April 2006 Anglesea Power Station Environment Report

a gold mine
The most precious rehab resource, topsoil, on the move
anglesea environment report
APRIL 2006
Inside the ‘Best Practice’ Environment Report:
Air Emissions
Water Monitoring
2006 Mine Rehabilitation
Animals of the Anglesea Heath: Striated Thornbill
Updates on Rainfall, Town Water Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Environmental improvement - progress towards 2006 targets
Plus we talk to an employee about their contribution to improving the environment
ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT APRIL 2006
air
Air Monitoring
Stack Monitors
Average
Maximum
Opacity g/m3 10-minute average
0.057
0.329
Stack SO2 kg/min 1-hour average Licence limit 111.34kg/min 71.41
91.22
Ambient Monitors
SO2 1 hour ppb
Average
Maximum
Community Centre
3
42
Primary School
2
202
Mt Ingoldsby
<1
56
Scout Camp
10
176
Camp Wilkin
<1
86
Camp Road
6
185
Ambient Monitors
SO2 Maximum 1 hour averages (ppb)
Date
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Community Centre 2 2 5 2 3 3 2 2 2 42 1 2 -
-
Primary School
0
0
21 7
Mt Ingoldsby
1
0
9
56 1
Scout Camp
4
3
Camp Wilkin
0
Camp Road
2
EPA Intervention Level
210
Alcoa Local Standard
170
63 0
-
-
-
2
7
3
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
6
76 103202 0
0
0
0
0
1
2
2
1
1
0
5
5
1
2
1
1
2
5
3
11 2
1
27 8 121 6 117 19 6
6
8
23 22 1
0
0
0
0
8
28 0
0
2
0
1
0
3
1
0
3
6
49 151176 6
4
4
6 146 81 97 70 5
11 9
0
7
2
0
1
0
0
0
27 6
0
3
86 13 0
3
2
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
0
2
30 3
6
6
2
2
2
6 185 2
32 32 4
6
79 71 147 4
5
5
3
4
5
7
10 9
3
2
1
0
0
1
1
0
1
0
0
ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT APRIL 2006
water
Water Storage
Barwon Region water storage levels continue to decrease, with the Geelong system at 27.1% capcity.
Water Discharge
ML
April
Total
Ashponds (SP1)
148.2
563.1
Mine (SP4)
0
0.8
Water Monitoring
SP1
SP4
SP3
10/04/2006
Ashpond
Mine
Final
EPA limit
Lab Result
EPA limit
Lab Result
EPA limit
Lab Result
pH
4-10
7.6
3-9
-
5-9
7.4
Susp. Solids
100
3
100
-
30
3
Colour
50
8
50
-
50
14
Aluminium
10
0.3
10
-
5.5
0.1
Iron
10
0.5
0
-
4.0
< 0.1
Zinc
0.4
< 0.1
2.0
-
0.3
< 0.1
WATER WATER USAGE PER MONTH (ML)
Date
JAN
FEB MAR APR
Town Water
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.5
4.5
Bore Water
279
243
285
237
1044
Mine Water
81
82
81
92
336
MAY JUNE JULY AUG
SEPT OCT
NOV
DEC
TOTAL
3 0 0 .0
3000
2 5 0 .0
2500
2 0 0 .0
2000
1 5 0 .0
1500
1 0 0 .0
1000
5 0 .0
0 .0
500
0
ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT APRIL 2006
mine rehabilitation
Mine rehabilitation for 2006 was completed this
month.
With the strip area cleared and the rehabilitation
site prepared in March, two scrapers were brought
on site for the movement of the subsoil + topsoil.
The scrapers arrived a week late, then required
tyre replacements and a week of mechanical
maintance to meet items of safety from the Alcoa
Mine Hire Equipment Inspection form plus the age
and mechanics of these machines also meant they
required a high level of maintenance during their
stay. It would now be a race against time to finish
the rehabilitation before the autumn break.
Eventually they were on the road moving the
subsoil from the 2005 strip area to the rehab area
where it was spread at approximately 100 mm to
replicate the natural depth of the soil profile.
A new technique was then trialled with the topsoil.
The area we rehabilitated this year was almost 7
hectares, however the area we cleared was less
then 3.5 hectares. Therefore, for the topsoil to go
the distance, it was picked up at 100mm but
applied over double the area, resulting in a topsoil
layer half the original depth. It is anticipated that
this will not affect species return, in fact it may even
demonstrate a benefit. Previous research has
shown that species diversity is optimum if the
topsoil is respread at 50mm.
With the soil in place, an orbital muck spreader
was given the task of applying the mulch over the
rehab area.
The rehabilitation was then ripped on contour by
Kelvin Jeffs and Joe Bromley between intermittent
showers of rain. Look at those ominous clouds!!
The final step was the hand broadcasting of seed
for six species. This is a new initiative to promote
six of our key species that are not appearing in the
rehabilitation with other techniques.
In addition to the mine crew personnel named in
the March + April Environment Reports, both
crews are to be thanked for their contribution
either to the rehabilitation process or for ensuring
that production continued with competing
demands.
