Projects
We have worked on a wide range of projects throughout Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.
Provision of environmental services to Nyrstar Port Pirie Smelter
COOE have provided services to Nyrstar since 2001. Services include:
- Provision of temporary support staff to cover peak workloads and long term leave.
- Baseline and monitoring studies, including terrestrial and marine flora and fauna.
- Delivery of the Public Environmental Report (PER) for the Expansion Project.
- Preparation of the PER Response Document.
- Preparation of the Construction Environmental Management Plan.
- Preparation of a Site Water Management Plan.
- Preparation of a Process Waste management program.
- Provision of environmental technical support and special project management services.
- Development and implementation of a 5 year marine-monitoring program to assist Nyrstar demonstrating compliance. This extensive work included: assessing concentration of metals in marine sediment and suspended solids (seston); metal accumulation in marine organisms; distribution, diversity and abundance of fouling organisms; annual seagrass, mangrove and samphire surveys; and thermal and salinity marine distribution patterns. Using remote sensing, aerial photography and mapping.
- Investigation of arsenical waste treatment options and assist in developing and implementing a waste management program.
- Service and maintenance of air-monitoring equipment.
- Modelling of marine discharge water dilution gradients.
- Auditing of environmental monitoring programs.
- Design and implementation of a site rehabilitation program to reduce dust emissions and the site footprint.
Rex Minerals Hillside Project - Environmental Services
COOE assisted Rex with the pre-feasibility and approvals stage of the Hillside Copper Project. This included providing professionals on secondment and specialists to undertake the baseline environmental surveys, risk assessments and environmental management plans to meet the legislative requirements and guide Rex through the Environmental Approvals process. COOE coordinated the environmental investigations required to obtain a Mining Lease including:
- Provided professional staff on secondment to assist Rex prepare the Mining Lease Application (MLP) and Program for Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation (PEPR).
- Undertake terrestrial, coastal and marine flora and fauna surveys and prepare lists of species diversity and abundance. This comprised of marine and coastal habitats as well as remnant open woodland habitats and agricultural productivity.
- Prepare Seabed and terrestrial habitat maps to show distribution of flora and fauna using both scientific divers and remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROV).
- Undertake soil and geochemical surveys and assessments of potential saline sodic soils or acid metalliferous drainage (AMD).
- Coordinate Noise and Air impact monitoring and modelling.
- Prepare the Environment Protection Biodiversity and Conservation (EPBC) referral.
- Undertake Significant Environmental Benefits (SEB) calculations and prepare an SEB Management Plan.
- Conduct an environmental impact assessment of the proposed mining activities, in consultation with Rex engineers and mine planners
- Develop environmental management plans to make sure the risks are reduced to acceptable levels.
- Prepare a rehabilitation and mine closure plan
- Take part in the community consultation process to present the findings of environmental studies and proposed management plans.
Provision of environmental services to Angas Zinc Mine and Bird In Hand Gold Project for Terramin Australia
COOE has provided environmental services to Terramin’s Angas Zinc Mine since 2005. COOE prepared Terramin’s Mining and Rehabilitation Plan (MARP), the first to be passed in South Australia. COOE has also assisted Terramin on the proposed Bird In Hand Gold Project. Services have included:
- Assisting with preparation of Mining Lease Proposals and impact assessments.
- Contribution to Bird In Hand risk assessment workshop.
- Assisting with BIH/AZM Miscellaneous Purposes Licence application.
- Stakeholder liaison and community consultation.
- Rehabilitation program design, rehabilitation trials and implementation.
- Revegetation including seed collection, tube stock planting, and pest and weed control.
- Harvest of rehabilitation seed and detailed yield weighing and logging to provide ongoing reports/recommendations.
- Training of Terramin staff – environmental monitoring techniques.
- Preparation of native vegetation management reports.
- Weed surveys and mapping.
- Annual Land Function Analysis (LFA) surveys and reporting.
- Significant Environmental Benefit (SEB) surveys.
- Dust monitoring (depositional dust and lead, high volume sampler TSP, PM10, and lead content).
- Noise monitoring (attended and remote).
- Vibration monitoring.
- National Pollutant Inventory reporting.
Murray Zircon - Mindarie Mineral Sands Project Environmental Services
The Mindarie Mineral Sands Project is an open cut sand mine in the Murray Basin in South Australia, approximately 150km east of Adelaide in the Mallee region. The project produces heavy mineral concentrate (HMC) and comprises eight mineral sands strandlines located in nine separate mineral leases and two exploration leases.
COOE has been providing secondment staff and specialist services to Murray Zircon (formerly Australian Zircon) since 2008. Services have included:
- Coordination of rehabilitation activities
- Weed management
- Interpretation and implementation of vegetation management plans
- Baseline and monitoring studies, including terrestrial flora and fauna
- Annual Ecosystem Function Analysis field surveys and reporting
- Site inspections/audits
- Onsite regulatory compliance reporting
- Rehabilitation and closure supervision and reportingStakeholder liaison and community consultation
- National Pollutant Inventory reporting and National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting
- Environmental Management System audit and development of procedures.
