saracen - der.wa.gov.au · saracen . acquired the kailis tenements from st barbara in august 2015....

Filename: NGO_Groundwater Operating Strategy_V7_ Final

North-Eastern Goldfields Operations COMBINED GROUNDWATER OPERATING STRATEGY - V7

Saracen Metals Pty Ltd

North-Eastern Goldfields Operations

Combined Groundwater Operating Strategy

Version 7

20 February 2019

Saracen

Filename: NGO_Groundwater Operating Strategy_V7_ Final



20 February 2019

This Operating Strategy has been prepared in accordance with the Department of Water and Environment Regulation Operational Policy 5.08 Use of Operating Strategies in the Water Licensing Process Appendix A Guideline for producing a basic water resource operating strategy associated with a water licence.

Name of water licensee: Saracen Metals Pty Ltd

Name of developed project: North-Eastern Goldfields Operations

Legal description of land where (a) water is taken, and (b) water is used (if different): See Table 15

associated water licence(s) if approved and that a breach of a commitment or any licence condition may be an infringement of the Rights in Water and Irrigation Act 1914.

Signatures

Person legally responsible for water licence: Date: 20 February 2019 Print Name: Lee Stephens

Approved by delegated authority

Department of Water and Environment Regulation Date:

Print Name:

COMBINED GROUNDWATER OPERATING STRATEGY VERSION 7

"I understand that the commitments given in the attached operating strategy will be a condition of an

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North-Eastern Goldfields Operations COMBINED GROUNDWATER OPERATING STRATEGY – V7

CONTENTS

1 ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS ................................................................................................. 1

1.1 Water Licences ................................................................................................................................. 2

1.2 Staged Development ........................................................................................................................ 3

1.3 Water Source investigation and Reporting....................................................................................... 3

1.4 DoW Water Source Mangement and Allocation Planning ............................................................... 4

1.5 Person/Position Responsible for operting Strategy ......................................................................... 4

1.6 Reporting Dates ............................................................................................................................... 5

1.7 Operating Strategy Review .............................................................................................................. 5

2 WATER SOURCE DESCRIPTIONS .................................................................................................... 6

2.1 Bannockburn .................................................................................................................................... 6

2.2 Thunderbox – Pit, Madras, Rogan Josh Borefields and Roadside .................................................. 7

2.3 Double A, Otto Bore and Waterloo ................................................................................................... 9

2.4 Kailis ............................................................................................................................................... 11

3 IDENTIFYING AND MANAGING IMPACTS ....................................................................................... 12

3.1 Bannockburn .................................................................................................................................. 12

3.2 Thunderbox .................................................................................................................................... 13

3.3 Double A, Otto Bore and Waterloo ................................................................................................. 14

3.4 Kailis ............................................................................................................................................... 15

4 OPERATING RULES ........................................................................................................................... 16

4.1 Bores and Other Water Sources .................................................................................................... 20

4.2 Flow Meters .................................................................................................................................... 20

4.3 Multiple Sources ............................................................................................................................. 21

4.4 Specific Situations .......................................................................................................................... 21

5 MONITORING AND REPORTING ....................................................................................................... 23

5.1 Water Volumes ............................................................................................................................... 23

5.2 Water Levels .................................................................................................................................. 23

5.3 Water Quality .................................................................................................................................. 24

5.4 Inspections ..................................................................................................................................... 24

5.5 Rainfall............................................................................................................................................ 24

6 CONTINGENCY PROGRAM ............................................................................................................... 25

6.1 Dewatering ..................................................................................................................................... 25

6.2 Processing Plant (Thunderbox only) .............................................................................................. 26

6.3 Continuity of supply for the RO plant ............................................................................................. 26

6.4 Dust Suppression ........................................................................................................................... 27

6.5 Monitoring and reporting ................................................................................................................ 27

7 WATER USE EFFICIENCY PLAN ...................................................................................................... 28

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7.1 Opportunities for improving water efficiency .................................................................................. 28

8 ASSOCIATED MAPS .......................................................................................................................... 30

9 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................................... 42

10 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ................................................................................................. 44

11 SUMMARY LIST OF COMMITMENTS ................................................................................................ 45

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: General Location of North-Eastern Goldfields Operations ....................................................... 31

Figure 2: North Eastern Goldfields Operations with Goldfields Groundwater sub-areas. .................... 32

Figure 3: All NEGO Groundwater Licences ................................................................................................ 33

Figure 4: Bannockburn GWL63550(7) Source Tenements ........................................................................ 34

Figure 5: Bannockburn GWL63550(7) Source & Use Tenements ............................................................. 35

Figure 6: Thunderbox GWL158766(6) .......................................................................................................... 36

Figure 7: Thunderbox GWL158766(6) bores ............................................................................................... 37

Figure 8: Double A, Otto Bore and Waterloo GWL154472(6) .................................................................... 38

Figure 9: Kailis Groundwater Area .............................................................................................................. 39

Figure 10: Comparison of area originally classified as Contaminated – Remediation Required and all new classification existing and proposed. ......................................................................................... 40

Figure 11: NEGO Water Circuit Diagram 2017 (Open pit mining) ............................................................. 41

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Previously approved Saracen Operating Strategies ..................................................................... 2

Table 2: Northern Goldfields Operations Groundwater Licences .............................................................. 3

Table 3: GWL Licensee Details ...................................................................................................................... 4

Table 4: Groundwater Sources and Production Bores Bannockburn GWL .............................................. 7

Table 5: Monitoring Bores Bannockburn GWL ............................................................................................ 7

Table 6: Thunderbox Pit Production Bore Locations .................................................................................. 8

Table 7: Thunderbox Monitoring Bore Locations* ....................................................................................... 9

Table 8: Double A, Otto Bore and Waterloo Production Bore Locations ................................................ 10

Table 9: Double A, Otto Bore and Waterloo Monitoring Bore Locations ................................................. 10

Table 10: Double A and Waterloo Open Pit/Underground Locations ...................................................... 10

Table 11: Kailis Production Bore Locations ............................................................................................... 11

Table 12: Kailis Monitoring Bore Locations................................................................................................ 11

Table 13: Kailis Project Open Pit Locations ............................................................................................... 11

Table 14: Saracen Groundwater Licence conditions ................................................................................. 16

Table 15: Northern Goldfields Groundwater Licences 2015 ..................................................................... 17

Table 16: Bannockburn Bores ...................................................................................................................... 18

Table 17: North Well Bores ........................................................................................................................... 18

Table 18: Water Sources Thunderbox Bores .............................................................................................. 18

Table 19: Roadside Production Bores ......................................................................................................... 19

Table 20: Double A and Otto Bore Production Bores and Pit .................................................................. 19

Table 21: Waterloo Groundwater Bores and Underground Operations .................................................. 19

Table 22: Kailis Groundwater Bores ............................................................................................................ 19

