Beginning with a plan to translocate 1,000 plants, Glencore’s Mangoola Coal has successfully undertaken the largest-scale native orchid translocation project in Australia.

The project has significantly progressed the understanding of translocation, which is essentially moving a species from one area to another. Mangoola has been able to apply that knowledge at its mining land restoration projects in collaboration with the NSW Government’s ‘Saving Our Species’ program and the Australian National Botanical Gardens.  

In this case, the native Australian orchids have been transferred to land that had been mined and restored with habitat developed by the mine so the native orchids can flourish and grow.  

Three-thousand five-hundred orchids have now been progressively relocated to the site, along with several other flora species. And Mangoola Coal has been recognised for the quality and scale of its land restoration after mining.

Restoring the land after mining to a stable and useful purpose is vital. And in the Hunter Valley, we’ve shown that land restored after mining can be used as commercially-productive pasture for cattle.

We worked with mining companies across the Hunter Valley and the Department of Primary Industries over many years to graze beef cattle on land restored after mining.

From 2014, we conducted trials at two mines, Hunter Valley Operations near Singleton and BHP’s Mount Arthur Coal near Muswellbrook. The results were compared to cattle grazed on nearby paddocks that had never been mined and showed the cattle were healthy and productive.

Similar results have been seen across a number of other former mine sites in NSW.

At Glencore's Liddell coal mine near Muswellbrook, cattle have been grazing on rehabilitated mined land for almost 10 years.

And the results show pasture on rehabilitated land at Liddell is providing higher quality feed for cattle, with cows grazing on land that had been mined putting on more weight compared to neighbouring un-mined natural pasture.

Glencore is also working with its wholly-owned pastoral subsidiary Colinta Holdings to further improve rehabilitation at some mine sites.

Introducing cattle to developing and established mine restoration areas is improving the quality of pasture by reducing excessive vegetation and promoting fresh growth.

Yancoal is another mining company in NSW with substantial land near its mining operations. Their goal is to use that land to benefit local communities and economies.

Since 2018, Yancoal's Mount Thorley Warkworth mine in the Hunter Valley has leased land next to the mine to a dairy farm operated by Andrew and Christine Farr.

Andrew and Christine are third-generation dairy farmers with extensive experience of farming in the region. They're continually reviewing and improving their farming systems to maintain quality pasture for optimal milk production.

Today, the 1100-acre property produces around two million litres of milk each year from a milking herd of around 300 cows. To support increased pasture production, Yancoal has invested in upgrading the farm's irrigation infrastructure, which also improves water efficiency.

Whitehaven Coal’s Maules Creek mine is a great example of progressive rehabilitation in NSW that benefits the local environment.

The restoration process will ultimately see the site become a woodland forest of more than 1,000 hectares, and has ramped up over the last few years alongside mining operations. In 2021 almost 80,000 trees were planted with 40,000 more being planted in 2022.  

A local supplier from the Northern Tablelands plants around 2,000 trees a day using locally grown tube stock. The area has also been seeded with a White Box Gum Woodland seed mix to establish the understory and mid-storey species.

It’s another way we’re minimising the amount of land disturbed during mining in NSW, restoring ecosystems, and supporting native species.

At Glencore's Mt Owen coal mine in the Hunter Valley, land rehabilitation and biodiversity offsets are delivering major long-term results for native wildlife, including threatened species.

Their most recent fauna monitoring report from 2020 recorded 165 native bird species, 45 native mammal species, 32 native reptile species and 19 native frog species.

That's providing permanent protection for a diverse range of native flora and fauna in these areas.

The area has been incorporated into Ravensworth State Forest, and at the end of the mine’s life, the rehabilitated woodland will be five times larger than before mining commenced. At over 2,000 hectares, that's about the size of 4,000 Sydney Cricket Grounds!

Glencore has developed a water-sharing program at its mining operations north of Singleton in the Hunter Valley, which means they’re now reusing and recycling much of the water needed for mining operations.

They’ve invested $60 million, including building a pipeline of more than 130km to connect five of the company’s mine sites in the Greater Ravensworth area - Liddell, Glendell, Ravensworth, Mt Owen and Integra. This pipeline means that instead of using water from the nearby Hunter River system, they are now more self-sufficient and more sustainable.