accumulation in the mammalian tissue

suggests that there will be little bioaccumulation of zinc throughout the food

chain. The excess zinc in the pit water runoff will be reduced to levels

consistent with the background through bioremediation in the swamp.

The total iron levels in the runoff varied considerably between the sample

sites, with WL1 containing approximately five times greater iron than the pit

runoff and twice as much as the background. This is naturally occurring and

can be attributed to the vegetation and bacteriological communities in the

swamp. The iron contained in the runoff from the pit will have minimal

impact on the ecology of the swamp.

Levels of manganese were below trigger limits. Lead levels were below the

trigger limit (3.4µg/L) at all sites except the Pit (5µg/L), the excess 1.6µg/L will

be mitigated through the drainage modifications before leaving site. Field

electrical conductivity (EC), total suspended solids (TSS) and pH will be

measured monthly in the settling pond and the turbidity will be visually

inspected regularly. This will ensure that there are no excessive sediment

loads flowing out of the settling pond.

As previously mentioned, the proposal will be undertaken near a swamp

approximately 60m to the north of the lease and there is a small farm

drainage creek that flows approximately 120m to the west of the lease. Upon

completion of the proposed drainage works, the water that would have

flowed down the access road drains in a westerly direction towards the creek,

and water that flowed through the main workings of the White Hills Pit and

eventually into the adjacent paddock, will cease to flow into that area,

therefore there should no longer be any impact on the paddock from the

quarry (Figures; 4, 5, 6 and 21). The vegetation clearing is proposed to occur

approximately 250m away from the creek and 100m away from the swamp.

13

M. S. Johnson, R. D. Roberts, M. Hutton and M. J. Inskip, 1978. Distribution of Lead, Zinc and Cadmium in Small Mammals from Polluted Environments. Oikos , Vol. 30, Fasc. 1 (1978), pp. 153-159



Page 48

There will be no foreseen detrimental impact on either the creek or swamp as

a result of this proposal.

None of the proposed earthworks or vegetation clearing are to occur within

30m from the waterways as per MRT Quarry Code of Practice 1999.

3.2 Significant areas

The mining lease is not located adjacent to or within any reserved areas or

areas of significance.

3.3 Coastal zone

The proposal is not located within 300m of the coast.

3.4 Marine areas

The proposal will have no impact on marine areas.



Page 49

Figure 26. Watercourses near the White Hills Pit. The swamp is the only water course to be impacted by this proposal. The

mining lease is highlighted.

Figure 27. Watercourses near the White Hills Pit. The swamp is the only water course to be impacted by this proposal. The

mining lease is highlighted.



Page 50

3.5 Air emissions

The quarrying operations will produce air emissions from machinery as well

as dust from blasting. The proponent uses a CAT 950H Wheel Loader along

with a mobile crushing and screening plant. Numerous private haulage

contractors, as well as the proponents own haulage trucks utilise the

resource from the lease, thereby contributing to the air emissions on site.

Dust from operations is considered a minor issue due to local weather

conditions favoring the prevention of dust creation on site. Furthermore,

blasting and drilling in the White Hills Pit is undertaken when there are

favorable weather conditions for dust minimization. There have been no

complaints from the residences near the White Hills Pit and the adjacent

quarries in relation to dust issues in the past, and this is not predicted to

change with the increase in production. Seventeen years of rainfall data from

Smithton Aerodrome (approx. 8km NW of the lease) show that there is a

median annual rainfall of 907mm with a mean of 202.8 days of rainfall

annually14. Coupled with the predominantly westerly wind direction, any

dust produced on the days of no rainfall or days of high evaporation, will be

blown back towards the working face of the quarry, and dust from the face

will be blown back away from the residences into the well vegetated area in

the east of the lease, thereby causing no nuisance to neighboring residents or

livestock.

Dust from the access road is not expected to cause a noticeable adverse

impact due to the number of other quarries utilising the access road.

Furthermore, there is a verbal agreement between the residents of the house

that live on the access road and the proponent as well as the nearby

residents on Irishtown road, regarding the minimisation of dust and noise

from the quarry traffic travelling on the access road. There will be minimal

odours from operations. Dust control will be undertaken on the access roads

14 Data sourced from Bureau of Meteorology.



Page 51

and quarry floor during hot and windy days, whereby a water cart will be

utilised by the proponent.

3.6 Liquid effluent

There will be no liquid wastes or polluted waters produced from this

proposal. Runoff is covered separately.

3.7 Solid wastes

The solid wastes produced onsite will be ‘green waste’ from the clearing of

vegetation as discussed in Part C; 1.1. There will be no other wastes produced

or stored onsite. The green waste will be stored onsite or mulched and used

for rehabilitation. There may be some taken offsite for fire wood.

