Executive summary wwwcom.au www.iluka.com ExecutiveSummary ES1 Introduction ES1.1 Projectoverview IlukaResourcesLimited(Iluka)proposestodevelopamineralsandsmineinsouthwesternNewSouth Wales(NSW),knownastheBalranaldMineralSandsProject.TheBalranaldProjectincludesconstruction, mining, primary processing and rehabilitation of two linear mineral sand deposits, known as the West BalranaldandNepeandepositslocatedapproximately12kilometres(km)and66kmnorthwestofthe townofBalranald,respectively. Ore extracted from the Balranald Project would be processed onsite to produce heavy mineral concentrate(HMC)andilmenite,whichwillbetransportedbyroadtoVictoria.ProcessingofHMCwould beundertakenatIluka’sexistingmineralseparationplant(MSP)atHamilton(theHamiltonMSP).From theHamiltonMSP,HMCproductswillcontinuetobetransportedbyrailtoPortlandorotherportswithin Victoria. Ilmenite would be transported by road to a proposed rail loading facility in Manangatang, Victoria.Fromhere,itwouldbeloadedintowagonsorcontainerstoberailedtoportfacilitiesinVictoria. Byproducts from the Hamilton MSP would be managed within Iluka's existing Victorian operations or returnedbyroadtotheBalranaldProjectformanagementwithintheminevoid. Disturbanceassociatedwithminingwillbeprogressivelyrehabilitated. The Balranald Project includes groundwater management infrastructure, a workforce accommodation facility,andafreshwatersupplypipelinefromtheMurrumbidgeeRiver.TheBalranaldProjectwouldalso generatetheneedforotherinfrastructuresubjecttoseparateapprovalsinbothNSWandVictoria. ThelocationoftheBalranaldProjectinaregionalandlocalcontextcanbeseeninFiguresES1andES2. ES1.2 NeedfortheBalranaldProject HMCproducedatIluka’sMurrayBasinoperationsisprocessedattheHamiltonMSPinVictoria.TheMSP hasacapacityofapproximately0.5milliontonnes(Mt)perannum.OperationoftheMSPcurrentlyrelies largelyonHMCfeedfromtheWRPminehoweverHMCfromEuclaBasinhasalsobeenprocessedand blendedwithHMCfromtheMurrayBasin.UnlessanewsourceofHMCfeedstockfortheHamiltonMSPis providedfollowingexhaustionofHMCfeedstockfromtheWRPmine,theMSPislikelytoeitherbefed from an alternative interstate mine (eg HMC from Eucla Basin), placed into care and maintenance or closed. TheBalranaldProjecthasbeenidentifiedasthemostlikelymainsourceofHMCfortheHamiltonMSP (duetoitsproximityandvalue)followingcompletionoffeedstockfromtheWRPmine. J12011RP14 ES.1 HIGHWAY BARRIER ¯ BROKEN !( HILL !( GRAFTON SYDNEY BALRANALD !( !( S CANBERRA I L !( V E R C I T Y MELBOURNE !( H I G H W A NEW SOUTH WALES Y D A RL IN G R IV C O ER B B CHLAN R L A IV HI ER G H W A Y SOUTH AUSTRALIA SOUTH ER SRIV U Y F WA U HIGH R N !( MILDURA ER ST STURT HIGHWAY E BALRANALD PROJECT W ID M !( MU GRIFFITH RR UM BID G ROBINVALE EE !( T HIG !( RIV HAY STUR HWA M E R Y U !( R R AY VALLE BALRANALD YH I G H C W A L A D Y E !( R Y H MANANGATANG ED A IGHWAY W W Y ARD H HWA R G E HIG IVER H I MALLE ELL NIE U R RIVE W SWAN M R E !( N HILL ER WA KOOL RIV !( HOPETOUN YR RA I M R V VICTORIA U E R L !( O YARRAWONGA D !( ECHUCA D Y O Y IGHWA KEY H NV A G N Y U A W R A H W SHEPPARTON Project area O L G L !( I B H !( E M G ID H Y I LAND H Y HI H IGH EL7450 T W N G A N I Y H R E WI M H GH M W A Y E W E H R A Main road H !