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CONDITIONS OF LICENCE Environmental Protection Act 1986

LICENCE NUMBER: L5258/1991/11 FILE NUMBER: DER2013/ 000902

Issue Date: Thursday, 26 May 2011

Amendment Date: Thursday, 28 May 2015 Page 3 of 18

DEFINITIONS In these conditions of licence, unless inconsistent with the text or subject matter: ‘Act’ means the Environmental Protection Act 1986; ‘annual period’ means the inclusive period from 1 January until 31 December in the same year; ‘ANZECC 2000’ means the most recent version and relevant parts of the Australian and New Zealand Environment Conservation Council guidelines for fresh and marine water quality Volume 1 – 3 (Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council, Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand); ‘Australian Standard 1940-2004’ means the most recent version of the Australian Standard for the storage and handling of flammable and combustible liquids; ‘Australian Standard 5667’ means the most recent version and the relevant parts of the Australian and New Zealand series of guidance standards on Water Quality Sampling; ‘Brockman 2 Mine Expansion Water Quality Assessment ’ means the document titled “Brockman 2 Phase 2B Mine Expansion Project Water Quality Monitoring and Baseline Assessment” as required by Ministerial Statement 867 condition 7; ‘CEO’ mean Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Environment Regulation; ‘CEO’ for the purpose of correspondence means;

Manager Licensing (Resources North) Department of Environment Regulation Locked Bag 33 CLOISTERS SQUARE WA 6850 Telephone: (08) 9333 7510 Facsimile: (08) 9333 7550 Email: [email protected];

‘cfu/100ml’ means colony-forming unit per 100 millilitres; ‘Clean Fill’ has the meaning defined in Landfill Definitions; ‘contaminated stormwater’ means stormwater runoff that has come into contact with pollutants such as oil and grease, petroleum hydrocarbons, process wastes or materials, spills, sediment, gross solids/litter etc, and is carrying or potentially carrying such material; ‘freeboard’ means the vertical height between the maximum water surface elevations and the top of retaining banks or structures at their lowest point; ‘Inert Waste Type 1’ has the meaning defined in Landfill Definitions; ‘Inert Waste Type 2’ has the meaning defined in Landfill Definitions; ‘kg/ha/year’ means kilograms per hectare per year;





‘Landfill Definitions’ means the document titled “Landfill Waste Classification and Waste Definitions 1996” published by the Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Environment and Conservation as amended from time to time; ‘Licence’ means this Licence numbered L5258/1991/11 and issued under the Act; ‘Licensee’ means the person or organisation named as Licensee on page 1 of the Licence; ‘m’ means metres; ‘µS/cm’ means micro Siemens per centimetre; ‘mg/L’ means milligrams per litre; ‘mm’ means millimetres; ‘Nammuldi-Silvergrass Monitoring and Management Pla n’ means the document titled “Nammuldi-Silvergrass Monitoring and Management Plan – Water Discharge Monitoring and Management and Groundwater Dependent Vegetation Monitoring and Management” as required by Ministerial Statement 925 conditions 6-2, 7-1 and 7-4; ‘NATA’ means National Association of Testing Authorities, Australia; ‘Putrescible Waste’ has the meaning defined in Landfill Definitions; ‘quarterly’ means the 4 inclusive periods from 1 January to 31 March, 1 April to 30 June, 1 July to 30 September and 1 October to 31 December in the same year; ‘Special Waste Type 1’ has the meaning defined in Landfill Definitions; ‘Standard Methods for Examination of Water and Wast ewater’ means the most recent edition of the Standard Methods for Examination of Water and Wastewater as published by the American Public Health Association (APHA), the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and the Water Environment Federation (WEF), generally abbreviated to APHA-AWWA-WEF; ‘tipping area’ means the area of a landfill site where waste is currently being brought to the site is being deposited; ‘Western Australian guidelines for biosolids manage ment’ means the document titled “Western Australian guidelines for biosolids management, December 2012” published by the Department of Environment and Conservation as amended from time to time; ‘WFSF’ means waste fines storage facility; and ‘WWTPs’ means the mine, camp and Jerriwah Wastewater Treatment Plants.