Topsoil that has been stripped back prior to quarrying will be stored in

stockpiles above the uppermost bench, towards the east of the main

workings. There will be very little waste rock produced from the quarry and it

will be stockpiled to the north of the main access road (Figure 27). General

refuse such as lunch scraps and wrappers will be taken off site at the end of

Figure 28. Nearest residences from the working face of the White Hills Pit.



Page 52

each day to prevent littering. There will be no onsite toilet facilities

permanently located on the site, however in periods of peak production, with

numerous personnel working in and out of the quarry, the need for a ‘Porta-

loo’ to be located onsite may arise, in which case there will be one brought

onsite.



Page 53

Figure 29. Waste rock storage and topsoil storage locations at the White Hills Pit. The approximate mining lease location is highlighted in yellow, with

the current bench locations in red.

Figure 30. Waste rock storage and topsoil storage locations at the White Hills Pit. The approximate mining lease location is highlighted in yellow, with

the current bench locations in red.



Page 54

3.8 Noise emissions

As mentioned previously, there are two major pieces of machinery present

onsite, the CAT 950H Wheel Loader and the Mobile Crushing and Screening

plant, with haulage trucks frequenting the site also. The noise emissions on

site will not increase significantly with the increased production and the

nearest residence is 1000 meters to the west (Figure 26). As the production

increases, there will be an increase in frequency of noise produced from the

site, due to the increased extraction. The nuisance caused by this is foreseen

to be minimal, considering its contribution to the cumulative noise from the

surrounding quarries. Furthermore, there will be significant dissipation of the

noise from the quarry over the 1000 metres to the residences, particularly

with the prevailing westerly winds. However, upon receipt of a noise

complaint relating specifically to blasting and crushing from the White Hills

Pit, there will be a noise and blasting survey undertaken.

Blasting onsite will occur infrequently, approximately twice a year, with the

potential for an extra blasting event should demand for product be required.

Blasting uses 35kg of explosives per hole, with a 12millisecond delay in the

hole and 25millisecond delay above ground. The only drilling to occur onsite

will be the drilling of holes for blasting, and it is not envisaged that there will

be a significant increase in noise as a result of infrequent drilling events. The

ground vibrations from blasting are not expected to impact the residences

near the quarry.

3.9 Transport impacts

There will be approximately 12 truck movements (to and from the quarry)

per day in peak production periods, with approximately 5 truck movements

per day during normal operation periods. The access onto Irishtown road has

had a traffic impact assessment undertaken for the Circular Head Council

(Appendix 8).



Page 55

3.10 Fire hazard

As there is to be no permanent infrastructure constructed onsite, the fire

management focus of the site is less about protection of the site, rather it is

based on a prevention strategy. By ensuring fuel loads in the vegetated areas

are kept low, through allowing the vegetation to progress to its final stage

with a thicker canopy cover, thus reducing undergrowth and ensuring all

cleared vegetation is not allowed to be kept near ignition sources. On days of

high fire risk, the client will keep firefighting equipment onsite (water and

hose). Fire extinguishers are kept inside all vehicles. Should access be

required to the site in the event of a potential fire, then access is two vehicle

widths wide and there is sufficient space for truck maneuvering on the quarry

floor.

3.11 Other off-site impacts

There are no other potential offsite impacts.

3.12 Hazardous substances and chemicals

There are to be no hazardous chemicals, fuels, oils or other substances that

have the potential to cause environmental harm stored onsite. The fuel and

oil required for the operation of onsite equipment is taken onsite daily by the

client and is removed at the end of each day. The diesel fuel is contained in a

bunded (110% of the capacity of fuel stored), approximately 400L steel tank

with a pump on a trailer. Oils, both engine and hydraulic, are stored in their

respective 5-25L drums on the Proponent’s vehicle, which has an insert that

acts as a bund (>110% of the capacity of the oils stored). A spill kit will be

kept onsite. There will also be the potential for minor hydrocarbon spillage

(<1L) from the crushing and screening plant, which may flow into the

drainage channel. This will be mitigated through the creation of bunds

around the crushing plant, and by utilising the spill kit to control large

spillages.



Page 56

3.13 Site contamination

Due to the proximity of the White Hills Pit to the surrounding quarries and

intensive agriculture of the region, the groundwater of the site is potentially

historically contaminated. The intensification of quarrying operations onsite

will have a negligible impact on the groundwater of the region. There is no

known existing soil contamination onsite.