Table 23 Operating and Non-Active Monitoring Standard ........................................................................ 23

Table 24: Bureau of Meteorology stations in the CDO region .................................................................. 24

Table 25: Dewatering Contingency Table ................................................................................................... 25

Table 26: Processing Plant Water Supply Contingency Table ................................................................. 26

Table 27: Thunderbox RO Water Supply Contingency Table ................................................................... 27

Table 28: NEGO Dust Suppression Water Supply Contingency Table .................................................... 27

Table 29: Saracen Groundwater Licence conditions ................................................................................. 45

Table 30 Operating and Non-Active Monitoring Standard ........................................................................ 46

APPENDICES

Appendix 1 – Copies of Groundwater licences

Filename: NGO_Groundwater Operating Strategy_V7_ Final Page 1


1 ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS

The North-Eastern Goldfields Operations (NEGO), associated open pits, underground mines and tenements are located northeast of Leonora within the Shire of Leonora (Figure 1) and within the Goldfields Groundwater Management Area (Figure 2). The operations are owned and managed by Saracen Metals Pty Ltd (Saracen). Operations are centred on the Thunderbox Processing Plant located approximately 90km north of Leonora and 40km south of Leinster. The Thunderbox operation recommenced mining in July 2015 and processing in February 2016. In addition to the Thunderbox and Bannockburn tenements, Saracen acquired the Kailis tenements from St Barbara in August 2015. Saracen’s tenements are spread over 120km from Kailis in the south to Thunderbox, Double A and Waterloo in the North.

Gold was first discovered in the Bannockburn area, located approximately 65km northwest of Leonora, in 1908. There were four main periods of mining activity at Bannockburn, consisting of the mining of shallow shafts and small pits up until 1980’s. In 1988 Arboyne NL acquired the Bannockburn leases and submitted a Notice of Intent (NOI) to develop mining operations at the Project, however mining did not commence until 1991. Mining operations included dewatering of the Bannockburn pit and underground as well as satellite pits including North Well, the Bannockburn borefield construction and operation during this period. Mining continued sporadically under a number of owners until the operation was placed into care and maintenance in November 1998.

Double A was mined in the early 1990s with ore and waste rock removed from an open pit; high grade ore was transported to Leonora for processing while low grade ore was processed on site via a heap leach operation. Pit dewatering and West Joy Well were listed as the sources of water for processing (Barrett and Buchhorn, 1990).

The Thunderbox deposit was discovered in April 1999 by LionOre Australia, with mining commencing in 2002 and continuing until 2007. Water was an issue during operations with water initially sourced from the Roadside borefield and pit dewatering, with Waterloo, Double A, Otto Bore, Madras and Rogan Josh borefields being developed during the life of the project. The Waterloo Nickel mine was discovered in 2002 and mining commenced in 2005 and finished in 2008. Water was initially sent to Thunderbox for use in the Processing Plant. Later, Thunderbox borefields (Madras and Rogan Josh) were used to supplement water supplies at Waterloo.

The Thunderbox mine site and associated Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) was declared as “Contaminated – Remediation Required” under section 15 of the Contaminated Sites Act 2003 on 22 May 2014, due to windblown dusting of Arsenic enriched tailings material into the surrounding environment. Since taking ownership of the site, Saracen has implemented watering of the TSF to control further dusting, conducted a clean-up of operational areas of the TSF (Stage 1) and completed and updated risk assessment of the site. The site was then reclassified again with one parcel being reclassified from “Contaminated Site- Remediation required” to “Report not substantiated” and a second reclassified as “Not contaminated – unrestricted use” under section 13 of the Act to reflect additional technical information submitted to DWER in July 2017. Deposition into TSF Cell B recommenced in February 2016 and completed in August 2016 with Cell A then becoming operational, deposition will continue for the life of the operation with deposition alternating between cells on an annual basis. Saracen will continue working with the relevant government departments to determine the ongoing requirement for management of the site.

The Kailis Project area, located 6km north of Leonora, has hosted mining activities since the late 1890s and contains a wide scattering of small historic workings. Sons of Gwalia (SGW) commenced open pit mining at Kailis in July 2000 and completed in July 2001. St Barbara Mines Ltd (SBM) resumed mining in the Kailis project area in 2008 with the excavation of the Trump open pit and cutbacks of the Kailis main pit, however the open pit mining ceased in November 2008 before the Kailis pit was completed. Saracen recommenced dewatering in January 2016 until May 2016 when the decision to delay mining was put on hold, all dewatering during this period was from Kailis pit to the Trump pit. Dewatering recommenced in January 2017 with water from Kailis discharged to Harbour Lights pit, mining operations recommencing in the Kailis pit in April 2017 and is expected to be completed in 2020.

The Thunderbox mine recommenced operations on 1 July 2015 initially focussing on open pit mining of the existing Thunderbox Pit and the development of the Thunderbox underground mine. Mining operations at Thunderbox are supplemented by open pit mining at satellite deposits including Kailis, Bannockburn, North Well, Otto Bore, Rainbow and Double A.

Mining operations will need to be dynamic, with open pit and underground lifespans of between 6 months and 8 years; Saracen may have several mining areas under development at any one time. Due to the



dynamic nature of mining operations, water management must also be dynamic and responsive to changes in the mining operations. Water abstraction is predominantly for the purpose of mine dewatering to allow mining below the water table. Dewatering water is used for dust suppression throughout the operation and at the Thunderbox Processing Plant. One bore (TCS02) is in operation to supply potable water to the village, administration, mining crib rooms and processing plant administrative areas at Thunderbox.

Groundwater licencing, monitoring and reporting is managed by Saracen’s HSEC (Environment) Department. The main users of groundwater are the Processing and Mining Departments. The Mining Department manage all pipework, pumps and flow meters, turkeys nest dams, standpipes and pit voids for the abstraction, use and management of groundwater. The Processing Department manage the flow of water into the processing plant from the Thunderbox Mine Water Dam (dewatering water turkey nest) to the Raw Water Dam (processing turkey nest) and return water from the tailings storage facilities, as well as abstraction from the Borefields. The General Manager of Operations is ultimately responsible for all water management on site.

This Operating Strategy has been prepared to satisfy the requirements of Operational Policy No. 5.08 – Use of operating strategies in the water licensing process (DWER, 2011). This Operating Strategy replaces all former Operating Strategies (Table 1).