GENERAL CONDITIONS

DUST MANAGEMENT 1 The Licensee shall take measures to prevent the generation of visible dust from

materials handling operations, stockpiles, open areas and transport activities. Such measures may include, but are not limited to: (i) maintaining stockpiles in a damp condition; (ii) sealing non-working faces to prevent dust lift off; (iii) spraying surfaces with water; (iv) sealing surfaces with chemical dust suppressants; and (v) rehabilitation of disturbed areas.

2 The Licensee shall maintain installed dust collection and dust control systems including:

(i) coverings on conveyors, transfer points and discharge points; (ii) skirtings; and (iii) dust filters as measures to prevent the generation of visible dust from the premises.

WWTPs MONITORING

3 The Licensee shall operate and maintain a suitable device for measuring the cumulative volume of all treated wastewater discharged from the WWTPs.

4 The Licensee shall record the monthly cumulative volume of all effluent discharges from the WWTPs for the purpose of irrigation. This data shall be included in the Annual Environmental Report in tabular form.

5 The Licensee shall for each of the WWTPs collect and have analysed, representative

effluent discharge samples for the parameters listed in column 1 of Table 1 at the frequency stated in column 2 of Table 1.

Table 1: Mine, Camp and Jerriwah WWTPs water quality monitoring requirements Column 1 Column 2 Parameter Frequency Biochemical Oxygen Demand (mg/L)

Quarterly

Total Suspended Solids (mg/L) pH (pH units) Total Nitrogen (mg/L) Total Phosphorus (mg/L) E.coli (cfu/100mL)





6 The Licensee shall compare the results of the water quality monitoring required by condition 5, to the targets stated in column 2 of Table 2, for the parameters in column 1 of Table 2 and present this information in the Annual Environmental Report along with corrective actions for any exceedances of these targets.

Table 2: Mine, Camp and Jerriwah WWTPs effluent quality criteria Column 1 Column 2 Parameter Target Discharge Biochemical Oxygen Demand (mg/L) <30 Total Suspended Solids (mg/L) <40 pH (pH value) 6-9 Total Nitrogen (mg/L) <50 Total Phosphorus (mg/L) <12 E.coli (cfu/100mL) <106

NUTRIENT LOADING RATES FOR IRRIGATION AREAS 7 The Licensee shall for the parameters listed in column 1 of Table 3 aim not to exceed the

nutrient loading rate targets listed in column 2 of Table 3 and present a comparison of this information in the Annual Environmental Report along with corrective actions for any exceedances of these targets.

Table 3: Nutrient loading rates for the Mine, Camp and Jerriwah WWTPs irrigation areas Column 1 Column 2 Parameter Target Total Nitrogen 480 kg/ha/year Total Phosphorus 120 kg/ha/year

8 The Licensee shall manage and operate the sewage wastewater treatment system in a

manner such that: (i) uncontaminated stormwater runoff does not enter the wastewater treatment

system; (ii) there is not discernible seepage loss from the treatment system; and (iii) any sludges removed from the treatment system are disposed of in accordance

with the Western Australian guidelines for biosolids management or to a licensed or registered landfill facility.

STORMWATER MANAGEMENT

9 The Licensee shall ensure that contaminated stormwater is retained on the premises to allow treatment for sediment and total hydrocarbon prior to discharge off the premises.

10 The Licensee shall ensure that sedimentation basins are maintained at each point of

discharge from the premises such that there is sufficient retention time within the basin to reduce suspended solids prior to discharge of waters offsite.

SURFACE WATER – DISCHARGE OUTFALL

11 The Licensee shall ensure that the concentration of Total Recoverable Hydrocarbons in waters discharged from the premises does not exceed 30 mg/L.





WFSF GROUNDWATER MONITORING 12 The Licensee shall collect and have analysed representative water samples from the

monitoring sites shown in column 1 of Table 4, for the parameters listed in column 2 of Table 4, at the frequencies in column 3 of Table 4.