3.14 Sustainability and climate change

The White Hills Pit is not a major producer of greenhouse gasses, with only

the aforementioned machinery and haulage trucks operating out of the

quarry. However, in order to minimise the potential impact of the increase in

greenhouse gasses from a greater production rate in the quarry, there will be

a concerted effort to minimise excessive vehicular movements and idling,

waste generation and water usage. Obviously, with an increase in

production, there will be an increase in emissions from vehicles and crushing

equipment proportional to that of the increase production rate. The

emissions from the loader are undefined, however engine specifications are

shown in Appendix 3. The engine size is a 6 cylinder, 7.2 litre diesel. Increased

production will also result in increased truck movements (see Part C; 1.10),

however, the greenhouse impact of this can be mitigated somewhat through

the use of twin trailer trucks, which, for the same engine size, can transport

double the load, thereby reducing emissions per unit load, thus reducing the

rate of increase of greenhouse gasses produced onsite, when compared with

the current operations. The management of greenhouse gas emissions

onsite has been developed with reference to Tasmania’s Action Plan to

Reduce Emissions, 2011.

The potential impacts of climate change, specifically, changes to rainfall

patterns and events, temperature and wind regimes are foreseen to have a



Page 57

minimal impact on the quarry over the foreseeable future. As mentioned in

Part B; 1.2 and Part C; 1.2, the settling pond for the storm water runoff from

the quarry will be designed with the capacity to continue to function

normally in the event of a 1 in 20 year rainfall event, considering the increase

in intensity of rainfall events. Therefore, if there were to be a greater

number of infrequent heavy rainfalls, rather than frequent light falls, as is

predicted for much of western and north western Tasmania, then the settling

pond and drainage system is expected to be sufficient to withstand such an

event. Water usage onsite is minimal, with the main use for water being dust

suppression. Water will either be pumped from the settling pond or brought

in from outside sources if required.

3.15 Cultural heritage

The proposal is not foreseen to have any cultural heritage impacts, due to the

very limited clearing of vegetation onsite and the historical clearing and

disturbance of the vegetation that will be cleared as part of the mine plan.

Data from Land Information Systems Tasmania showed no records of

Aboriginal heritage on or near the site. Thus, it is extremely unlikely that

there would be any Aboriginal or European heritage relics or sites found on

the lease. There have been no objects of cultural heritage found on this site,

nor sites nearby to date.

3.16 Sites of high public interest

The site is not located near any sites of high public interest.

3.17 Rehabilitation

The site is to be progressively rehabilitated in order to maintain the minimal

footprint of disturbance possible. The aims of rehabilitation of the site are

to;



Page 58

Achieve long term stablisation of the quarry faces and slopes to

minimise erosion and sediment runoff;

Revegetate all disturbed areas with local plant species, to promote

recolonisation of the site by native flora and fauna;

Minimise the visual impact of the site through recontouring and

revegetation; and

Ensure that the quarry site is safe for future uses.

As discussed in the mine plan (Part B; 1.1.1) and Figure 4, the reshaping of the

current benches (Figures 1 and 2), will allow for the progressive rehabilitation

of the upper most bench of the quarry whilst extraction is taking place on the

lower benches. The rehabilitation on these benches will be undertaken

through the spreading of topsoil which is currently stockpiled on the top of

the highest bench (Figure 27 and 28) and spreading of seed slash from

Figure 31. Topsoil stockpiles on the top bench. The vegetated area in the east of the lease can be seen in the

background of the top two images.



Page 59

cleared vegetation, which will act to not only provide seed for revegetation,

particularly from the Leucopogon species, but also provide mulch when the

seed slash begins to break down. In addition to this, the mature native

vegetation situated adjacent to the areas to be rehabilitated on the top

bench, will self-seed into the freshly spread topsoil, thereby providing flora

characteristic of E. nitida forest. The area outside the western boundary of

the mining lease will also be rehabilitated.

Further to this, there will be seed slash spread over the topsoil on the slope in

order to stabilise the topsoil further until vegetation can be established. Due

to the nature of the geology of the site, erosion of topsoil is going to be a

significant factor in the effectiveness of the rehabilitation of the site.

The next stage of the rehabilitation of the site, upon completion of works, will

be to ensure that all bench heights are below 3m with a slope of no greater

than 3 in 1. The bench floors of the lower benches will also have topsoil and

seed slash laid on them (provided there is enough available) and/or have

native seeds brought in from external sources to recolonize the areas. By

Figure 32. Final rehabilitation state. The benched areas will have seed slash spread over

them. Blue lines indicate drainage direction. The settling pond and drainage lines will remain.



Page 60

planting the floor of the benches, it will act to shield the steep bench faces,

thus improving the quarries aesthetic qualities.