( A Y T HORSHAM R Atlas-Campaspe MLA MCIV O OR H IG N AY H EEW Willandra Lakes Region World W FR AY E Heritage Area S U M U RENEES H N Y HIG R P H AY Major watercourses A W Y S I Relic and ephemeral lakes A Y Y W A E H A ST I E G W RN H W Perennial lakes C H HIG W H A G HW A G AY Y L I I D National parks and conservation H H E !( R A H W B E A areas BALLARAT S F TERN R L D F E E E N 050100 ELG AY R M !( GLEN HIGHW EEWA W O O Y A A R km Y M GDA 1994 MGA Zone 54 !( MELBOURNESource: EMM (2014); Iluka (2013) T:\Jobs\2012\J12011 - Balranald Mineral Sands Project\GIS\02_Maps\ES001_RegionalContext_20150408_01.mxd 8/04/2015 Project\GIS\02_Maps\ES001_RegionalContext_20150408_01.mxd Sands Mineral Balranald - T:\Jobs\2012\J12011 Regional context Balranald Mineral Sands Project Environmental Impact Statement Figure ES1 WENTWORTH LGA OAD GOL GOL R D ¯ A O R G N A P N R A G MERRUNG- RUN G ROAD T OAD OP HUT R Mungo National Park D D A A !( MUNGO O R O R Mungo State Y E O L ARUMPO !(P Conservation !( X M Area HATFIELD O U E R R A A L C AD O R A E R O U H N M A P IV O NEPEAN MINE - D R L O A A N D A R L A BALRANALD LGA B NEPEAN ACCESS ROAD EK B RE OX C Lachlan Valley National Park Mallee Cliffs D National Park A !( O OXLEY INJECTION BOREFIELDS R OXLEY B L U CH AN RIVER LA R K E A INJECTION BOREFIELDS N D W D I A L RO L E S L R G O !( M URR N PENARIE !( WAUGORAH U RU A M D B ID NP G TO EE S !( RIVE EU KOORAKEE R HAY LGA WEST BALRANALD MINE !( BENANEE WEST BALRANALD ACCESS ROAD D A O R Euston STURT HIGHWAY EG E !( A A Regional W EUSTON R Park WATER SUPPLY PIPELINE A Ya n g a W National KEY BALRANALD !( Park Project area !( YANGA Ya n g a Na t u re Access roads Reserve !( WILLOW VALE Atlas-Campaspe MLA WINDOMAL !( KERI Local government area !( LANDING KERI Main road D !( WAKOOL WAKOOL LGA A Local road O JUNCTION R Major watercourses N O D Murray Valley L Relic and ephemeral lakes A B M Regional Park !( PEREKERTEN U Perennial lakes R !( R GOODNIGHT KYALIT A E R Y W O Willandra Lakes Region World R I A AD V E K R O Heritage Area O !( MOOLPA L RIV MANANGATANG !( ER !( TOOLEYBUC K TOORANIE National parks and conservation O !( BERAMBONG R AD areas A RO L !( STONY E E D U I CROSSING A 01020 G AD MOULAMEIN H O !( M !( R EDW R AR O D km N RI LAKE A !( EI V D TUELOGA MOULA M E GDA 1994 MGA Zone 54 JILEROO !( MALLAN Source: EMM (2014);R Iluka (2013) !( 8/04/2015 Project\GIS\02_Maps\ES002_ProjectLocation_20150408_01.mxd Sands Mineral Balranald - T:\Jobs\2012\J12011 Location of the project area Balranald Mineral Sands Project Environmental Impact Statement Figure ES2 ES1.3 Approvalsrequired The Balranald Project is deemed to be a controlled action under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) and requires approval from the CommonwealthMinisterfortheEnvironment.Thisenvironmentalimpactstatement(EIS),alsoreferredto astheCommonwealthEIS,hasbeenpreparedtosupportanapplicationfortheBalranaldProjectunder Part8oftheEPBCActinaccordancewiththeGuidelinesforthecontentofadraftenvironmentalimpact statement (the EIS Guidelines), dated 22 November 2012, prepared for the Balranald Project by the delegateoftheMinisterfortheEnvironment(AppendixA). The EIS Guidelines