Table 1: Previously approved Saracen Operating Strategies

Rev Description/Reason DWER Approval Date

6 North-Eastern Goldfields Operations – Combined Groundwater Operating Strategy V7 Dated 20 Feb 2019 Submitted 26 Feb 2019

5 North-Eastern Goldfields Operations – Combined Groundwater Operating Strategy V6 Dated 9 Feb 2018 13 June 2018

4 North-Eastern Goldfields Operations – Combined Groundwater Operating Strategy V5 Dated 24 July 2017 Submitted 13 Jun /2017

3 North-Eastern Goldfields Operations – Combined Groundwater Operating Strategy V4 Dated 5 Oct 2016 20 Oct 2016

2 North-Eastern Goldfields Operations – Combined Groundwater Operating Strategy V3 Dated 27 April 2016 23 Jun 2016

1 North-Eastern Goldfields Operations – Combined Groundwater Operating Strategy V2 Dated 15 Sep 2015

0 North-Eastern Goldfields Operations – Combined Groundwater Operating Strategy V1 22 May 2015

n/a North-Eastern Goldfields Operations, Norilsk Nickel Australia 31 Oct 2013

n/a St Barbara Limited – Operating strategy for Groundwater Well Licenced Leonora Project – Tarmoola Ops 24 Aug 2010

n/a Arrow Resources Management Pty Ltd – Bannockburn Gold Operations Operating strategy Jul 2000 – Jun 2001

1.1 WATER LICENCES

The North-Eastern Goldfields Operations are located within the Proclaimed Goldfields Groundwater Area (WAWA, 1994), which is further divided into eight subareas and then into aquifers by the Department of Water and Environment Regulation (DWER). Saracens NEGO groundwater licences are described by the DWERs subarea and the aquifers they draw from and are designed to meet Saracen’s water requirements for operation and allow the management of water supplies in a sustainable manner.

The NEGO currently holds 4 groundwater licences (Table 2). All groundwater licences are shown in Section 8, Figure 3.



Table 2: North Eastern Goldfields Operations Groundwater Licences

Name Licence No Groundwater Subarea Description of Water Resource Description

Bannockburn

63550(7) Raeside Goldfields – Palaeochannel - Palaeochannel -

Bannockburn Borefield, Bannockburn Pit and Underground and North Well and Slaughter Yard Pits

Thunderbox 158766(6)

Raeside Goldfields - Combined - Fractured Rock West - Fractured Rock

Thunderbox Borefield (Pit Dewatering, Madras, Rogan Josh and Roadside Borefields)

Kailis 181982(3) Raeside Goldfields - Combined - Fractured Rock West - Fractured Rock

Kailis and Trump open pits, Harbour Lights open pit.

Double A, Otto Bore and Waterloo

154472(6)

Lake Carey Goldfields - Combined - Fractured Rock West - Fractured Rock

Double A open pit and bores, Otto Bore bores and Waterloo underground and bores

1.2 STAGED DEVELOPMENT

Saracen recommenced operations at Thunderbox in FY2015, with the objective of the NEGO to produce gold. Mining operations will be staged to provide low CAPEX requirements, enhanced risk management and production flexibility. Several pits and underground operations may be in various stages of operation at any one time to ensure a constant ore supply to the Processing Plant. The pits and underground operations are located across the 120km strike length of the Saracen tenement package. The dynamic mining operation will require the dewatering and dust suppression operations that support mining and ore haulage to be dynamic and flexible.

Saracens Groundwater Licencing (Section 2), Operating Rules (Section 4) and Monitoring and Reporting requirements (Section 5) are designed to be flexible and clearly defined to allow management of groundwater resources in an open and transparent manner.

1.3 WATER SOURCE INVESTIGATION AND REPORTING

Regional Regional hydrogeology of the project areas is covered by Department of Minerals and Energy Reports (Allen, 1996 and Johnson et al 1999). Groundwater occurs in regional catchment-controlled flow systems (i.e. Raeside and Lake Carey Catchment) in fresh and weathered fractured rock aquifers, and in surficial aquifers comprising palaeochannel sand, calcrete, alluvium, eolian and lacustrine deposits (Allen, 1996). The water table forms a subdued surface sub-parallel to topography. Below the water table is a saturated zone ranging in depth from 30m to 100m depending on the depth of weathering and fracturing in the bedrock. The bedrock is locally overlain by palaeochannel deposits (Lake Carey and Lake Raeside).

Groundwater recharge is via infrequent, intense rainfall events. Recharge takes place mainly on drainage divides, and locally at specific intake areas such as drainage lines or sand plains and dune fields. The lowest salinity coincides with these divides, salinity increases with depth and toward palaeochannels.

Deposit Scale Groundwater exploration for the Bannockburn Project commenced in 1988 (Rockwater, 1988); this program covered the Bannockburn mine area as well as the Marshall Creek area to the north and developed four useful production bores which yielded total of 1000m3/d. This was followed by further exploration and bore construction in 1991 when usage increased to 2600m3/d (Rockwater, 1991). Four monitoring bores were also constructed in late 1991 around the perimeter of the TSF (Cell 1), with a second cell added in late 1994 resulting in the destruction of one of the monitoring bores (Woodward-Clyde, 1995). By 1997, two (TD2 and TD3) to the south of the dam had been destroyed, however three additional monitoring bores were installed to the north of the tailings dam prior to the 1996 recommencement of operations (TD5, TD6 and TD7; Woodward-Clyde, 1997a). In June 1997 an investigation for TSF cell 3 recommended the construction of three new monitoring bores and replacement of the two destroyed bores to the south of TSF (Woodward-Clyde, 1997b). Dewatering investigation on the North Well Project 5km north of Bannockburn commenced in 1994 (Rockwater, 1995). In later years additional production bores were constructed for the Bannockburn Borefield Marshall Creek expansion.



Preliminary groundwater investigations for supply of process water for the Thunderbox plant commenced in 2000 with six exploratory groundwater bores (TBX001 to 005 and WJX01) and two test dewatering bores (DWB01 and DWB02) drilled to dewater the mining operations (Hydro-Resources, 2000a). A second prospect – the Roadside Ultramafic was also tested in 2000 resulting in three production bores and nine exploratory holes (Hydro-Resources, 2000b).

In 2003 groundwater exploration in the Thunderbox area recommenced, the aim of this program was to locate additional water supplies to supplement the Roadside Borefield; the Roadside Borefield was also extended at this time. Multiple prospects were tested however production bores were only constructed at five locations; Waterloo, Tails Dam and Thunderbox Zone D, Double A, Otto Bore East and Rogan Josh, to provide short term water requirement while a more suitable long term groundwater resource was located (Morgan, 2003).

June 2004 dewatering investigation of Waterloo was conducted for the boxcut, decline and underground operation, which resulted in three additional bores to the one drilled in 2003 (Morgan, 2004). A fifth dewatering bore was drilled in 2005 at Waterloo (Morgan, 2005a). In May 2005 Airwell pumps were installed at Waterloo to supplement process water supply (Morgan, 2005b).