Table 4: WFSF groundwater monitoring schedule Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Monitoring site(s) (Attachment 2)

Parameter Frequency

MB13NAM001 MB13NAM002 MB13NAM003 MB12NAM011 MB12NAM012 MB12NAM014

Depth to water (m) pH (pH units) Total Dissolved Solids (mg/L)

Quarterly

Electrical Conductivity (µS/cm) Total Hardness (CaCO3) (mg/L) Major Ions (mg/L): Na, K, Ca, Cl, Mg, and SO4 Metals (mg/L) – Cu, Fe, Mn, As, Cd and Cr

Annual

13 WFSF - FREEBOARD The Licensee shall ensure that at least 300 mm of freeboard is maintained at the main

embankment at all times.

LIQUID CHEMICAL STORAGE 14 The Licensee shall store environmentally hazardous chemicals including, but not limited

to, fuel, oil or other hydrocarbons (where the total volume of each substance stored on the premises exceeds 250 litres) within low permeability (10-9 metres per second or less) compound(s) designed to contain not less than 110% of the volume of the largest storage vessel or inter-connected system, and at least 25% of the total volume of substances stored in the compound.

15 The compound(s) described in condition 14 shall:

(i) be graded or include a sump to allow recovery of liquid; (ii) be chemically resistant to the substances stored; (iii) include valves, pumps and meters associated with transfer operations wherever

practical. Otherwise the equipment shall be adequately protected (e.g. bollards) and contained in an area designed to permit recovery of chemicals released following accidents or vandalism;

(iv) be designed such that jetting from any storage vessel or fitting will be captured within the bunded area [see for example Australian Standard 1940-2004 Section 5.8.3 (h)];

(v) be designed such that chemicals which may react dangerously if they come into contact, are in separate bunds in the same compound or in different compounds; and

(vi) be controlled such that the capacity of the bund is maintained at all times (e.g. regular inspection and pumping of trapped uncontaminated rain water).

16 The Licensee shall as soon as practicable recover, or remove and dispose of, any liquid

resulting from spills or leaks of chemicals including fuel, oil or other hydrocarbons, from inside or outside the low permeability compound(s).





WASTE MANAGEMENT FROM ANCILLARY OPERATIONS 17 The Licensee shall utilise and maintain protective bunding, skimmers, silt traps,

neutralisation pits, fuel and oil traps, drains and sealed collection sumps around the process plant, maintenance workshops, laboratory and power generation areas to enable recovery of spillages and protection of surrounding soils and groundwater.

18 The Licensee shall utilise measures or agents such as quick break detergents, to prevent

oil-water emulsions from passing through the separator systems. OILY AND SOLVENT WASTEWATER TREATMENT SYSTEM 19 The Licensee shall ensure that uncontaminated stormwater is prevented from entering

the oily and solvent wastewater treatment system. DEWATERING MONITORING

20 The Licensee shall only discharge dewatering water from the Pit 5 and Duck Creek discharge points as depicted in Attachment 3.

21 The Licensee shall submit to the CEO, the results of the dewatering discharge monitoring as required by the Brockman 2 Mine Expansion Water Quality Assessment and Nammuldi-Silvergrass Monitoring and Management Plan as part of the Annual Environmental Report, including a comparison to the trigger levels and a comparison against previous years’ data.

22 The Licensee shall, on a monthly basis, measure and record in cubic meters, the

cumulative volumes of mine dewatering waters discharged from: • Pit 5 discharge point; and • Duck Creek discharge point and shall publish the results in the Annual Environmental Report.

VEGETATION MONITORING 23 The Licensee shall submit a summary of the vegetation monitoring required by the

Nammuldi-Silvergrass Monitoring and Management Plan as part of the Annual Environmental Report.

MANAGEMENT OF PUTRESCIBLE LANDFILL (ATTACHMENT 4) 24 The Licensee shall bury only the following types of waste within the putrescible landfill

facility: (i) Inert Waste Type 1; (ii) Special Waste Type 1; and (iii) Putrescible waste as defined in the Landfill Definitions.

