New Ravensworth State Forest from mine
From the Summer 2006 edition of Bush Telegraph Magazine.
Environmental achievements at Mt Owen Mine in the Hunter coalfields continue to gain accolades, with biodiversity improvements and management of Ravensworth State Forest one part of the mine’s biodiversity strategy.
Managed by Xstrata Coal, the Mt Owen program aims to establish a significantly larger conservation area of increased biodiversity values than existed prior to mining.
In 2005, the mine received the Hunter Central Rivers Coal Industry Environmental Award, and followed this up in 2006 with a NSW Minerals Council Award for Environmental Management Application.
Mt Owen is a unique open-cut operation in that it is mining through an area of Ravensworth State Forest, a significant remnant forest in the Hunter Valley.
To offset the impacts of mining through the forest a new 430 hectare area of woodland, badged the ‘New Forest’, was established by the company.
Local native trees were planted in the new forest, establishing habitat and encouraging native animals into an area that had been cleared pasture land.
Chief operating officer Xstrata Coal NSW, Mick Buffier, said that Mt Owen demonstrates that mines can go beyond compliance in environmental management.
“We are providing ‘immediate like for like’ replacement of habitat disturbed for mining, setting an industry benchmark for biodiversity offsets.”
“A native woodland five times larger than the original woodland community will be Mt Owen’s enduring legacy,” Mick Buffier said.
The new forest was transferred to Forests NSW for management and officially became public land as part of Ravensworth State Forest.
“The project shows that in addition to supporting regional economies, mine operators can work closely with land managers, regulators, academics and the community to deliver local biodiversity benefits,” Forests NSW Central Region operations manager, Mike Pryjma, said.
Communications, Maitland