The major focus of 2005 drilling was the development of the Madras and Rogan Josh Borefield, based on earlier exploration (2003-2004) with two production bores being developed at Madras and three at Rogan Josh. Additional exploration in late 2005 identified an additional three monitoring bore sites and three potential air well sites within the Rogan Josh Borefield (Morgan, 2005c). Further drilling in 2006 developed one new production bore and 5 Airwell bores within the Madras Borefield and two addition Airwell bores within Rogan Josh Borefield (Morgan, 2006).

Golder Associates conducted a series of hydrological studies and assessments of the Kailis project in 2000-2001 to support the SGW mining operations (Golder, 2000 & 2001). Follow-up studies for further mining including dewatering of the pit lake formed during care and maintenance were conducted by Golder (2004) and Rockwater (2016) to determine dewatering requirements for the existing pit.

In 2017 Saracen recommenced groundwater exploration in the Bannockburn area to locate a water source capable of supporting the Thunderbox Project in the long term. This included airborne geophysical TDEM survey to map the buried geometry of the palaeochannels. Drilling and hydraulic testing of nine (9) new water bores targeted in the deepest part of the palaeochannels and evaluate of the likely borefield feasibility (H3 report).

1.4 DWER WATER SOURCE MANGEMENT AND ALLOCATION PLANNING

There is no Groundwater Source Management Plan for the Goldfields Region indicating that the Goldfield’s region is less than 30% allocated and thus only has an Allocation limit (DWER Water Allocation Planning in Western Australia – A guide to our process, November 2011).

The Goldfields area is not proclaimed for surface water, thus water can be taken from water courses in the area without a permit under Section 11, 17 or 21A so long as the flow is not “sensibly” diminished, affecting the rights of downstream users (DWER, 2019). In practice the surface water in the Goldfields is ephemeral and highly unpredictable and is not used by Saracen due to its unreliability.

1.5 PERSON/POSITION RESPONSIBLE FOR OPERTING STRATEGY

The licensee for all GWLs is Saracen Metals Pty Ltd (Saracen). Contact details along with the person responsible for implementing the operating strategy are provided in Table 3.

Table 3: GWL Licensee Details Item Details Licensee Saracen Metals Pty Ltd Contact Lee Stephens, General Manager Address Thunderbox Gold Mine Postal Address Locked Bag 2, Leonora WA 6438 Phone (08) 6228 9511 Email [email protected]



1.6 REPORTING DATES

The annual water year for water taken under this operating strategy is defined as 1 October to 30 September twelve months later. A Groundwater Monitoring Summary and Operating Strategy compliance report is due on 31 December each year. Every third year (commencing 2015) a Groundwater Monitoring Review is submitted in place of the Groundwater Monitoring Summary.

The Groundwater Monitoring Summary and Groundwater Monitoring Review reports are prepared by a competent groundwater professional and comply with Operating Policy 5.12 - 'Hydrogeological Reporting Associated with a Groundwater Well Licence'.

1.7 OPERATING STRATEGY REVIEW

The Operating Strategy will be reviewed if the project, the water abstraction rate or method changes significantly, if new production bores or pits are added or every three years following the completion of the Groundwater Monitoring Review taking into account recommendations of the competent groundwater professional preparing the report.


North Eastern Goldfields Operations COMBINED GROUNDWATER OPERATING STRATEGY- V7

2 WATER SOURCE DESCRIPTIONS

2.1 BANNOCKBURN

The Bannockburn borefield (GWL63550(6)); Figure 4 & Figure 5, Section 8) is located in the Goldfields Groundwater area, Raeside Subarea. The GWL consists of the Marshall Creek Borefield and Bannockburn Pit dewatering as well as satellite pits at North Well and Slaughter Yard. The project is situated on a low-lying inlier of Archean rocks within a broad area of colluvium, and alluvial fans of Cody and Marshall Creeks. Drainage is via narrow, active channels. These subsequently drain to the Lake Noondie palaeo-drainage, a major tributary of the Lake Raeside System (Rockwater, 1988).

Groundwater exploration commenced in 1988 under Arboyne NL. Three bores were constructed, however there was no groundwater abstraction by Arboyne. Austwhim purchased the project and commenced groundwater abstraction in mid-October 1990 from Production/Dewatering bore (ABW1P, destroyed). Production from the Marshall Creek Borefield also commenced at this time (Rockwater, 1991). Additional Bores were constructed in 1991 to support the construction of a processing plant at Bannockburn (Rockwater 1991).

Mining commenced in 1988 and continued until June 1995 when mining and milling were temporarily suspended (Woodward-Clyde 1995). Mining and processing recommenced in September 1995 under Consolidated Mines Limited (CGNM) and continued until December 1998. During this period two bores (BBRM1 and BBRM2) were constructed possibly to abstract water from an underground pump station or supply services to the pump station, no details of their construction have been located. Table 4 shows the groundwater sources & production bores under the Bannockburn GWL, while Table 5 shows the monitoring bores.

Groundwater (Bore 1) was used for camp water supply until the camp was removed in ~1999. The project has been in care and maintenance since.

Groundwater exploration at the Northern Well Project 5km north of Bannockburn commenced in December 1994 with thirteen holes drilled, with seven converted to monitoring bores and five as production bores (Rockwater, 1995). Records indicate dewatering did take place during mining, with water discharge to the nearby Cody Creek (Outback Ecology, 1997). Ground checking of bores indicates several have been destroyed, however additional bores not mentioned in the Rockwater 1995 report were located indicting possible second round of bore construction which Saracen does not have records for.

The Slaughter Yard Pit located 13.5km north of the Bannockburn pit was mined in 1994 as a satellite ore source for the Bannockburn Project. No records of dewatering exist and the pit is approximately 25m deep suggesting it may not have intersected groundwater. The Bannockburn licence has been extended to cover the North Well and Slaughter Yard pits as Saracen intends to mine and draw water for mining purposes and to supplement supply at Thunderbox in 2017.

In August 2017 Saracen completed drilling a program of 9 production bores targeting the Marshall Creek palaeotributary, which forms part of the Noondie palaeovalley system south of the Bannockburn tenements. Commissioning of the bores will occur between February 2019 and June 2019 pending the Approval of H3 Report and Licence amendment.

The purpose of this licence is primarily to provide water for the Thunderbox Processing Plant, however water will also be abstracted form existing an future open pits as part of dewatering program and used in mining for dust suppression thus the total water supply will be made up of pit dewatering and borefield supply.