25 The Licensee shall ensure that the tipping area of the putrescible landfill is not greater than: (i) 30 m in length; and (ii) 2 m above ground level in height.





26 The Licensee shall ensure that waste in the tipping area of the putrescible landfill is covered: (i) at least weekly; (ii) with a dense (at least 200 mm), inert and incombustible material; and (iii) totally, so that no waste is left exposed.

27 The Licensee shall ensure that there is no waste within:

(i) 100 m of any surface water body at the site; and (ii) 3 m of the highest level of the water table aquifer at the putrescible landfill site.

28 The Licensee shall manage stormwater on the putrescible landfill site so that:

(i) it is diverted from areas of the site where there is waste; and (ii) water that has come into contact with waste is to be diverted into a sump on the

site, or otherwise retained on the site.

MANAGEMENT OF WASTE DUMP LANDFILL (ATTACHMENT 4) 29 The Licensee shall bury only the following types of waste within the waste dump landfill

facility: (i) Clean Fill; (ii) Inert Waste Type 1; (iii) Inert Waste Type 2 (tyres only); and (iv) wooden pallets; as defined in the Landfill Definitions.

30 The Licensee shall ensure that waste in the tipping area of the waste dump landfill is covered with a dense (at least 200 mm), inert and incombustible material at final landform design.

31 The Licensee shall ensure that there is no waste within: (i) 100 m of any surface water body at the site; and (ii) 3 m of the highest level of the water table aquifer at the waste dump landfill site.

32 The Licensee shall manage stormwater on the waste dump landfill site so that water that

has come into contact with waste is to be retained on the site. SOIL BIOREMEDIATION FACILITIES (LANDFARM) (ATTACHMENT 5)

33 The Licensee shall ensure the landfarm is contained such that: (i) the ingress of uncontaminated stormwater is prevented; and (ii) any contaminated runoff from the treatment cells is contained.

34 The Licensee shall ensure that hydrocarbon contaminated soil is bioremediated by:

(i) maintaining a suitable soil thickness; (ii) maintaining an appropriate moisture content and nutrient level within the soil which

sustains biological activity; and (iii) at least monthly soil aeration where practicable.

REPORTING CONDITIONS

35 The Licensee shall collect all water samples required by conditions 5 and 12 in

accordance with the relevant parts of Australian Standard 5667.





36 The Licensee shall ensure that all parameters requiring laboratory analyses are conducted by an organisation with NATA accreditation for the specified parameters in accordance with the current Standard Methods for Examination of Water and Wastewater.

ANNUAL ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT 37 The Licensee shall provide the CEO, by 30 April each year, a copy of an Annual

Environmental Report containing monitoring results and data collected as a requirement of any condition of this licence, during the period beginning 1 January the previous year and ending on 31 December in that year.

ANNUAL AUDIT COMPLIANCE REPORT

38 The Licensee shall by 30 April in each year, provide to the CEO an Annual Audit Compliance Report in the form of Attachment 6 to this licence, signed and certified in the manner required by Section C of the form, indicating the extent to which the Licensee has complied with the conditions of this licence, and any previous licence issued under Part V of the Act for the premises, during the period beginning 1 January the previous year and ending on 31 December in that year.





ATTACHMENT 1 - PLAN OF PREMISES

Premises Boundary depicted in yellow





ATTACHMENT 2 – WFSF GROUNDWATER MONITORING LOCATION S





ATTACHMENT 3 - DEWATERING MONITORING SITES





ATTACHMENT 4 – LANDFILL LOCATIONS





ATTACHMENT 5 – LANDFARM LOCATION





ATTACHMENT 6 - ANNUAL AUDIT COMPLIANCE REPORT

SECTION A LICENCE DETAILS

Licence Number:

Licence File Number:

Company Name: Trading as:

ABN:

Reporting period: ___________________ to ___________________

STATEMENT OF COMPLIANCE WITH LICENCE CONDITIONS (iii) Were all conditions of licence complied with within the reporting period? (please tick the

appropriate box) Yes □ Please proceed to Section C No □ Please proceed to Section B Each page must be initialed by the person(s) who signs Section C of this Annual Audit Compliance Report INITIAL:________________





SECTION B - DETAILS OF NON-COMPLIANCE WITH LICENCE CONDITION. Please use a separate page for each licence condition that was not complied with.

a) Licence condition not complied with?

b) Date(s) when the non compliance occurred, if applicable?

c) Was this non compliance reported to DER?

