Kanmantoo Mine

EBS Restoration has been contracted to provide multiple services for the Kanmantoo Mine as part of Significant Environmental Benefits (SEB) requirements of the project. EBS Restoration has worked at the site for several years undertaking a variety of activities.

As the project occurs on an active mine site, very stringent WHS requirements are implemented for this project including, site safety plans, JSEA’s, hazardous chemical register and scheduled call ins. EBSR have developed a close working relationship with Hillgrove Resources representatives and continually meet with the client representatives to ensure works undertaken are targeted to the client requirements and are adapted to the changing work environment of the mine.

A detailed vegetation management and closure program has been developed by Hillgrove Resources which EBS Restoration is helping to deliver. The key tasks that EBS Restoration are or have been involved with include:

• Plant rescue
• Vegetation enhancement of remaining areas of native vegetation
• Establishment of a sustainable seed supply
• Broad acre revegetation
• Revegetation / rehabilitation of infrastructure areas including roads and laydown area.

One of the key limiting factors identified early on in the project was the availability of local provenance seed in sufficient volumes to achieve the required area of revegetation and rehabilitation over the life of the mine. To address this issue, a number of tasks have been undertaken, these include:

• Wild seed collection of locally occurring target species
• Establishment of a Seed Production Area (SPA) for suitable species
• Annual supplementation of SPA seed with wild collect seed from targeted species
• Establishment of rehabilitation areas that will be used as a seed source for further rehabilitation seeding in the future.

EBS Restoration has conducted seed collection of many species including Allocasuarina, Callitris, Vittadinia, Themeda, Acacia, Senna, Austrostipa, Austrodanthonia, Enchylaena and Eucalyptus. This includes identification of seed collection areas, collection of seed, greenhouse drying, cleaning, processing and storage.

The revegetation required for the native vegetation offsets will be undertaken on previously cropped farmland. The approach to the revegetation component of the project is a relatively standard approach, however a lot of planning work has been undertaken. This will ensure the end vegetation community meets the Peppermint Box Woodland requirement agreed to in the approvals process.

The specific actions undertaken for the revegetation include: 

• Determining the benchmarks for the desired community through a series of measurements and LFA monitoring
• Developing a staged methodology to ensure program was achievable and could be undertaken in a cost effective manner
• Developing an ongoing management process that was labour and cost effective but achieved the desired results.

A 5 ha hardstand area has recently been rehabilitated acting as a trial area for rehabilitation processes. This area will have the dual purpose of acting as a secondary seed production area initially and then being converted into an offset area.

The EBS Restoration team has been working closely with Hillgrove Resources to implement and achieve the desired outcomes at the project site. Whilst the program is in its early days, the results to date are very encouraging.