Table 4: Groundwater Sources and Production Bores Bannockburn GWL

Bore Name Production or Monitoring

Location Zone: 51 Aquifer

Name

Elevation (mAHD)

Total Depth

(m)

Groundwater occurrence Screen (m)

Easting Northing

Bannockburn Pit & Underground

Gol

dfie

lds

– Pa

aleo

chan

nel -

Pal

aeoc

hann

el

N/A

BBRM1 293316 6850802 403.0 125 NA

BBRM2 293317 6850796 403.0 125 NA

Bore 1 (ABW9P) 292570 6852790 407.42 33 24-33m 15.42-31.42

Bore 2 (ABW8P) 292247 6853128 406.17 33 24-30m 14.66-32.66

Bore 3 (ABW18P) 291879 6852196 403.87 36 22-33m 0.0-35.1

Bore 4 (BBW25P) 293493 6853231 408.86 43.30 26-43m 13.30-43.30

Bore 5 (BBW22P) 294028 6853586 410.31 33.47 24-34 15.47-33.47

Bore 6 (BBW24P) 294550 6853958 410.89 38.14 28-38m 0.43-38.14

MCP-01 295648 6855843 416.97 36 22-33m 0.0-35.1

MCP-02 295398 6854515 414.52 43.30 26-43m 13.30-43.30

MCP-03 293800 6852731 416.97 33.47 24-34m 15.47-33.47

MCP-04 290771 6851920 403.28 38.14 28-38m 0.43-38.14

MCP-05 287750 6846692 398.95 96 14.96m 22.8-94.8

MCP-06 286977 6848480 395.21 92 14.22m 18-42, 48-72, 78-84

MCP-07 287341 6850232 393.26 91 16.44m 29-41, 47-71, 77-89

MCP-08 286467 6847465 393.08 102.4 16.07m 23.1-101.1

MCP-09 289416 6845343 391.66 129 7.97m 30-126

North Well Pits – Frosty, Diesel and Son of Diesel (& Dakota (undeveloped)) NA

94NWWB002 292267 6856523 414.45 63 13.29 17.3-59.3

94NWWB011 292222 6856655 414.55 59.5 13.43m 17.3-59.3

Slaughter Yard Pit ~25m ~23m NA

Table 5: Monitoring Bores Bannockburn GWL

Bore Name Production

Location Zone: 51 Aquifer

Name Elevation (mAHD)

Total Depth

(m) Groundwater occurrence Screen

Easting Northing

ABW8 292260 6853137

Gol

dfie

lds

- Com

bine

d - F

ract

ured

Roc

k W

est -

Fra

ctur

ed R

ock

ABW9 292578 6852791 406.97 39 19.0-37.0

ABW11 295466 6850058 402.51 44 Open hole

ABW17 291690 6851322 403.08 33 Open hole

ABW18 291859 6852187 403.70 37.5 18.3-36.3

BBW19 293822 6854041 409.48 58 Open hole

BBW23 294412 6853562 409.67 46 9.0-39.0

BBW24 294547 6853972 410.46 82 0.0-59.8

BBW25 293488 6853229 52

94NWWB007 292217 6856658 414.98 61 13.53 19.2-61.2

94NWWB010 292262 6856622 414.33 70 13.09 28.8-70.8

2.2 THUNDERBOX – PIT, MADRAS, ROGAN JOSH BOREFIELDS AND ROADSIDE

The Thunderbox Pit, Madras, Rogan Josh and Roadside borefields (GWL158766(6)) were previously covered by a number of Groundwater licences (110648(6) 158766(5), 150981(8) and 168808(3)) and are located predominantly in the Goldfields Groundwater area, Raeside Subarea, consisting of multiple bores in the Saprolite – Fractured Rock aquifer (Section 8, Figure 6, and 7). The main purpose of the Licence is for dewatering and to supply process water for the Thunderbox processing plant. Water is



also used for dust suppression and mining purposes and to supply potable water to the camp and administration buildings.

The Roadside Borefield is located 10km to the east of the Thunderbox open pit within a weathered siliceous cap rock overlying ultramafic rocks up to 700m wide up to 75m BGL. The aquifer lies on the drainage divide between Carey and Raeside catchments. Groundwater investigation for the Thunderbox Project commenced in the Roadside Borefield area in 2000 with additional bores constructed in early 2002 (Hydro-Resources 2002). The Roadside borefield supplied water at the commencement of the Thunderbox Project in 2002 – 2003 however it quickly became apparent that the borefield was being depleted and other water sources were developed.

The Thunderbox Pit, Madras, Rogan Josh borefield areas consists of an open pit and multiple bores within a saprolite and fresh rock aquifer close to the Carey/Raeside Divide. Initial drilling focused on creating dewatering bores for the Thunderbox open pit. Madras bores were added in 2005 and 2006 to provide additional water supply to the processing plant. Rogan Josh bores added in 2006 – 2007. The area also includes TCS02 commonly known as the ‘camp production bore’ which supplies potable water for the camp, formerly licenced under GWL150980(1) until 2007.

Many of the original pit dewatering and monitoring bores have been destroyed; Production and monitoring bores which currently make up the Thunderbox Borefield are listed in Table 6 and 7 respectively.

