Oaky Creek continues to kick rehabilitation goals

Not only that, it is also the second successful application from Oaky Creek over the past two years, having previously achieved sign-off on another 133 hectares of rehabilitated land in 2020, bringing the total at Oaky Creek to 566 hectares. This land includes a mix of native trees and shrubs as well as Eucalypts and Acacias.

For six years running, Glencore is proud to say that its coal business has rehabilitated over 1,000 hectares of mined land annually across Australia. That’s about 1,400 footy fields’ worth of land all restored back to native forest, farmland or other productive use each year. To achieve certification, rehabilitated mined land must meet key completion requirements that include:

• mature vegetation and demonstrated species reproduction from seeding;
• soil stability that is proving capable of supporting long-term regeneration of species.

“We work with our local communities and often go above and beyond to return mined land back to farmland and native forests. You must see it to believe it and we’re proud to showcase our mine rehabilitation and the men and women behind it,” said Glencore’s Australian Head of Corporate Affairs Cassandra McCarthy. “We have a world class coal business in Australia that leads the way in mine site closures and land rehabilitation.”

Glencore’s Director of Environment and Community, John Watson, said the certification at Oaky Creek Coal proved the benefit of sites maintaining a focus on completing rehabilitation while active mining was taking place. “Progressive rehabilitation is good environmental and economic practice,” Mr Watson said.

In the short term, we are minimising our active mining footprint while also making use of the equipment available in a working area to prepare and shape the rehabilitation. In the longer term, it is enabling our sites to achieve sign-off well before mine closure, which reduces the amount of rehabilitation required when mining ends and provides a mature, sustainable platform for post-mining land uses.” Mr Watson added.

How does rehabilitation work?

Glencore start planning for rehabilitation as early as possible. For new sites, this means long before it even starts mining. The number and types of trees are recorded. The land is mapped. And seeds from local trees are all collected pre-mining. Rehabilitation is then factored into daily and yearly plans, with the final outcome assessed against our Rehabilitation Report Card by environmental managers, ecologists, government regulators and other key stakeholders.