Environment Awards
Excellence Award
John Groves (team representative)
Ore Moisture Conditioning
Carbon Steel Materials, WA Iron Ore, Australia
Dust management is a major focus of BHP Billiton Iron Ore (BHPBIO), and developing and refining strategies to minimise dust emissions has been a long-term commitment of the business.
One of the key initiatives that BHPBIO has embarked on is effectively ‘conditioning ore’ with water to minimise the potential for dust emissions, while maintaining handling qualities of the ore.
This initiative, developed and implemented by John and the Growth Projects team, was aimed at developing a simple, low-cost moisture control solution and originally focused on iron ore products from BHPBIO’s Area C mining operation that contained a high level of ultra (potentially dustier) fines.
The project had three key challenges: determining the optimum moisture range for iron ore; effectively applying water to condition the ore; and quantifying ore moisture. Addressing the challenges provided the impetus for developing new innovative ways of managing dust.
BHP Billiton Newcastle Technology Centre developed a new tumble-drum dust test for characterising the dust/moisture relationships of different ores. Innovative spray nozzles and placement within processing plant conveyors were conceived. Finally, partnering with CSIRO to trial the use of Low Frequency Moisture technology provided a management tool for the precise addition of water from mine to port to minimise dust, and making the most limited water supplies.
By providing our operations with an accurate decision making tool for effectively conditioning ore, the project has assisted in successfully addressing two significant environmental and community issues: the level of dust recorded in the township of Port Hedland, and the amount of water used within our Port operations – a dry area – to control the problem. It has also reduced dust levels at the receiving point for our customers. Overall, an environmental win-win outcome.
Highly Commended Awards
Nora Patricia González Jorquera (team representative)
Punta Negra Salt Lake Biodiversity Monitoring Plan
Base Metals, Escondida, Chile
Our Escondida mine is located in the Atacama Desert, in the north of Chile. As part of its operations, Escondida obtains water from groundwater tables below the Punta Negra Salt Basin by way of 120-foot well.
Punta Negra is a critical feeding and nesting site for Andean flamingos and the concern was that since water table recharge takes years, over the long term, water levels in the salt flats could drop, adversely affecting the area’s flora and fauna.
Before operations began, detailed baseline studies were conducted to establish the conditions in which extraction could occur. The studies advised the establishment of a monitoring and research program for the salt lake.
In 1996, a Biodiversity Management Plan for the Punta Negra Salt Lake was developed with the support of the Agriculture and Livestock Service (SAG). The plan, managed by Nora and the Environment team, embodies an intensive monitoring and research programme directed to maintaining the balance in the ecosystem of the Punta Negra salt lake and maintaining our operating license.
By using artificial management methods, we are able to replenish the lake. The results are promising. Between 2002 and 2005, more than 2,500 active flamingo nests were observed, an event not seen since 1992 when monitoring commenced.
John Read (team representative)
Arid Recovery
Base Metals, Olympic Dam, Roxby Dam, Australia
The combined impacts of feral species and unsustainable farming have devastated Australian ecosystems since European settlement. Over 60 per cent of desert mammals have been driven to total or regional extinction and many other animals and plants remain threatened. However, a unique partnership — Arid Recovery — that is managed by John and his Land Management Department Colleagues has started reversing these trends.
Located near our Olympic Dam mine in South Australia, Arid Recovery is the largest fenced reserve in Australia from which all feral cats, foxes and rabbits have been removed. The reserve straddles the mine lease and sections of four other pastoral properties, two of which are leased by the Company. Native plants and animals, including five nationally threatened mammal species that have been reintroduced to the reserve, are now thriving within the 86-square-kilometre enclave, which has become both a centre for ecological research and the site of a nationally significant conservation program.
Arid Recovery was initiated in 1987 by a partnership comprising the Olympic Dam mine, the South Australian Department for Environment and Heritage, the University of Adelaide and a community group, Friends of Arid Recovery. The project has not only enhanced biodiversity protection but has also developed strong partnerships with the community and other groups. A key future objective for John and his team is to leverage broad-scale benefits to the environment and to the perception of resource industries by re-establishing threatened species outside the reserve, on both the Olympic Dam mine lease and surrounding pastoral properties.
David Trench (team representative)
Shenzi Subsea Architecture Optimisation
Petroleum, Shenzi Development, Gulf of Mexico, USA
The Shenzi Field is located in the Gulf of Mexico in approximately 1,300 metres (4,300 feet) of water. Field development is based on a subsea system that produces a stand-alone floating production facility. Such development inherently has extra challenges when compared to shallow water developments, and increasing regulatory protection of marine environments in order to maintain biodiversity is one such challenge.