Table 6: Thunderbox Pit Production Bore Locations

Bore Name Location Zone: 51 Aquifer


Total Depth


Easting Northing

DWB007 304141 6880789

Gol

dfie

lds

- Com

bine

d - F

ract

ured

Roc

k W

est –

Allu

vium

- Sa

prol

ite

99

TCS02 304087 6881537 150

LWTDP1 305214 6880879 72

LWTDP3 605930 6879394 69

LWTDP4 305584 6879273 95

LWTDP5 305442 6879339 64

Madras 1 304678 6878620 487.36

Madras 3 304836 6878230 485.87 117 46-72 28-79

Madras 2 305438 6576784 478.61

Madras 4 305289 6877259 481.02 95 31-34, 38-39, 74-75 25-95

Rogan Josh 1 304445 6874120 469.50 54 11-18, 18-23 11.5-53.5

Rogan Josh 2 304581 6873570 466.94 54 31-52 15-51

Rogan Josh 3 304535 6873150 466.29 54 31-52 7-30.5

Rogan Josh 4 305464 6874180 468.76 65 30-52 24-65

Rogan Josh 5 305680 6874550 469.75

Rogan Josh 6 305462 6875160 472.88 84 35-50, 56-73 59-93

Rogan Josh 7 306272 6875900 473.74 84

Rogan Josh 8 305443 6875540 474.19 80 46-72 28-79

Rogan Josh 9 305567 6876160 475.88

Rogan Josh 10 306209 6874600 472.26

Roadside Bores

TP1 294620 6885348

Gol

dfie

lds

- Com

bine

d -

Frac

ture

d R

ock

Wes

t -

Cal

cret

e

515.78 77 21-56 21-69

TP2 294242 6885750 520.62 75 20-63 25-75

TP3 294636 6884970 517.82 83 21-61, 75-75.5 32-83

TP4 294236 6885770 520.89 73 26-56, 56-64? 35.1-71.1

TP5 294215 6885160 516.74 73 28—63 35.1-71.1

TP6 294492 6884360 523.04 73 26-69, 70-72? 35.1-71.1

TP7 294978 6884350 522.88 84 27.71 53.5-71.5



Table 7: Thunderbox Monitoring Bore Locations*

Bore Name Location Zone: 51 Aquifer


Total Depth

(m) Groundwater occurrence Northing Easting

TBX0034 304531 3880242

Gol

dfie

lds

- Com

bine

d - F

ract

ured

R

ock

Wes

t – A

lluvi

um -

Sapr

olite

TBX0035 304600 6880161

TBX0036 304645 6879975

TBX0037 304600 6879827

Madras Obs 1 304678 6878620 487.36

Rogan Josh 1 Obs 304445 6874120 469.38

Rogan Josh 2 Obs 304581 6873570 466.20

Rogan Josh 3 Obs 304535 6873150 465.29

LWTDP1 obs1 305214 6880869 66

Ossie Well 305861 6874714

Roadside

RUX1 294630 6885350 G

oldf

ield

s - C

ombi

ned

- Fra

ctur

ed R

ock

Wes

t - C

alcr

ete

515.28 70 40-63

RUX2 294642 6885350 515.22 56 38-42

RUX3 394636 6884970 520.29 63 30-49

RUX4 394562 6885140 517.14 70 21.74-63

RUX5 394637 6885030 518.17 63 22.7-61

RUX6 394245 6885760 520.32 70 25.44-63

RUX7 394226 6885700 520.25 70 21-60

RUX8 294347 6885568 517.97 70 20-65

RUX9 294628 6884963 518.00 56 20-56

RUX9A 294636 6884960 518.37

RUX10 294215 6885170 517.10 84 31-60

RUX11 294464 6884360 523.08 76 47-57

RUX12 294974 6884361 84 34-64 64-73?

RUX13 294497 6885209 53 24-40

RUX14 294222 6885209 53 27-53

RUX15 294437 6884659 56 27-56

2.3 DOUBLE A, OTTO BORE AND WATERLOO

The Double A, Otto Bore and Waterloo Groundwater areas are located in the Goldfields Groundwater area, Carey Subarea, and were previously covered by Separate licences (154472(5) and 118808(3)). Double A consist of one open pit and two bores within the oxidation transition zone at depth between 40 to 80m (Section 8, Figure 8), Otto Bore consist of two bores drilled into a gold prospect 2km to the north of Double A. The main purpose of the Licence is for water supply for the Thunderbox processing plant, however if mining recommences at Double A, dewatering to allow safe mining below the water table will be required. Dewatering water is used for dust suppression on roads and in pits, with excess dewatering water discharged sent to the Thunderbox Processing plant for use.

The Waterloo Borefield is developed on a locally extensive aquifer in regolith above ultramafic/mafic and sedimentary formations contained in a synclinal structure, which hosts the Waterloo nickel deposit. The original purpose of this borefield was to dewater and maintain safe mining conditions for the Waterloo underground. With the Waterloo Project on Care and Maintenance Saracen has drilled a water bore (LWWLP6) into the underground workings to extract stored water for use in the Thunderbox processing plant.

Water will be pumped from dewatering bores (production bores) using submersible bore pumps or from the open pit(s) or Waterloo underground and piped to the Thunderbox Mine Water Dam for use in the Processing Plant. All pipes are polyethylene, constructed and installed to Australian standards and



Plastics Industry Pipe Association of Australia Limited (PIPA) Guideline POP003. Pipelines are bunded or buried along their length. Flow meters are located within the pipelines at each pump site. Production and monitoring bores and open pits which make up the Double A, Otto Bore and Waterloo Groundwater Licence are listed in Tables 8, 9 and 10 respectively.

Table 8: Double A, Otto Bore and Waterloo Production Bore Locations

Bore Name

Location Zone: 51 Aquifer Name Elevation

(mAHD)

Total Depth (m)

Groundwater occurrence Screen

Easting Northing

Double A

LWAAP01 305970 6885840 Goldfields - Combined - Fractured Rock West - Alluvium

489.92 92.5 43-44, 51-53, 67-69 24-91.5

LWAAP02 305850 6884910 492.05 72 32-35, 56-60, 65-66.5, 71-72 30-72.0

Otto Bore

LWMEP01 305570 6889440 Goldfields - Combined - Fractured Rock West - Alluvium

77.5 47-48, 69-80 48-77.5

LWMEP02 305595 6889040 138 34-35, 84-85, 122-129 24-138

Waterloo

LWWLP1 301373 6885580

Goldfields - Combined - Fractured Rock West - Fractured Rock

521.20 64.5 39-77 34-34.5

LWWLP2 301818 6885460 521.66 91 48-52, 63-85

LWWLP3 301998 6885760 518.22 91 52-54, 65-79 36-89

LWWLP4 301409 6885430 523.18 148 50-75 36.5-139.5

LWWLP5 301691 6885790 519.63 90 79-85

LWWLP6 301508 6885039 528.8 262.3 70 nil

Table 9: Double A, Otto Bore and Waterloo Monitoring Bore Locations

Bore Name Location Zone: 51

Aquifer Name Elevation (mAHD)

Total Depth (m)

Groundwater occurrence Screen

Easting Northing

Double A

LWAAP01 Obs 1 305973 6885830 Goldfields - Combined - Fractured Rock West - Alluvium

490.2

Otto Bore

LWMEP1obs 305572 6889430 Goldfields - Combined - Fractured Rock West - Alluvium

24-84

LWMEP2obs 305583 6889040

Waterloo

LWWLP1 OBS1 301508 6885732 Goldfields - Combined - Fractured Rock West - Fractured Rock

520.01 81 48-60 24-51

LWWLP1 OBS2 301360 6885580 521.83 79 51-63 24-77

LWWE017 308203 6882394 521.76 88

LWWE019 308317 6882716 84

Table 10: Double A and Waterloo Open Pit/Underground Locations

Pit Name Location Zone: 51

Aquifer Name Total Depth

(m)

Pre-Mining groundwater

level Capacity

(m3) Easting Northing

Double A 305029 6886760 Goldfields - Combined - Fractured Rock West – Fractured rock

~60m 23m 1,000,000 Waterloo Underground Via LWWLP6 70



2.4 KAILIS

The Kailis Groundwater area was previously covered by Groundwater licence 107080 and then 110913 and is located in the Goldfields Groundwater area, Raeside Subarea, and consists of the Trump and Kailis open pits (Section 8, Figure 9). Kailis is now covered by GWL181982(1) .

The Kailis mineralisation is associated with a low angle shearing within a sequence of granite and granodiorite, which forms part of the Raeside Batholith. There are alluvial sediments overlying the weathered bedrock, including clay, sands and gravels that are in turn overlain by a hard cemented layer of silcrete, minor ferricrete and a thin layer of sandy topsoil (Rockwater, 2016). Groundwater is commonly associated with the Kailis and Trump orebodies and the transition zone between weathered and fresh rock (Golder, 2000), the transported zone near surface (upper 10-15m) also produced groundwater flows during previous mining (Golder, 2001). Pre mining ground water levels were 15m below surface in the Trump shaft and 18m in the Kailis pit area. Salinities range from 3,500mg/L to 81,000mg/L TDS indicating some stratification in groundwater with depth.

