PERTH based iron ore miner Sinosteel Midwest Group has won this year’s environmental award from the Association of Mining & Exploration Companies (AMEC), for leading practice in Banded Iron Formation restoration.
Sinosteel Midwest, currently awaiting State Government approval to re-commence production at its Blue Hills (Mungada) iron ore mine east of Geraldton, says the achievement acknowledges the vast amount of research and scientific work that has been undertaken in the past seven years.
“We are proud to be recognised for our commitment to partner with some of the world’s leading environmental scientists to prove that complex, biodiverse systems can be successfully restored on Banded Iron Stone Formations (BIF),” said Sinosteel Midwest Executive General Manager Stuart Griffiths.
The AMEC Environment Award reflects the increasing importance of managing environmental impacts of mineral mining and exploration projects, recognising companies that go above and beyond to achieve better long term environmental outcomes.
Sinosteel Midwest Executive General Manager Stuart Griffiths also said “The project had an ambitious goal to not just revegetate a mine site to actually restore BIF vegetation communities.
The work of our partners, the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Kings Park Science Division (DBCA), were also instrumental in helping to tackle the complex environmental and biodiversity issues associated with post-mining restoration.”
Sinosteel Midwest’s BIF restoration project was also a finalist in the WA Department of Mines and Petroleum annual Golden Gecko Awards.
Sinosteel Midwest would like to thank leading participants in the research project:
WA 2016 Scientist of the Year, Professor Kingsley Dixon (Former Director Science at BGPA) and Dr
Jason Stevens, concept development & program management in collaboration with SMC
Research Leaders:
Dr Lucy Commander – Restoration Seed Ecologist
Dr Luis Merino-Martin – Soil Ecohydrologist
Dr Peter Golos and Carole Elliot – Restoration Ecologists
Dr Ben Miller – Community Ecologist (Current Director Science at BGPA)
Mr Wayne Ennor and Steven Neil both of SMC
-Ends-
For more information contact:
Luke Derbyshire
Spoke Public Relations
M: 0488 664 246
E: luke@spokepr.com.au
Simon Shepherdson
Spoke Public Relations
M: 0413 809 404
E: simon@spokepr.com.au
About Sinosteel Midwest Group Limited
Sinosteel Midwest Group (Sinosteel Midwest) is developing iron ore and steel materials projects from one of the largest land holdings in the expanding Mid West resources region of WA. It has advanced production opportunities for iron ore at Weld Range, Jack Hills and Robinson Range.
Sinosteel Corporation, one of China’s biggest suppliers of raw materials to Chinese steel mills, purchased Midwest Corporation in 2008. It is committed to the responsible and sustainable development of Sinosteel Midwest’s assets.
Phase one of Sinosteel Midwest’s development is the Koolanooka/Blue Hills (Mungada) Project (Koolanooka and Blue Hills sites) which so far has produced 10 million tonnes – the next phase is the Weld Range project, which is expected to produce 15 million tonnes per annum for 20+ years and will be a cornerstone project to further develop infrastructure in the Mid West.
The Blue Hills mine expansion project is currently going through the final stages of environmental approval to extend mining of the eastern iron ore reserve, and has been in the environmental approval process since September 2013.
Sinosteel Midwest possesses the capital, resources, technical skills and the people to continue to play a major role in the development of the Mid West region, and is positioned to continue doing so actively now, by restarting its Blue Hills mining operation. www.smcl.com.au