David and the Shenzi Subsea Engineering Team were responsible for developing an efficient and operable subsea system. Survey work commissioned to investigate the flowline routing and surrounding seabed condition revealed that a segment of the flowlines crossed an area of expulsion mounds close to relatively inactive faulting zone.
Past experience and research indicated that chemosynthetic communities — tubeworms, clams, mussels and a variety of associated organism — could be present on the mounds. Such organisms are strictly protected by environmental regulations.
Thorough evaluation showed the mounds consisted of solid tar and that a species of sea-fan was present, and not a chemosynthetic community. The sea-fans are not protected by regulation but are unique to the conditions found at Shenzi. In the spirit of sustainable development, the team set out to preserve the unique organism and its environment.
Using a technology only previously used in military operations, the team determined a ‘mound-free’ flowline route, and hence a route with minimal environmental impact. Our commitment to sustaining the environment has been recognised by the Minerals Management Services of the United States Department of the Interior who stated that we have set the standard in dealing with such unknown marine life and seafloor characteristics in deepwater Gulf of Mexico.
Merit Awards
Ademar Cavalcanti Silvi (team representative)
Brazil Nut Germplasm Bank
Aluminium, Mineração Rio do Norte (MRN), Brazil
Ademar and his team are responsible for coordinating and implementing a germplasm bank in the Saracá – Taquera National Forest in the Pará State that aims to preserve, characterize and quantify the genetic variability of the Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa). Germplasm banks of plants are collections of living material, as seeds, pollen, tissue and cultivated individuals aimed at the conservation of vegetal species.
The project commenced in November 2002 and represents a partnership between MRN, the Brazilian Environmental and Renewable Resources Institute and the National Amazon Research Institute.
The Brazil nut holds great economic, social and environmental importance in the Amazon. The nut has a variety of uses — food, emollient, soap and insect repellent — and commercially creates revenue for local peoples, with the monetary value of exporting Brazil nuts from the Amazon second only to that of rubber.
The Brazil nut tree is also good example of the intricate ecosystem of the Amazon, where plants and animals are inexplicably intertwined. Not only is the pollination of this tree so specialized, requiring one particular insect species to produce the fruit, but only one species of animal is capable of chewing through the extremely tough fruit pod to disburse the seeds for new tree growth.
By developing a greater understanding of the nut’s genetics characteristics, the project is expected to foster the creation of new Brazil nut plantations offering higher yields as well as adding to existing plantations that otherwise have low yields and that are not being regenerated naturally.
Emanoel Varão (team representative)
Coal Fine Reuse as Secondary Fuel
Aluminium, Alumar, Brazil
Emanoel and his team at the Alumar aluminium operation are responsible for a waste recycling project that has resulted in coal fines from the refinery boilers being reused as a substitute for the coke burned in the cement kilns at a cement plant.
Coal fines have a high heat value and are not corrosive nor a hazardous waste. These properties make them suitable for use in cement plants as a partial replacement for the coke burned in the kilns.
The innovative recycling concept, which has the approval of all environmental authorities, has the potential to produce significant environmental and socio-economic benefits, in line with our HSEC Policy and sustainability aims.
A waste product will be recycled in a productive way and replace the use of a fossil fuel (coke). The use of large amounts of land for ash storage will no longer be required. With no need for new storage areas, impacts on flora and fauna will be avoided.
Fugitive emissions generated during ash handling will also be eliminated, mitigating risks to human health and the environment and improving visual amenity at the plant. As well, significant costs associated with the construction, operation and maintenance of ash storage will be saved.
The outlook for further adoption of the re-use concept is positive, with potential for additional customers in the cement industry and use in the steel and pig-iron industries. Finally, there is increasing awareness of our endeavours to provide leadership in environmental management.
John Kline (team representative)
San Manuel Mine Reclamation Project
Base Metals, BHP Copper San Manuel Mine, USA
In managing the closure and rehabilitation of the San Manuel mine, John and the multi-disciplinary reclamation team have implemented the first operator-led, full-scale closure of a mining operation of its size and complexity under present-day environmental regulation in the US. The project was also the first in BHP Billiton to utilize the risk-based probabilistic method for estimating closure costs.
