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Rehabilitation of a mine site

Rehabilitation of the Ensham
open-cut coal mine near Emerald
in Central Queensland.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 Before mining

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 After mining

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 After rehabilitation
The purpose of rehabilitation is to return the site to an agreed land use.
This is a legal requirement of the EPA (Environmental Protection Authority).

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 Open cut coal mining

‘Spoil’ is the overburden removed to reveal the coal seam. Previous spoil is piled
behind the pit. In this way, the pit advances, progressively filled with new spoil.
Rehabilitation will ultimately occur over the previous spoil behind the mine.

Direction of
advance of the pit

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 The Ensham Mine
The pit at the Ensham mine is progressing to the right in the picture.
Removal of surface overburden is in progress on the highwall side
(right) and is dumped on the spoil pile (left) to fill the pit.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 Rehabilitation
planning
An aerial view of the mine shows
the plan for rehabilitation, with the
areas to be rehabilitated in green.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

An Environmental Impact Study
(EIS) is conducted to assess the
flora and fauna that exists prior to
mining.

An Environmental Authority (EA) is

then issued with the mining lease to
regulate how the mining company is
to interact with the environment.
The rehabilitation requirements are
different for every mine.

The mine proposes a rehabilitation

plan and the government then adds
its own conditions prior to approval.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

This map highlights areas of
“Endangered”, “Of concern” and “Not
of concern” ecosystems within and
surrounding the mine site.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

This map depicts broad types of
vegetation within and surrounding
the mine site.

The EA spells out the rehabilitation

requirements that must be achieved
in ground coverage and species
diversity.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 Before mining

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 After mining

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 Rehabilitation

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 Restored land

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 Stockpiling of topsoil pre-mining

Before mining begins, topsoil is stockpiled on the highwall side. It

is kept for a period until the mine has progressed and the slope of
the spoil is ready for the topsoil to be replaced. Most mines
salvage 200mm of topsoil but at the Ensham mine 300mm is kept.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 Dumping of spoil
After surface overburden has been removed by
trucks, the highwall is detonated to transfer as
much burden as possible to the other side of the
pit. Draglines pile this overburden into high spoil
piles.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 Steep slopes are unsuitable for
rehabilitation

The volume of rock swells by 25 percent after it is detonated. Even

after the coal seam is removed, the spoil piles created by draglines
create hills with steep slopes formed as the spoil is dumped.

In years past, these slopes were rehabilitated. However, the slope

was found to be too steep to be stable. This picture shows how
unstable such a hill is with regard to erosion and landslides.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 Reshaping of the slope

Bulldozers and trucks are used to reshape steep spoil piles

into gradual slopes that are suitable for rehabilitation.

Generally, the maximum gradient of slope accepted by the

Environmental Authority is one in ten (ten percent),
although sometimes one in fifteen is accepted.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 A site levelled prior to rehabilitation, awaiting
another truck and shovel dump of spoil.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources
Once the required gradient is obtained,
bulldozers are used to smooth the surface.
Working the material in this manner has the
added advantage of making it finer on the
surface and more conducive to plant growth.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 Prior to rehabilitation, the surface resembles a big, flat moonscape.

It takes some four or five years from commencement of mining to

reach this stage. It’s not possible to rehabilitate right up to the mining
point and a further delay results because the ground must be left to
settle for twelve months.

10 A slope of 1 in 10

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

Swelling of the rock means that it's not possible to
return the land to its original contours. A gently sloping
hill with a flat top is constructed behind the mine.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 Laying of topsoil

Topsoil stockpiled prior to commencement of

mining is trucked to the rehabilitation site.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources
Image courtesy of Ensham Resources
Image courtesy of Ensham Resources
Topsoil is dumped, ready to be
spread by bulldozers or graders.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources
 Spreading of topsoil

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources
 Topsoil is generally spread to a depth of 200mm.
At the Ensham mine, 300mm.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 The importance of topsoil (left) is
most apparent adjacent to a site
where topsoil is yet to be laid (right).

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 Laying of manure

Manure is laid over the topsoil to further encourage plant growth..