The primary purpose of the Kailis Groundwater licence is to allow dewatering of the Kailis open pit to allow safe mining. Dewatering will be via input sumps; there are two production bores located at Kailis (KADB1, and KADB3) previous dewatering bores have been destroyed by mining operations. Previous records indicate the flow from the bores was too low to allow dewatering.

Water will be pumped from sumps in the open pit using submersible bore pumps and piped to the Trump pit and then the Harbour Lights pit for storage. All pipes are polyethylene, constructed and installed to Australian standards and Plastics Industry Pipe Association of Australia Limited (PIPA) Guideline POP003. Pipelines are bunded or buried along their length. Flow meters are located within the pipelines at each pump site.

Production and monitoring bores and open pits which make up the Kailis Groundwater Licence are listed in Tables 11, 12 and 13 respectively.

Table 11: Kailis Production Bore Locations



Total Depth (m)

Groundwater occurrence (m) Screen

Easting Northing

KAD B1* 333439 6808258 Goldfields - Combined - Fractured Rock West - Alluvium

373.94 75.5 15.4-16.10m 43.5-75.5

KAD B3 333132 6808267 373.17 59 18.28-19.24m 29.5-59

*likely to be destroyed during mining operations

Table 12: Kailis Monitoring Bore Locations



Total Depth


Easting Northing

KARC209 332945 6808289 Goldfields - Combined -

Fractured Rock West - Alluvium

374.09 60 10.57-10.76m 16.7-60

KARC213 333289 6808182 14.77-15m

KARC217* 332896 6808384

*likely to be destroyed during mining operations

Table 13: Kailis Project Open Pit Locations

Pit Name Location Zone: 51

Aquifer Name Total Depth (m)

Pre-Mining groundwater level

Capacity (m3) Easting Northing

Kailis Pit 333020 6808490 Goldfields - Combined - Fractured Rock West - Alluvium

83# 10-13# 540,000#

Trump Pit 344120 6807980 10-13#

Harbour Lights Pit 336375 6804820 84# 12-15m# 6,788,000# #existing pit (pre Saracen mining)



3 IDENTIFYING AND MANAGING IMPACTS

The taking of water may have impacts or pose risks to the water resource, other water users and the local ecology. All of Saracens groundwater licences are located within the Goldfields Groundwater management area in a sparsely populated region away from towns and built up areas. The region is characterised by north-westerly trending saline lake drainage systems (Raeside and Carey: Section 8, Figure 2) within the south-east of the Eastern Murchison (MUR 1) bio-geographic subregion and adjacent to Great Victoria Desert bio-geographic region (Cowan, 2001; Desmond et al., 2002). There are no permanent surface waters or river systems in the region.

The main use of the area is for pastoral activities and mining. Pastoral wells or bores exist throughout the area and grazing of cattle is practiced on several of the Pastoral leases affected by Saracen operations.

The potential impacts from Saracens Groundwater activities include:

Impacting the aquifer;

Impacting other users (pastoral or mining); and

Impacting vegetation through change in groundwater level.

Due to the widespread nature of the North-Eastern Goldfields Operations Groundwater licences, each licence has potential to affect different impacts depending on its location. The expected impacts for each licence are described below.

3.1 BANNOCKBURN

The Bannockburn Borefield is located within the Raeside Combined Fractured Rock West – Palaeochannel (Section 8, Figure 4). The main purpose of this licence is for dewatering to allow mining below the water table, resulting in significant drawdown around the open pits and abstraction from the Bannockburn (Marshall Creek) borefield for mining and processing purposes. Saracen also uses old pit voids to source and store water which may cause a rise in groundwater level above the pre-mining groundwater table. The nearest Pastoral bores are the Bannockburn Bore Well (believed to be destroyed by mining) and North Well bore (not in use) the next closest bores are Marshall Well 3.5km southeast of Slaughter Yard, Out Camp Well 4km to west of the Bannockburn pit, Cody Well 4km northwest of Slaughter Yard, Cody Bore 6km northwest of North Well and 6km South west of Slaughter Yard. Two bores owned by Sinclair Nickel mine are located within the Bannockburn borefield.

The Sturt Meadows pastoral lease actively run cattle in the Bannockburn area, which source water from open pits (in particular, North Well) and Shire of Leonora have previously use Bore 1 for road maintenance. Water will be made available to other users as required.

The North Well open pits, formerly licenced under GWL55986, are now included on the Bannockburn licence. Water was occasionally discharged to the environment during a small period of campaign mining; the water was potable (Outback Ecology, 1997). Slaughter Yard Pit is also included under the Bannockburn licence; no previous water licence has been allocated for the Slaughter Yard Pit.

The Bannockburn project is situated in a high surface water flow area at the junction of Cody and Marshall Creeks. Drainage is via narrow, active channels. These subsequently drain to the Lake Noondie palaeo-drainage, a major tributary of the Lake Raeside System (Rockwater, 1988). Groundwater is held in alluvium aquifers ranging in thickness from about 11m to more than 70m, overlying bedrock which may hold water in fractures and vuggy quartz veins and in gravel and sand of palaeochannel which underlies Marshall Creek.

Vegetation along creek lines in the Bannockburn area is likely to be groundwater dependant; pre-mining standing water levels were between 10 and 20m below ground level making it unlikely that vegetation outside creek lines is groundwater dependant.

The potential impacts associated with the use of open pits as water storage dams are water table fluctuations and deterioration of groundwater quality in the vicinity due to storage of more saline groundwater in the pit. Saracen has a maximum water level limit of 6mbgl on all water storage pits to protect surrounding vegetation. Water quality going into the pit is also monitored to minimise the risk of deterioration of groundwater quality.

Impacts to the aquifer, including drawdown in the pit area and borefield, are expected to continue once operations recommence and for some time after closure. Impacts to the aquifer may be expected in the



Marshall Creek borefield area if the bores are over pumped. However the Marshall Creek aquifers are expected to recover fully with respect to storage and water quality and the borefields lie in deep alluvial systems associated with Marshall and Cody Creeks.

3.2 THUNDERBOX

The Thunderbox area is located high in the Raeside Groundwater Subarea away from Lake Raeside, however a palaeochannel that eventually discharges to Lake Raeside begins in the Thunderbox area. Bores are located within alluvium and fractured rock aquifers (Section 8, Figure 6 and 7). TDS ranges from 500mg/L to 3,000mg/L making it fresh and suitable for pastoral use and groundwater dependent vegetation. Pre-mining groundwater levels in the Thunderbox pit area were around 30m below surface; the Thunderbox pit now acts as a groundwater sink. In the Rogan Josh borefield area SWL are shallower between 10 and 15m below surface. The nearest pastoral bore is Ossie Well located 3.5km southeast of the Thunderbox Pit and 1.7km east of Madras 2 production bore. The next closest pastoral bores are Smiths Bore, Andersons Bore, Kent Well, Heather Well and Spider Well. None of the six pastoral bores are currently in use by the pastoralist (Weebo Station). Leonora-Leinster Road Bores 5A (4 & 5) are located 2km North Northeast of Ossie Well (Section 8, Figure 8).