San Manuel was constructed in 1952 as an underground mine. Open pit mining commenced in 1985 and ceased in 1999. Formal closure of the mine site, which covers nearly 1,800 hectares, was announced in January 2002. Surface reclamation activities were completed in May 2006, eighteen months ahead of the original closure project schedule and well below the original budget. Most importantly, the entire project, which totalled more than one million work-hours, was accomplished with just one recordable injury.
The approach went beyond simply stabilizing a site. John and his mine closure team utilized a plan based on reducing long-term risk, minimizing maintenance costs, addressing community concerns and meeting regulatory requirements. The overall design approach blends the reclaimed mine facilities into surrounding landforms and guarantees that the site and surrounding areas will be successfully reused for future activities.
The long history of mining in Arizona makes the reclamation activities performed at San Manuel mine site important not only to BHP Billiton and the San Manuel townsite but to mining properties in general. The reclamation activities to recontour the overburden stockpiles, heaps and mine slopes while maintaining some of the history of the district, provides a model for other reclamation projects.
David Unger (team representative)
Miami Unit No 2 Tailings Site Reclamation
Base Metals, Pinto Valley Operation, Miami Unit No 2 Tailings, USA
David and his team of specialists have successfully managed the reclamation of an historic tailings impoundment located in the town of Miami, Arizona, in a manner that went beyond simply stabilizing the site and set a new benchmark for closure.
The No 2 tailings impoundment, dating back to the early 1900s, was located within the 100-year flood plain of Bloody Tanks Wash (BTW). The tailings were hydraulically mined from 1988 to 2001 to remove a potential source of contamination from BTW while simultaneously recovering residual copper value. The re-processed tailings were placed in a former open pit.
In addition to the potential negative impacts if the tailings entered the wash, there were also considerable issues with dust blowing across the nearby highway, obscuring visibility to the extent that drivers would turn on their headlights when passing on windy days.
Reclamation started after the completion of the hydraulic mining and occurred over two phases. Phase 1 involved constructing a new channel next to the historic channel of BTW and removing the antiquated retaining wall. Phase 2 addressed the remainder of the tailings by re-contouring and covering the slopes with a soil cap to allow for revegetation. The slopes were then armoured with rock to prevent erosion, drainage channels were installed and the site was seeded.
The result is that the site and the surrounding areas will be successfully reused for future activities, without the need for additional clean-up.
Carl Bagnall (team representative)
Re-Use of Town Treated Effluent
Energy Coal, Mt Arthur Coal, Hunter Valley, Australia
The responsible use of water resources is of increasing importance; access to clean water is an international issue and a key challenge for sustainable development. Wherever we operate we aim to reduce fresh water consumption and increase water recycling and reuse.
Mt Arthur Coal is a nett user of water and relies upon external supplies to meet its water demand. Carl and members of the Environment and External Affairs Department are responsible for managing a comprehensive water management system that was founded on recycling initiatives developed in partnership with the local community, Council and neighbouring mines. The system aims to maximise capture and reuse of mine water and grey water from the local sewerage treatment works, and in doing so, reduce the need to draw from clean water sources, including the neighbouring Hunter River.
The Hunter River is the lifeblood of the catchment, providing the potable water supply for the nearby township and other industries. Previously town effluent was discharged into the Hunter River; today, some 90 per cent of the total town effluent is re-used.
The re-use system is enhanced by artificial wetlands constructed from coarse reject, a waste product from coal processing that filters the treated effluent prior to re-use onsite. In addition to the water treatment value, the wetlands also provide an important habitat for local waders and aquatic life that are dependent on reliable water in this dry region. In partnership with local Council and universities, this treated effluent has also been irrigation on rehabilitation areas to promote successful native reafforestation.
Patrick Fee (team representative)
Tank Cleaning System
Petroleum, Fourchon Shore Base, USA
In our Petroleum business, supply vessels transport drilling fluids to and from our offshore operations in internal tanks. The cleaning of these tanks often requires entry to confined spaces and can be hazardous, time-consuming and wasteful of water. The problems have been escalated by the expansion of our activities into the deep-water Gulf of Mexico, which has resulted in the introduction of bigger supply vessels with high-capacity tanks.
Patrick and his team from our shore base in Fourchon, Louisiana, USA have developed an innovative solution that has resulted in a win-win situation where risks to personnel safety are significantly reduced. There are also environmental benefits and major savings in time and costs.
By replacing personnel with mechanical devices that use hydraulic jets to perform the cleaning operation, it is estimated that, annually, there will be around 72,000 fewer confined space entry (CSE) work-hours, in total nearly 100,000 work-hours will be saved, and nearly 149 million fewer litres of waste wash-water will be generated.