� Yes � Reported to DER verbally Date ________

� Reported to DER in writing Date _________

� No

d) Has DER taken, or finalised any action in relation to the non compliance?

e) Summary of particulars of non compliance, and what was the environmental impact?

f) If relevant, the precise location where the non compliance occurred (attach map or diagram)

g) Cause of non compliance

h) Action taken or that will be taken to mitigate any adverse effects of the non compliance

i) Action taken or that will be taken to prevent recurrence of the non compliance

Each page must be initialed by the person(s) who signs Section C of this Annual Audit Compliance Report INITIAL:________________





SECTION C - SIGNATURE AND CERTIFICATION This Annual Audit Compliance Report must only be signed by a person(s) with legal authority to sign it. The ways in which the Annual Audit Compliance Report must be signed and certified, and the people who may sign the statement, are set out below. Please tick the box next to the category that describes how this Annual Audit Compliance Report is being signed. If you are uncertain about who is entitled to sign or which category to tick, please contact the licensing officer for your premises.

If the licence holder is The Annual Audit Compliance Report must be signed a nd certified:

an individual

□

□

by the individual licence holder, or by a person approved in writing by the Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Environment Regulation to sign on the licensee's behalf.

A firm or other unincorporated company

□

□

by the principal executive officer of the licensee; or by a person with authority to sign on the licensee's behalf who is approved in writing by the Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Environment Regulation.

A corporation

□

□

□ □ □ □

by affixing the common seal of the licensee in accordance with the Corporations Act 2001; or by two directors of the licensee; or by a director and a company secretary of the licensee, or if the licensee is a proprietary company that has a sole director who is also the sole company secretary – by that director, or by the principal executive officer of the licensee; or by a person with authority to sign on the licensee's behalf who is approved in writing by the Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Environment Regulation.

A public authority (other than a local government)

□ □

by the principal executive officer of the licensee; or by a person with authority to sign on the licensee's behalf who is approved in writing by the Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Environment Regulation.

a local government

□ □

by the chief executive officer of the licensee; or by affixing the seal of the local government.

It is an offence under section 112 of the Environmental Protection Act 1986 for a person to give information on this form that to their knowledge is false or misleading in a material particular. There is a maximum penalty of $50,000 for an individual or body corporate. I/We declare that the information in this Annual Audit Compliance Report is correct and not false or misleading in a material particular.

SIGNATURE: _____________________________

NAME: (printed) ___________________________

POSITION: _______________________________

DATE: ___________/_______/________________

SIGNATURE: ______________________________

NAME: (printed) ____________________________

POSITION: ________________________________

DATE: ____________/_______/________________

SEAL (if signing under seal)

Environmental Protection Act 1986 Page 1 of 9 Decision Document: L5258/1991/11 Amendment date: Thursday, 28 May 2015 File Number: DER2013/000902 IRLB_TI0669 v2.6

Partial Decision Document

Environmental Protection Act 1986, Part V

Proponent: Pilbara Iron Company (Services) Pty Ltd

Licence: L5258/1991/11 Registered office: Level 22, Central Park 152-158 St Georges Terrace

PERTH WA 6000 ACN: 107 210 248 Premises address: Mt Brockman and Nammuldi Iron Ore Mines

