Environment
"We take how we leave the environment very seriously." [Geoff Loudon]
L & M is well accustomed to complying with exacting environmental considerations. These generally concern the restoration of the site upon completion and compliance with mining permit conditions regarding noise, dust and water discharge. L & M has successfully operated mines directly adjacent to residential areas and is sensitive to the concerns of the local communities.
L & M has been at the forefront in the development of successful techniques for land restoration in mining operations. Land is restored progressively and typically agricultural land can be restored to better than previous levels of fertility and productivity.
L & M is very proud of it's rehabilitation achievements over the last twenty years. It has successfully:
- Improved swampy land into productive well draining pasture.
- Reduced flood susceptibility by increasing the level of land and improving river flood banks.
- Turned areas of tailings from previous centuries' mining back into productive pastures.
- Improved river channels for a combination of farming and fisheries improvements.
Our reputation and our ability to mine in the future depend on good environmental restoration.
Our agreements with landowners state that the land must be restored to "the same or higher productivity" than prior to mining. This can be achieved in a number of ways:
- Improving land types (e.g. restoration of previously mined tailings)
- Improving farm layout post mining
- Reducing flood possibility
Land is progressively restored as the plant moves along a valley with the farmland often restored to a more productive state than prior to mining. This is achieved by implementing a post mining farm plan which is developed in consultation with the land owner prior to mining and generally includes items such as improving drainage, irrigation, fencing and paddock sizes, river diversions etc.
Alluvial gold mining necessitates the use of water to wash gravel and to separate gold. Process water is recirculated from the pond in which the plant floats. To control pond levels excess silt laden process water needs to be pumped out and treated by settling to ensure that the discharge does not contain levels of sediment which are aesthetically or ecologically undesirable. In addition to exacting water discharge conditions at the company's Nokomai project a stepped series of pools were constructed to preserve important trout hatcheries up stream after river diversion.
L & M adopts a responsible approach to its mining operations and the physical environment. Prior to application for permits or resource consents the company conducts in-situ environmental baseline studies to define the impacts from particular mining operations. Operational techniques and contingency plans are proposed and incorporated into the mining proposals to adequately protect environmental values. In it's alluvial operations the company's mining plants employ only gravity concentration circuits to capture gold.
L & M maintains a reputation as a responsible operator with an ability
to minimize the environmental impacts of it's operations and produce acceptable
outcomes for other land users.
Glenore Restoration