Southern Flank Troglofauna EIA.Pdf

Southern Flank Troglofauna EIA.Pdf

Mining Area C – Southern Flank: Troglofauna Assessment Prepared for: Prepared for: BHP Billiton Iron Ore BHP Billiton Iron Ore November 2016 Final Report ( Mining Area C – Southern Flank: Troglofauna BHP Billiton Iron Ore Mining Area C – Southern Flank: Troglofauna Assessment Bennelongia Pty Ltd 5 Bishop Street Jolimont WA 6014 P: (08) 9285 8722 F: (08) 9285 8811 E: [email protected] ACN: 124 110 167 Report Number: 275 Report Version Prepared by Reviewed by Submitted to Client Method Date Draft Renee Young Stuart Halse email 28 June 2016 Draft 2 Renee Young Stuart Halse email 26 August 2016 Stuart Halse Draft 3 email 20 September 2016 Michael Curran Stuart Halse Final email 19 October 2016 Michael Curran Stuart Halse Final 2 Michael Curran email 25 November 2016 Michael Curran K:\Projects\B_BHPBIO_70\Troglofauna report\Sent\Final\Final2\Final3\BEC_SF_Troglofauna_Assessment_final6ii17a.docx This document has been prepared to the requirements of the Client and is for the use by the Client, its agents, and Bennelongia Environmental Consultants. Copyright and any other Intellectual Property associated with the document belongs to Bennelongia Environmental Consultants and may not be reproduced without written permission of the Client or Bennelongia. No liability or responsibility is accepted in respect of any use by a third party or for purposes other than for which the document was commissioned. Bennelongia has not attempted to verify the accuracy and completeness of information supplied by the Client. © Copyright 2017 Bennelongia Pty Ltd. vi Mining Area C – Southern Flank: Troglofauna BHP Billiton Iron Ore EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Background BHP Billiton Iron Ore Pty Ltd (BHP Billiton Iron Ore) proposes to develop and operate a new satellite iron ore deposit located immediately south of the existing Mining Area C Mine at Southern Flank which will become part of the Mining Area C Mine (the Proposal). The Proposal is located approximately 90 kilometres (km) north east of Newman in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia. The additional ore sources are required to provide sufficient feed to sustain the current level of iron ore production from the BHP Billiton Iron Ore Pilbara mines. The Proposal will construct and utilise ore processing facilities, including ore handling plant, stockpiles and train load out facilities located at the existing Mining Area C Mine. Primary crushing and open pit mining activities will take place in the Southern Flank locality. This approach reflects BHP Billiton Iron Ore’s current approach of developing new orebodies which are able to utilise infrastructure around established mining hubs. This approach will also minimise the amount of clearing required for development of the new deposit. This report provides an assessment of potential impacts to troglofauna from proposed developments of satellite orebodies at Southern Flank (the Indicative Additional Impact Assessment Area). All troglofauna surveys in the Proposed Mining Area C Development Envelope have been conducted in accordance with the recommendations of the Environmental Protection Authority’s (EPA) Guidance Statement 54A and expectations of Environmental Assessment Guideline 12 and nearly 2750 troglofauna samples have been collected. Altogether, 126 species belonging to 19 Orders were recorded within the Proposed Mining Area C Development Envelope. Fifty-one species of 16 Orders were collected from the Indicative Additional Impact Assessment Area, with 21 of these species known only from the Indicative Additional Impact Assessment Area (or only there and within existing approved mining areas). Reliable definition of the ranges of low abundance species requires extensive sampling but ranges may also be inferred from habitat profile information and geological mapping, combined with information about the ranges of related species. While recognising that there is some uncertainty associated with inferences about species’ ranges, detailed habitat characterisation and evaluation of the ranges of related species suggests that for the 21 species known only from the Indicative Additional Impact Assessment Area: Sixteen species are unlikely to be restricted to the Indicative Additional Impact Assessment Area and implementation of the Proposal is considered unlikely to threaten their conservation. Four species are possibly restricted to the Indicative Additional Impact Assessment Area. These are the spiders Prethopalpus julianneae and Prethopalpus sp. B15 (both at the western end of the Indicative Additional Impact Assessment Area) and the isopods nr Andricophiloscia sp. B16 and Philosciidae sp. B03 (both in the south of the Indicative Additional Impact Assessment Area towords the eastern side). Three species were collected from single drill holes as single animals and 17 specimens of Philosciidae sp. B03 were collected from a single drill hole. One species cannot be assigned to a likelihood category because of lack of information. This is the dipluran Parajapygidae `DPL024`, which was collected as a singletoon in the south of the Indicative Additional Impact Assessment Area, towards the eastern side. While the EPA’s objectives for populations and assemblages of subterranean fauna are likely to be met by the Proposal, there is uncertainty whether the EPA’s species objective will be met for the five troglofauna species in the ‘uncertain’ or ‘possibly restricted’ distribution categories. A conservative application of the precautionary principle suggests implementation of the Proposal may possibly threaten the persistence or alter the conservation status of these species. vii Mining Area C – Southern Flank: Troglofauna BHP Billiton Iron Ore CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................. VII 1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. OVERVIEW OF OPERATION .................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2. APPROVALS HISTORY ............................................................................................................................................................. 1 1.3. CURRENT PROPOSAL .............................................................................................................................................................. 1 1.4. REPORT OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................................................................... 4 2. BACKGROUND .......................................................................................................................................... 4 2.1. TROGLOFAUNA ....................................................................................................................................................................... 4 2.1.1. Habitat Requirements .............................................................................................................................................. 4 2.1.2. Principal Impact of Mining on Troglofauna ..................................................................................................... 5 2.1.3. Secondary Impacts of Mining on Troglofauna ................................................................................................ 5 2.2. LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 3. INDICATIVE ADDITIONAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT AREA ................................................................... 6 4. HABITAT REVIEW ..................................................................................................................................... 6 4.1. GEOLOGICAL OVERVIEW ........................................................................................................................................................ 6 5. TROGLOFAUNA SURVEYS ....................................................................................................................... 7 5.1. TROGLOFAUNA SURVEYS AND ASSESSMENTS AT MINING AREA C .................................................................................. 7 5.2. TROGLOFAUNA OCCURRENCE AND ABUNDANCE .............................................................................................................. 8 5.3. SPECIES IDENTIFICATION ISSUES ......................................................................................................................................... 11 5.4. SPECIES DISTRIBUTIONS ....................................................................................................................................................... 11 6. IMPACT EVALUATION .......................................................................................................................... 11 6.1. SPECIES WITH RESTRICTED KNOWN RANGES .................................................................................................................... 11 6.2. THREAT TO SPECIES .............................................................................................................................................................. 17 7. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................

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