Mining tenement AML70/4, G47/1242 and G848907 within co-ordinates: E532767.11 N7526921.22; E532474.29 N7521419.69; E531983.32 N7520160.4; E531400.39 N7517644.04; E538692.85 N7517627.33; E540954.43 N7519046.67; E541334.92 N7519989.33; E547855.85 N7517591.94; E547708.5 N7519235.22; E547817.12 N7521437.3; E539850.15 N7522435.93; E548752.91 N7523093.81; E553490.61 N7524296.73; E553416.56 N7525629.21; E548604.85 N7526813.63; E544070.74 N7527202.27; E540320.2 N7524681.55; E538538.12 N7525053.8; and E538538.12 N7526921.22 MT SHEILA WA 6751

Issue date: Thursday, 26 May 2011 Commencement date: Sunday, 29 May 2011 Expiry date: Saturday, 28 May 2016 Decision Based on the assessment detailed in this document the Department of Environment Regulation (DER), has decided to issue an amended licence. DER considers that in reaching this decision, it has taken into account all relevant considerations and legal requirements and that the Licence and its conditions will ensure that an appropriate level of environmental protection is provided. Decision Document prepared by: Ty Hibberd

Licensing Officer Decision Document authorised by: Danielle Eyre

Manager Licensing


Contents Partial Decision Document 1 Contents 2 1 Purpose of this Document 2 2 Administrative summary 3 3 Executive summary of proposal and assessment 4 4 Decision table 5 5 Advertisement and consultation table 7 6 Risk Assessment 8 Appendix A 9

1 Purpose of this Document This decision document explains how DER has assessed and determined the application and provides a record of DER’s decision-making process and how relevant factors have been taken into account. Stakeholders should note that this document is limited to DER’s assessment and decision making under Part V of the Environmental Protection Act 1986. Other approvals may be required for the proposal, and it is the proponent’s responsibility to ensure they have all relevant approvals for their Premises. Works approval and licence conditions DER has three types of conditions that may be imposed on works approvals and licences. They are as follows; Standard conditions (SC) DER has standard conditions that are imposed on all works approvals and licences regardless of the activities undertaken on the Premises and the information provided in the application. These are included as the following conditions on works approvals and licences:

Works approval conditions: 1.1.1-1.1.4, 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 5.1.1 and 5.1.2. Licence conditions: 1.1.1-1.1.4, 1.2.1-1.2.4, 5.1.1-5.1.4 and 5.2.1.

For such conditions, justification within the Decision Document is not provided. Optional standard conditions (OSC) In the interests of regulatory consistency DER has a set of optional standard conditions that can be imposed on works approvals and licences. DER will include optional standard conditions as necessary, and are likely to constitute the majority of conditions in any licence. The inclusion of any optional standard conditions is justified in Section 4 of this document. Non standard conditions (NSC) Where the proposed activities require conditions outside the standard conditions suite DER will impose one or more non-standard conditions. These include both premises and sector specific conditions, and are likely to occur within few licences. Where used, justification for the application of these conditions will be included in Section 4.


2 Administrative summary

Administrative details

Application type

Works Approval New Licence Licence amendment Works Approval amendment

Activities that cause the premises to become prescribed premises

Category number(s) Assessed design capacity

5 44,600,000 tonnes per year

6 42,300,000 tonnes per year

12 2,220,000 tonnes per year 54 446 cubic metres per day 64 4,400 tonnes per year 73 1,365 cubic metres

Application verified

Application fee paid

Date: N/A

Date: N/A

Works Approval has been complied with

Compliance Certificate received

Yes No N/A

Yes No N/A

Commercial-in-confidence claim Yes No

Commercial-in-confidence claim outcome N/A

Is the proposal a Major Resource Project? Yes No

Was the proposal referred to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) under Part IV of the Environmental Protection Act 1986?

Yes No

Referral decision No:

Managed under Part V

Assessed under Part IV

Is the proposal subject to Ministerial Conditions? Yes No

Ministerial statement No: 131, 867 and 925 EPA Report No: 467, 1393 and 1457

Does the proposal involve a discharge of waste into a designated area (as defined in section 57 of the Environmental Protection Act 1986)?

Yes No

Department of Water consulted Yes No

Is the Premises within an Environmental Protection Policy (EPP) Area Yes No

If Yes include details of which EPP(s) here.

