Environmental management
Our mining operations are managed in line with an environmental regulatory framework governed by both Commonwealth and state legislation.
Our commitment
We are committed to an environmental management approach that maintains our licence to operate in an environmentally responsible and sustainable manner. This commitment starts from the very beginning of an operation’s life and extends beyond closure.
Our approach
MinRes’ approach is outlined in their Environment Policy which is implemented through MinRes’ Environmental Management System (EMS). This includes a document framework with supporting standards, procedures, work instructions and templates specifically developed to manage key environmental risks across our operations.
MinRes supports the precautionary principle and actions this through risk assessments, strategic planning and environmental and social baseline studies embedded in our EMS processes.
Our Environment department continually improves the EMS to enhance environmental governance, performance and risk management. This includes the development, revision and update of key corporate documentation with guidance from EnviroLaw, an online directory used to obtain updates on environmental legislation, codes of practice, guidelines and published standards.
Key achievements in this review during FY25 include:
Risks and associated mitigations have been streamlined, creating consistent wording and approaches to risk management that decrease complexity during on-ground implementation. Roll-out has commenced across sites, with workshops being conducted with key stakeholders. These sessions aim to communicate site-specific risks to increase understanding and awareness of the management measures in place to maintain environmental compliance and mitigate events that may affect it.
Review of all MinRes environmental documents which govern the way we work to ensure key procedures are mapped out, developed or updated and aligned with the broader document control management structure.
A weekly meeting established with Environment, Heritage and Land Activity Permit (LAP) teams to review incidents with the objective of increasing the quality of reporting and investigation and decreasing the recurrence of incidents.
Page turn workshops with subject matter experts to update various environmental procedures. These corporate level procedures align with the updated environmental standards and underpin the development of site-specific work instructions by our site teams. Procedures include detailed responsibility assignment matrixes (RACIs) to outline critical accountability for environmental processes.
Establishment of KPIs for compliance monitoring, inspections and reporting to ensure focus on environmental progress. A leading indicator KPI was established to act as an overarching KPI to compare performance across sites.
Our risk management
MinRes is continually assessing environmental risks and monitoring our environmental performance. Our Environment department delivers a diverse range of environmental support and is responsible for environmental approvals, management and regulatory reporting, as well as compliance, rehabilitation and closure.
Each operational site has environmental advisors responsible for training and awareness, and compliance and monitoring. We continue to manage and monitor sites in care and maintenance.
Non-compliance with environmental regulations can result in serious consequences including environmental harm, litigation, regulatory scrutiny, operational delays and potential loss of licence to operate. We mitigate these risks through the implementation of various management controls and actions:
- entering and tracking obligations and commitments for MinRes sites through our obligation management system
- conducting periodic reviews of the data captured within our obligations management system, ensuring conditions, tasks and conformance status are up-to-date and accurately assigned
- site environmental teams conduct audits against their conditions on an annual basis for significant approvals tools
- mandated biannual environmental risk register review/update with key site and corporate stakeholders.
Key documents
To support our commitment, we have established a robust framework of policies, standards and procedures:
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