ANIMALS OF THE ANGLESEA HEATH
STRIATED THORNBILL (Acanthiza lineata)
Size:
Appearance:
9-10cm
greenish upperparts; an orange-brown cap,
streaked distinctively with white; off-white to
cream underparts; heavily streaked on chin,
throat and breast
male + female are similar; young birds are
only slightly different to adults, with less
streaking on the underside
Distribution:
south eastern mainland Australia from
southern Queensland to eastern South
Australia
Habitat:
open forests + woodlands dominated by
eucalypts
Food:
mainly insects, will sometimes eat seed,
nectar or fruit
Living with us: adversely affected by logging + eucalypt
dieback
STRIATED THORNBILL
ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT APRIL 2006
LAND
RAINFALL (mm)
Month
JAN
FEB MAR APR
2006 Rainfall
46.2
19.6 7.3
37.1
110.2
1968-2005 Average
44.6
43.9 42.5
53.5
184.5
MAY JUNE JULY AUG
SEPT OCT
NOV
DEC
TOTAL
7 0 0 .0 0
100
90
6 0 0 .0 0
80
5 0 0 .0 0
70
60
4 0 0 .0 0
50
3 0 0 .0 0
40
30
2 0 0 .0 0
20
1 0 0 .0 0
10
0
0 .0 0
WATER
TOWN WATER USE (ML)
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
Process
23.9 14.6 13.1 16.7 15.0 13.5 3 . 3 0.7
0.7
0.8
1.1
Amenity
1.6
11.6 6.6
1 . 2 0.3
0.3
0.2
0.4
6.6
5.0
4.0
2.6
4 0.0
1.4
3 5.0
1.2
3 0.0
1.0
2 5.0
0.8
2 0.0
0.6
1 5.0
0.4
1 0.0
0.2
5 .0
0.0
0 .0
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
JA N
FE B
M A R
A P R
M A Y
JU N
JU L
A UG
S E P
O CT
NO V
DE C
AIR
GREENHOUSE GAS (GHG) TOTAL (Mt) & GHG EMISSION EFFICENCY (t/MWh)
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
1.42 1.62 1.56 1.45 1.34 1.25 1.20 1.38 1.42 1.53 1.23 1.27 1.50 1.45 1.47 1.31 1 . 5 1
GHG Mt
‹ GHG
t/MWh 1.34 1.35 1.33 1.32 1.31 1.33 1.38 1.34 1.30 1.30 1.24 1.19 1.21 1.21 1.20 1.21 1 . 2 1
2
1600000
1 .8
1400000
1 .6
1 .4
1 .2
1200000
1000000
1
800000
0 .8
600000
0 .6
400000
0 .4
200000
0 .2
0
0
ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT APRIL 2006
environmental improvement
Environmental Management Targets
April
2006 Total
Forecast
2006 Target
Reportable Environmental Incidents
0
0
0
0
Monthly EHS ASAT Audit Completion (%)
100
100
100
90
Air Emission Targets
April
2006 Total
Forecast
2006 Target
Ambient SO2 ( no. readings > 210ppb)
0
0
0
0
Stack SO2 (no. hrs > 100kg/min)
0
0
0
0
SO2 Load Reductions
16
29
87
N/A
1.23
1.21
1.21
1.20
0
0
0
0
GHG Efficiency (t CO2 e/MWh)
Opacity (10 min av > 0.25g/m normal operation)
3
#
Visible emissions may have been observed from the stack during the month as a result of station outages.
Water Targets
April
2006 Total
Forecast
2006 Target
Town Water (ML)
1.5
4.5
13.5
17.2
Bore Water (ML)
237
1044
3132
2440
Waste Targets
April
2006 Total
Forecast
2006 Target
Waste to Landfill (t)
0.0
2.7
8.1
10.0
Solid Prescribed Waste to Landfill (t)
0.0
0.0
0.0
0
Mine Rehabilitation Targets
2006 Total
2006 Target
2006 Area Cleared (ha)
3.3
3.3
2006 Area Rehabilitated (ha)
7.5
> 3.3
2005 Mine Rehabilitation Species Richness (%)
N/A
100
OUR ENVIRONMENT AND OUR EMPLOYEES..
Kelvin, what role did you play in the completion of
the 2006 rehabilitation?
I assisted with the collection of the understorey mulch from
the strip area; took part in the tree clearing and pushing the
timber around to bury it on the rehab site; mixed the mulch
with subsoil and loaded it into the muck spreader; and
completed about half of the contour ripping.
As a rrelatively
elatively new employee at Anglesea, what’
s
what’s
your view on the way Alcoa manages the
rehabilitation process?
After working on site for two contractors before working for
Alcoa, I was aware of the old way of doing rehab. This is a
totally different concept that seems to work well. It took a
while to get used to the finished product without the trees.
Was it difficult to incorporate the rehabilitation
tasks into your normal ‘production’ workload?
No it worked in quite easily.
...KELVIN JEFFS