The drainage channels and settling pond implemented as part of the revised

drainage plan for the quarry will remain, with the settling pond potentially

having to be cleaned out after the first 12 months, prior to vegetation

establishing. The quarry floor will be deep ripped and have topsoil spread

over it to allow for better establishment of vegetation. As mentioned

previously, the rehabilitation of the site is to take place progressively,

however, there will be a preference for earthworks to be undertaken during

the summer months, for ease of process. The site will be monitored after the

closure of the quarry to ensure rehabilitation processes are progressing as

planned.

By spreading topsoil over the site to assist in the rehabilitation process and

provide a suitable surface for the vegetation to take root in, will act to cover

the exposed silty clay vein and parts of the acidic rock veins. Once the

vegetation has taken hold, this will act to naturally encapsulate the acidic

materials, thereby preventing further exposure. The period where there isn’t

significant vegetation growth or topsoil cover over the acidic material will not

cause a detrimental environmental impact, as the runoff will still be diverted

through the limestone containing settling pond.



Page 61

Part D - Management Commitments 4.0

Table 5. Table of Commitments.

Number Commitment Completion

Date

Person

Responsible

1. Execute mine plan as per Part B; 1.1.1; and

Appendix 1.

Ongoing M. Lardner

2. Avoid extraction and disturbance of PAF

rock veins. As per Part B; 1.1.1, Appendix 1

and 2.

Ongoing M. Lardner

3. Implement drainage modifications as

discussed in Part B; 1.2, Figures 5 and 6,

and Appendix 1.

Within

3 months

M. Lardner

4. Undertake control of weeds as discussed in

Appendix 4.

Ongoing M. Lardner

5. Water monitoring undertaken as per Part

C; 1.2.

Monthly/

Quarterly

ES & D/ M.

Lardner

6. Prevention of excessive dust from quarry

operations, by utilising dust suppression

techniques (water truck) in dry, windy

conditions as discussed in Part C; 1.6.

Ongoing M. Lardner

7. Minimisation of noise generation from

quarrying, blasting, transport, and crushing

operations as per Part C; 1.9.

Ongoing M. Lardner

8. Ensure truck movements are kept to a

minimum to avoid excessive noise, dust

and nuisance to neighbors. See Part C; 1.6

and 1.10.

Ongoing M. Lardner

9. Keep firefighting equipment onsite in

periods of high fire danger. Discussed in

Part C; 1.11.

Ongoing M. Lardner

10. Spill kit to be brought onsite when the site

is being utilised. Refer to Part C; 1.13.

Ongoing M. Lardner

11. Ensure operations are conducted to be Ongoing M. Lardner



Page 62

environmentally sustainable, as per Part C;

1.15.

12. Ensure the long term stabilisation of the

quarry faces to minimise erosion and

sediment runoff, whilst enhancing the

success of plants used for revegetation.

Part C; 1.18.

Ongoing

and upon

completion

of

operations.

M. Lardner

13. Revegetate all disturbed areas

progressively with local native species. Part

C; 1.18.

Ongoing

and upon

completion

of

operations.

M. Lardner

14. Minimise the visual impacts of the quarry,

through progressive rehabilitation of the

disturbed areas. Part C 1.18.

Ongoing

and upon

completion

of

operations.

M. Lardner

15. Conduct all rehabilitation in accordance

with rehabilitation plan, discussed in Part C;

1.18.

Ongoing

and upon

completion

of

operations.

M. Lardner

Part E – Public Consultation 5.0

Consultation with representatives from the Environmental Protection

Authority (EPA) Tasmania and Mineral Resources Tasmania have been

undertaken as part of the proposal. The Proponent has discussed the

proposed expansion with the neighboring quarry operators as well as the

owners of the residence located along the access road.



Page 63

References 6.0

DPIPWE (2014). URL: http://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/agriculture/land-

management-soils/soil-management/acid-sulfate-soils. Accessed 05/09/2014

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drainage from abandoned mines in Tasmania

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from abandoned mines in Tasmania

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Tasmania’s Vegetation. Department of Primary Industries, Water and

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species composition of benthic insects in a Sierra Nevada, California, Stream.

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Osland M.J, Gonzalez E and Richardson C.J (2011). Restoring diversity after

cattail expansion: disturbance, resilience, and seasonality in a tropical dry

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Page 64

Reichman S.M., 2002, The Responses of Plants to Metal Toxicity: A review

focusing on Copper, Manganese and Zinc. Australian Minerals & Energy

Environment Foundation. 144 High St, Prahran, Victoria, 3181.

Schuytema G.S and A.V Nebeker, 1996. Amphibian Toxicity data for water

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www.bom.gov.au/water/designRainfalls/ifd/index.shtml. Accessed on

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