DMP have drafted revised guidelines for the preparation of Annual Environmental Reports (AERs) required under the Mining Act 1978 and are inviting stakeholder feedback on the draft up until 7 October 2014.
The guidelines and feedback form are available from the DMP Website
http://www.dmp.wa.gov.au/20775.aspx
The guidelines have changed substantially to reflect the change to electronic submission of AERs, which has been mandatory since July 2013. The contents of the guidelines will be fairly familiar to anyone who has read the online support documents for AER submission on DMP’s EARS2 online system.
A significant change which is not immediately obvious is that the guidelines now refer to the MRF guidelines for Mine Activity Types (the type categories used to report areas of disturbance). Previously there were a number of differences between AER and MRF Mine Activity Types, so this is a welcome change.
MBS have confirmed that the available categories on the EARS2 system have already changed. The only difference between MRF and AER categories now is that the “other clearing” catch all category in the MRF is still not available in AERs.
The change has resulted in a significant reduction in the number of Mine Activity Types available to classify disturbances. In most cases the work of assigning new types has already been done for MRF submissions.
The Transport or Service Infrastructure Corridor Type will now combine all of:
- Causeway
- Pipeline- Fresh Water
- Pipeline- Hypersaline/Tailings
- Power Lines
- Rail Infrastructure
- Road (width < 10m)
- Road (width > 10m)
The Building (other than workshop) or camp site Type will now combine all of:
- Buildings (other than workshop)
- Campsite
- Mine Site Infrastructure – Magazine
Prospecting and Exploration activities will be combined.
Two of the Mine Activity Types that have been removed are not so straightforward to allocate to available types. These are:
- Mining Void – Completely Backfilled. These can likely be categorised as Mining Voids (with an appropriate level of rehabilitation) or reclassified to their current, post-rehabilitation use.
- Ore Stockpile. These probably need to be classified either as Low Grade Stockpiles or ROM pads depending on the ore grade.
MBS have submitted feedback to DMP requesting the new AER guidelines provide more information on these items.
If you would like any further information on the changes please contact MBS 92263166.