contain four parts, including a preamble, general advice on the guidelines, key assessment requirements and specific content. The specific content part has 12 separate sections coveringmatterssuchasrequirementsfortheprovisionofgeneralinformation,descriptionoftheaction andtheconclusion.EachofthesepartsandsectionsarereferencedinthisEISwhererelevant. WhiletheBalranaldProjectrequiresapprovalundertheEPBCAct,italsorequiresanumberofapprovals inNSWandVictoria,includingdevelopmentconsentfromtheNSWMinisterforPlanning,ordelegate, under the State significant development (SSD) provisions of the NSW Environmental Planning and AssessmentAct1979(EP&AAct).ThiswasgrantedbytheNSWMinisterforPlanning,underdelegation, on5April2016.TheNSWDepartmentofPlanningandEnvironment(DP&E)'sassessmentreportonthe BalranaldProjectconcludedthat: Giventhatthebenefitsoftheprojectcanberealisedwithoutsignificantadverseimpacts,the Departmentconsidersthattheprojectisinthepublicinterest,andshouldbeapprovedsubject tostrictconditions. OneelementoftheBalranaldProject,thetransmissionlinetosupplypowertotheproject,willalsobe subjecttoaseparatereferralprocessundertheEPBCAct. ES2 Siteandsurrounds ES2.1 Projectlocation The project area is located in the Murray Basin in southwestern NSW, near Balranald town. The BalranaldIvanhoe Road connects the project area to the Sturt Highway, south of the project area, at Balranaldtown.TheSturt HighwaylinksBalranaldtoMilduraandRobinvaleto thewest,andHayand WaggaWaggatotheeast. The project area and surrounding land is zoned for primary production under the Balranald Local Environment Plan 2010 (Balranald LEP). Land uses in and surrounding the project area are primarily agricultural,andincludesheepgrazingandgraincrops.Smallscalegypsumminingandcharcoalfarmingis alsoundertakenonnearbyproperties. ES2.2 Climate Theprojectareaischaracterisedbyhotdrysummersandcoldwinters.ClimaticdatafromtheBureauof Meteorology’s (BoM) weather station at Balranald town indicates that monthly mean minimum temperature ranges from 3.5°C to 16.4°C and the monthly mean maximum temperature ranges from 15.7°Cto33°C. Themedianannualrainfallis324.8mm.Rainfallgenerallyoccursthroughouttheyearwiththehighest medianrainfalloverspringandthelowestmedianrainfalloversummer. J12011RP14 ES.4 ES2.3 Geology TheprojectareaislocatedinthecentreofalluvialsedimentsoftheMurrayBasin.Withintheprojectarea thebasalunit,whichdirectlyoverliesthebasementrocks(comprisingProterozoicandPalaeozoicrocks)is theOlneyFormation.TheOlneyFormationsedimentsarepredominantlycontinental,butthemarginal marineGeeraClayinterfingersthroughthemiddlesequenceattheprojectarea. Attheprojectarea,theOlneyFormationisoverlainbytheLoxtonParillaSandsFormation,whichisin turn,overlainbytheSheppartonFormation.TheLoxtonParillaSandsisathicksequenceofmarinesands that contains the target mineral deposits. The Shepparton Formation comprises fluiolacustrine unconsolidatedclaysandsilts. TheWestBalranaldandNepeandepositsarecontainedwithinalowermarinesequenceintheLoxton ParillaSandsFormation. ES2.4 Hydrogeology TheMurrayBasinisalargeclosedgroundwaterbasinwithregionalaquifersystems,confininglayersand permeability barriers to groundwater flow.