Is the Premises subject to any EPP requirements? Yes No

If Yes, include details here, eg Site is subject to SO2 requirements of Kwinana EPP.


3 Executive summary of proposal and assessment Pilbara Iron Company (Services) Pty Ltd (PICS) currently operate the Mt Brockman and Nammuldi Iron Ore Mines under L5258/1991/11 for category 5, 6, 12, 54, 64 and 73 activities under the Environmental Protection Regulations 1987. PICS has applied to amend Licence L5258/1991/11.The primary purpose of the amendment was to: Increase the design capacity of category 5 in line with works completed for the Nammuldi Below

Water Table (NBWT) Processing Plant (W5477/2013/1) and NBWT Waste Fines Storage Facility (WFSF) (W5323/2013/1). P4 form received 12 August 2014;

Amend Licence condition(s) necessary for the operation of the Jerriwah Camp wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) constructed under works approval W5477/2013/1. P4 received on 5 March 2015; and

Increase the capacity of category 12 to account for additional screening works required for the Brockman 2/Brockman 4 (B2/B4) road. Application Enquiry Form (AEF) received 24 February 2015.

During this amendment the following changes have been made to the Licence: ‘Category Production or Design Capacity’ and ‘Premises Production or Design Capacity’ was

determined for all categories on the Licence; Current capacity for category 12 was determined as 950,000 tonnes per annum (tpa). This

capacity was increased to 2,220,000 tpa to account for the additional screening works required for the B2/B4 road;

Conditions 5 to 7 were amended to include the Jerriwah WWTP constructed under W5477/2013/1;

Conditions 12 and 13 were added to the Licence for the management of the WFSF constructed under W5323/2013/1 including groundwater monitoring and a freeboard conditions; and

Dewatering monitoring conditions 20 and 21 were replaced with new conditions 20 and 21 to minimise duplication of monitoring requirements under Part IV of the Environmental Protection Act 1986, Ministerial Statements 867 and 925.

PICS also requested that the licence conditions for the ‘Waste Dump Landfill’ be separated from the ‘Putrescible Landfill’ (similarly to the recently approved Hope Downs 4 licence L8688/2012/1) since conditions 25 and 26 were not representative of the existing Waste Dump Landfill’s risks. Hence the two were segregated in the current amendment. Conditions 24 to 28 now pertain to the sites ‘Putrescible Landfill’ only. Conditions 29 to 32 were added to the Licence for the management of the sites ‘Waste Dump Landfill’. Other amendments included: New terms added to the ‘Definitions’ section; Conditions 6 and 7 have been updated so that exceedances of targets are now reported in the

Annual Environmental Report rather that the Annual Audit Compliance Report; and Condition 11 was amended to include ‘Total Recoverable Hydrocarbons’ as oppose to ‘Total

Petroleum Hydrocarbons’.

As part of this amendment, DER has not re-assessed the acceptability or impacts of emissions and discharges from the Premises or re-visited any existing emission control levels. Where conditions have been added to the existing licence these have been justified in Section 4.


4 Decision table All applications are assessed in line with the Environmental Protection Act 1986, the Environmental Protection Regulations 1987 and DER’s Operational Procedure on Assessing Emissions and Discharges from Prescribed Premises. Where other references have been used in making the decision they are detailed in the decision document. Note: This licence is a non-REFIRE licence. Where applicable references have been made to the non-REFIRE licence conditions. DECISION TABLE

Works Approval / Licence section

Condition number

W = Works ApprovalL= Licence

OSC or NSC

Justification (including risk description & decision methodology where relevant)

Reference documents

Premises operation

Licence conditions 29 – 32

N/A. PICS requested that the licence conditions for the waste dump landfill be separated from the putrescible landfill since conditions 25 and 26 were not representative of the existing waste dump landfill’s risks. Hence the two were segregated in the current amendment. Conditions 24 to 28 now pertain to the site’s putrescible landfill only. Conditions 29 to 32 were added to the Licence for the management of the site’s waste dump landfill.