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

Manure is spread using a belt-driven bin behind a tractor. At
the Ensham mine, 15 tonnes of manure is spread per hectare.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 Pegging the contours

Surveyors and environmental engineers peg lines of equal

height to mark the contours on the rehabilitation site.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 Deep ripping along the contours

A bulldozer follows the pegs to deep rip along the contours to a depth of
about one metre. This increases infiltration of water and provides a rough
surface to reduce runoff and erosion. Once grass has established itself on
this surface, the contours will completely eliminate any rainwater runoff.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources
Image courtesy of Ensham Resources
 Controlling drainage

Drainage is further controlled by means of 20-30m wide horizontal benches

between every 100m of sloped rehabilitation land. This reduces the
likelihood of rainwater running off in torrents.

Small rock walls called ‘rills’ are constructed around the rehabilitation area
to stop runoff from the mine washing away the topsoil or killing the grass.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 Different grasses and legumes are
seeded on rehabilitation sites
according to the final land use of the
site. At the Ensham mine, grasses that
are ideal for cow fodder, such as Buffel
grass and Rhodes grass, are used
commonly, in addition to six other
species according to the soil type.
While some mines use both native and
introduced species, Ensham has found
that the introduced species quickly
take over, so native species are no
longer seeded.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 Scattering of seed

Grass is seeded at the rate of 25kg of seed per hectare by a contract farmer.
The seed is spread by a fertiliser spreader on the back of a farm tractor.

Summer grasses require a certain soil temperature to strike and grow, so in

winter, 20kg per hectare of wheat seed is added to the mix. Wheat provides
cover in the winter, ready for grasses to come through in summer.

The aim is to get as much ground cover as quickly as possible so as to

reduce erosion.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 Spreading of fertiliser

Fertiliser is spread at the rate of 100kg per hectare.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

Wheat stubble (hay) is spread as mulch to give
the land stability and water-holding capacity
Spreading of mulch
before the grass is established. 20 six-foot round
bales of wheat hay are spread per hectare.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources
Image courtesy of Ensham Resources
 Early growth

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 Grass is seeded within a week of the site having been ripped.
Assuming good rainfall there will be cover within a month.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

Mature grass, going to seed within six months of planting

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 Planting of trees
The question of whether to plant trees on a rehabilitation site can be complex.

Some mines are required to return a certain number of acacia and eucalypt
stems per square metre. At Ensham, where the land will ultimately be
restored as grazing land, trees are not always desired by farmers.

Trees can only be planted on this site after the grass is established.
Otherwise, trees can get out-competed by the grass from the outset or
trees can hold up the growth of the grass and result in erosion. The most
effective way to stabilise the slopes against erosion is with grasses.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 Seeding trees is not as successful as growing trees from established saplings.
Irrigation through dripper lines increases the success rate in the hot climate at
the Ensham site, but this is challenging to establish over such vast areas.

Trees may become more common on rehabilitation sites if there is value

attached to them in a carbon trading scheme in the future.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 Benchmark sites
Benchmark sites of undisturbed land called "analogue"
sites are used as references for rehabilitation sites.

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Image courtesy of Ensham Resources
 Environmental engineer

Jay is a graduate environmental engineer who began

working at the Ensham mine in 2010. It is part of his
role to oversee the rehabilitation process.

“In the long-term we want the site to be self-

sustaining and maintenance-free. We assess it every
Image courtesy of Ensham Resources
year for erosion rates, damage and water quality.”
 Restored land
Every mine site has different conditions and requirements for rehabilitation. At the end
of the life of the Ensham mine, the site will likely be returned to grazing land.

Some other mines have a rehabilitation requirement defined as "native self sustaining
ecosystem," so any native species able to grow on that site are encouraged.

The government provides a financial incentive to rehabilitate because the bond that
mining companies are charged for their use of the land applies only to disturbed land.
Every hectare of rehabilitation reduces this bond.

At Ensham, between 150 and 200 hectares of land are rehabilitated every year. The
company set a Queensland record in 2009 with a total of 280 hectares rehabilitated.

Image courtesy of Ensham Resources

 Rehabilitation costs

Rehabilitation is a costly exercise:

$12000 /ha - Bulk earthworks to spread the spoil and establish the slope
$8800 /ha - Topsoil - hauling in a truck & spreading with a scraper or dozer
$500 /ha - Drainage works - drains, bunds, banks, diverting runoff
$500 /ha - Manure - purchase, freight and spread @ 10t/ha
$200 /ha - Fertiliser - purchase, freight and spread @ 100kg/ha
$600 /ha - Deep ripping - to 1m depth, on the contour, on 2m centres
$400 /ha - Seed - purchase, freight and spread @ 25kg/ha
$2000 /ha - Hay - purchase, freight and spread @ 20 round bales/ha
$25 000/ha - Total cost

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