Newcrest mine rehabilitation - Environmental Services
COOE has undertaken extensive environmental monitoring and studies at several Newcrest mines.
Telfer Gold Mine
COOE (under the old name of Natural Resource Services) were initially commissioned to provide an environmental officer in 2004 to support the Environment Manager during the construction of Phase 2 and provide senior level technical support as required. COOE continued to provide technical support until 2016, some work examples included:
- Provide mine closure specialists team to design, supervise the construction, monitor and document the rehabilitating of waste rock dumps to Mesa Landforms, a pioneering technology at the time. This work was tested on WD10 and WD11 on small scale and on a full dump scale at WD13. A status Mesa landform demonstration trials was established on WD16. This program ran between 2005 and 2016.
- Undertake mine closure monitoring including landform stability, erosion, vegetation establishment and succession, weeds and feral animals, soil moisture, soil chemistry and meteorological conditions.
- Ecosystem Function Analysis methods were used to measure performance of the rehabilitation at WD13 in meeting the criteria of returning the site to that found in surrounding landscapes.
- COOE provided environmental supervision on the 450 km optic fibre installation between Port Hedland and Telfer.
- AMD assessment, physical and chemical characterisation of all waste rock dumps, old tailings storage facilities and heap leach sites.
- Review of AMD model
- Rehabilitation monitoring for soil fertility indicators (cation exchange capacity, exchangeable cations and major nutrients) and indicators for the potential mobilisation of metals and metalloids (arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, copper, iron and manganese).
- Stygofauna monitoring between 2004 and 2008.
- Arsenic mobilisation in soil and vegetation around the mine site.
- Environmental Audits
- Numerous environmental investigations on request.
Port Hedland Loading Facilities
COOE was commissioned to undertake an bi-annual marine monitoring program to meet licence conditions. This consisted of:
- Undertaking baseline surveys for marine impacts at the Port Hedland concentrate loading facility.
- Identifying environmental indicators for comparative purposes.
- Outlining a monitoring program that will allow Newcrest Mining to demonstrate to its stakeholders that its environmental management practices at the Port Hedland concentrate loading operations are working as intended.
- Sampling and analysing for metals in marine sediment and organisms at Berth 1 in Port Hedland and reporting on the accumulation of metals that may be associated to the loading activities of Telfer concentrate in Port Headland.
Dalgaranga
COOE was commissioned to:
- Evaluate site AMD and status of closure activities.
- Undertake a PSI (Preliminary Site contamination Investigation)
- Prepare site remediation and Mine Closure Plans
O’Callaghan’s
COOE provided environmental staff to support Newcrest in preparing their Environmental Permitting Applications including:
- Support flora and fauna survey teams.
- Researching options for managing surplus water from mine de-watering
Namosi (Fiji)
Newcrest commissioned COOE to help investigate the potential of making bio-fuel in Fiji using natural and available resources.
Client List - Mining and Energy
- Argonaut
- Arrium
- Barrick
- BHP
- BHP Billiton
- Centrex
- Clare Quarry
- DevEx Resources
- ENRC Management
- European Cobalt
- Fortescue Metals Group
- Gascoyne Resources
- Gaskell Contractors
- Glencore
- Hanson
- Heathgate Resources
- Hillgrove Resources
- IMX Resources
- Linke
- MacGillivray Sand Pit
- Marmota
- Maroon Gold
- Mount Isa Mines
- Murray Zircon
- Nabalco
- Namosi Joint Venture
- New Millennium Resources
- Newcrest
- Nyrstar
- One Steel
- Origin Energy
- OZ Minerals
- Pasminco
- Peak Iron Mines
- Perilya Gold
- Placer Dome
- Placer Pacific
- Rex Minerals
- Roy Hill Iron
- Rio Tinto
- SIMEC
- RPS
- South Coast Sand and Civil
- Southern Contracting
- Spinifex
- Stanmore Coal
- Santos
- Terramin
- Tiger Resources
- Tradition Rebuilt
- Uranium Equities Limited
- Wistow Stone Quarries
- World Bank
- ZCCM Investment Holdings
Client List - Development and Marine
- Adelaide Airport
- Adelaide Aqua
- Adelaide Shores
- ADP Dredging
- Agworm
- Alexandrina Council
- BHP
- CSIRO
- DEWNR
- Douglas Shire Council
- Environmental Projects
- Eyre Shellfish
- Finlaysons
- Hydrobiology
- McLaren Vale Grape, Wine and Tourism Association
- Murray-Darling Catchment Board
- Murray-Darling Natural Resource Management Board
- Newcrest
- Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges NRM Board
- Oceanlinx
- Origin Energy
- Port Augusta Council
- Port Pirie Regional Council
- R & G Cave
- RPS
- Robe Marina Corporation
- SA Coastal Protection Board
- Urban Food Gardens
- Victorian EPA
- Walkers Corp
- Wave Rider Energy
- WGA
- WMC Hi-Fert