N/A.

Emissions to land including monitoring

Licence condition 5 – 7

N/A. Monitoring requirements for WWTPs onsite, including nutrient loading rates to the irrigation areas, were amended to include reference to the Jerriwah WWTP.

N/A.

Point source emissions to surface water including monitoring

Licence condition 20 and 21

N/A. Dewatering monitoring conditions 20 and 21 were replaced with new conditions 20 and 21 to minimise duplication of monitoring requirements under Part IV of the Environmental Protection Act 1986, Ministerial Statements 867 and 925. Condition 20 requires PICS to specify the location(s) of the dewatering discharge point(s). Condition 21 requires PICS to provide DER with a summary of the dewatering monitoring results required by conditions of Ministerial Statements 867 and 925. Definitions for monitoring requirements under these Ministerial Statements were added including ‘Brockman 2 Mine Expansion Water Quality Assessment’ and ‘Nammuldi-Silvergrass Monitoring and Management Plan’.

N/A.


DECISION TABLE

Works Approval / Licence section

Condition number

W = Works ApprovalL= Licence

OSC or NSC

Justification (including risk description & decision methodology where relevant)

Reference documents

Ambient quality monitoring

Licence condition 12 and 13

N/A. DER’s assessment and decision making are detailed in Appendix A.

General provisions of the Environmental Protection Act 1986. Environmental Protection (Unauthorised Discharges) Regulations 2004. Works Approval W5323/2013/1 application supporting documentation.

Licence duration

The duration of the licence has not been amended.


5 Advertisement and consultation table Date Event Comments received/Notes How comments were taken into

consideration 26/03/2015 Proponent sent a copy of draft

instrument Minor comments received

PICS requested that condition 23 be removed due to duplication with Ministerial Statement 925. DER has retained this condition as it is associated with category 6 and allows DER to review the monitoring in the Annual Environmental Report.

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Appendix A Ambient quality monitoring Seepage contamination to the groundwater is a risk associated with the WFSFs. PICS have recently constructed the NBWT WFSF under works approval W5323/2013/1, hence environmental risk to groundwater must be considered. Waste fines generated from the processing plants are transported to the WFSF via a delivery pipeline with supernatant collected and returned to the process plants via a separate pipeline. From the plant site the delivery pipeline runs north along the stockyards then west to the WFSF, passing a dump pond at the lowest elevation along the alignment and then up a ramp to the eastern ridge of the facility. The dump pond is used to contain any spills of tailings that may occur along the route of the pipelines. Visual inspections of these pipelines occur weekly. The WFSF operates with a single location decant tower. The location of the decant tower is central to the WFSF to allow deposition to occur from the north and south while maintaining the pond at the tower. The decant operates automatically, reclaiming water from the WFSF and pumping it via a high density polyethylene (HDPE) pipeline to the process plant for reuse within the process. Emission Description Emission: Waste fines generated from the processing plants. Impact: Contamination to groundwater from seepage. Potential impacts on ecology from the addition of nutrients and heavy metals. Controls: A number of seepage control features have been implemented into the design of the WFSF including the following components: Cut off trench; Embankment blanket drain; Embankment upstream toe drain and underdrainage; and Underdrainage sump and riser pump.

The recorded groundwater level at the WFSF is approximately 25-30m below the existing ground level. The vertical hydraulic conductivity is in the order of 10-2m per day and due to ground water depth, the aquifer vulnerability for seepage contamination is considered low. There are currently six monitoring boreholes established on the perimeter of the WFSF. Once the WFSF is operational the levels and chemical constituents of the groundwater in the boreholes will be monitored on a regular basis. Risk Assessment Consequence: Minor Likelihood: Possible Risk Rating: Moderate Regulatory Controls Condition 12 has been added to the Licence requiring PICS to undertake monitoring of boreholes established on the perimeter of the WFSF. Condition 13 has been added to ensure sufficient freeboard is maintained. Risk Assessment Consequence: Minor Likelihood: Possible Risk Rating: Moderate

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