Xstrata Coal's Mt Owen Wins 2005 Hunter-Central Rivers Coal Industry Environmental Award

Wednesday, 30 November 2005

Xstrata Coal’s Mt Owen Mine (Mt Owen) has won the 2005 Hunter-Central Rivers Coal Industry Environmental Award. The Award, hosted by the Hunter-Central Rivers Catchment Management Authority, is the only award in New South Wales that recognises and rewards the mining industry for excellence in environmental management.

Mt Owen received the Award for its leading Biodiversity Management Programme, which implements innovative practices to help conserve and enhance biodiversity values in the Upper Hunter Valley. The key components of Mt Owen’s Biodiversity Management Programme include a biodiversity offset strategy, progressive rehabilitation of disturbed areas to native woodland, a flora and fauna management programme including comprehensive monitoring, and ongoing research on native forest restoration.

Mt Owen is an open-cut coal mine located midway between the townships of Singleton and Muswellbrook in the Upper Hunter Valley. Mt Owen is owned and managed by Hunter Valley Coal Corporation (HVCC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Xstrata Coal. The mine is operated by Thiess Pty Limited under a partnering agreement with HVCC.

Mt Owen is a unique operation as it is mining through an area of the Ravensworth State Forest (RSF). Mt Owen’s commitment to rehabilitate the forest prompted the mine to establish a partnership with the University of Newcastle to assist it in identifying the best practical methods to establish sustainable native woodland and forest communities on mined land.

“We are very proud to receive this award acknowledging Mt Owen’s best practice Biodiversity Management Programme,” said Mick Buffier, Chief Operating Officer Xstrata Coal New South Wales.

“Mt Owen demonstrates that mines can go beyond compliance in the area of environmental management. For example, the Programme provides for “immediate like for like” replacement of habitat disturbed by mining, which sets a new industry benchmark for biodiversity offsets. In the long term the programme will provide native woodland some five times larger than the original woodland community. That is an enduring legacy for Mt Owen.”

Ends

For further information

Hilary Wilson
Telephone +61 (0) 2 9253 6789
Mobile +61 (0) 409 700 205
Email