Due to the high quality of water, proximity to surface in the Rogan Josh borefield and presence of major drainage (Wilsons Creek) south of the Thunderbox open pit, it is likely that vegetation in creek lines is groundwater dependant, although this is mostly expected to be shallow rainfall recharge aquifers underlying creeks rather than a deeper fractured rock aquifer. Impacts on vegetation and monitoring of groundwater levels in pastoral bores will be part of the operational monitoring schedule to ensure any impacts are managed.

The Thunderbox area also includes an existing tailings storage facility comprising three operating cells. The original two cells of the TSF were constructed in 2001 and originally operated from 2001 to 2007 by the previous owner. Pre mining ground water levels in the TSF area were 20-30m below ground level, records indicate that the operation of the TSF caused some groundwater mounding around the TSF with groundwater levels rising (maximum of 15mbgl during operation). A third cell was constructed in 2018 and became operational in 2019.

The Thunderbox mine site and associated Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) was declared as “Contaminated – Remediation Required” under section 15 of the Contaminated Sites Act 2003 on the 22 May 2014, due to windblown dusting of arsenic enriched tailings material into the surrounding environment. A risk assessment was completed in January 2014 by Norilsk and included assessment of the tailings dust for soluble arsenic and sampling of groundwater bores for arsenic contaminations. Results on the solubility of arsenic based on 32 primary “soil” (including deposited tailings dust) samples found a correlation between increased total arsenic concentration and an increase of soluble or water leachable arsenic concentrations, however in general the concentrations of soluble and water leachable arsenic are low in comparison to total arsenic (<4.5mg/kg). In addition, any arsenic that does leach into the underlying soil is likely to become immobile due to the oxidizing nature of the soil and the high iron content of soils by binding to iron hydroxide. Arsenic absorbed onto iron hydroxide is considered relatively non-bioaccessible when compared to the desorbed form.

These results were confirmed in 2016 with the completion of a Human Health and Environmental Risk Assessment under taken by Jacobs for Saracen. In August 2017 following the submission of Site Remediation and Validation Report (SRV; Saracen 2017), Thunderbox Gold Mine – Human Health and Environmental Risk Assessment (HHERA: Jacobs, 2016) and a MAR (JBS&G, 2017) DWER notified Saracen (letter dated 8 August 2017 from P Newell) of three new classification areas (Section 8, Figure 10):

Area A -Portion of Lot 50 on Plan 220395 located east of the TSF, and identified as an affected site is suitable for ongoing Pastoral land use and will be re-classified under the CS Act as Not Contaminated – Unrestricted Use (formal notification received in letter A dated 22 August 2017 from S. Jenkinson)

Area B - Reclassified as report not substantiated formal notification received in letter B dated 22 August

2017 from S. Jenkinson).

Parcel 17930 = Mining Tenement M36/542 - Part of the Thunderbox Mine Site, Leinster WA

6437; and



Parcel 17931 = Mining Tenement M36/599 - Part of the Thunderbox Mine Site, Leinster WA

6437.

Area C – TSF and Working Areas where residual arsenic dust has been identified, but has been assessed as not represent an unacceptable risk to human health, the environment or environmental values if managed appropriately, a Site Management Plan (SMP) has been prepared by Saracen Metals Pty Ltd (Saracen) and was submitted to DWER for approval in 2018.

Results from 14 groundwater bores samples during the study were compared with drinking water guideline (limit 0.01mg/L As) and livestock water guideline (limit 0.5 mg/L As), two bores reported arsenic concentration above the drinking water limit, all bores were below the livestock water limit. These two were TSFMB5 0.042mg/L in the dust affected area and AA3 0.013mg/L, neither bore is used for drinking water supply. However, when compared to background groundwater at the site, elevated arsenic concentrations have existed across the site since monitoring began and are generally related to the mineralizing systems which form gold and nickel mines in the region. The report also found that any soluble arsenic from the tailings dust entering the soil would then be required to migrate through approximately 18-22m of unsaturated clay overburden and saprolite, which would act to attract and remove arsenic particles preventing them entering the groundwater.

The report found that there was no significant risk to groundwater from the tailings contamination and that remediation action was not required to protect groundwater quality at the site.

Impacts to the aquifer, including drawdown in the pit area and mounding in the TSF area, are expected to continue during operations and for some time after closure. Impacts to the aquifer may be expected in the Madras and Rogan Josh borefield areas if the bores are over-pumped. However the Madras and Rogan Josh aquifers are expected to recover fully with respect to storage and water quality, as the borefields lie in deep alluvial systems associated with headwaters of Marshall Creek (Morgan, 2008).

The Thunderbox Licence also includes the Roadside Borefield which is located within a weathered siliceous cap rock overlying ultramafic rocks up to 700m wide and up to 75mbgl, some of the bores extend into the underlying bedrock particularly along fractures and lithological contacts (e.g. TP3). The borefield lies on the drainage divide between Carey and Raeside catchments. Pre-pumping water levels varied between 20 and 28mbgl deepening toward the south. Production commenced in November 2002 with high start-up demand due to lack of tailings return water, monitoring in the first year indicated that the high start-up rates could not be sustained long term, and there was a general lowering of the water table over the whole borefield. The recommended rates for abstraction were revised down. However by 2004 the water source had been depleted and new water sources were required.

The Shire of Leonora is the only other known user of the Roadside Aquifer, who occasionally source water from TP3 for road maintenance. The nearest pastoral bore (Fly Bore) is located 4km to the south (Figure 7, Section 8). No impacts on vegetation were observed due to over pumping and depth of pre pumping SWL make it unlikely that vegetation in the area is groundwater dependant, however due to its location on catchment boundary and recharge rates dependant on rainfall, the borefield is slow to recover.

The allocation of this licence has been reduced (previously 2,000,000KL per annum, combined with Waterloo) to 350,000kL/annum (for Roadside alone), the abstraction will need to be carefully monitored to ensure aquifer is not pumped unsustainably as monitoring shows that the borefield is yet to recover fully from previous abstraction.

3.3 DOUBLE A, OTTO BORE AND WATERLOO

The Waterloo area is combined with Double A and Otto Bore Licence all of which are located within the Carey Combined Fractured Rock West – Alluvium aquifer. The main purpose of the licence is for dewatering to allow mining below the water table, resulting in significant drawdown around the Waterloo underground and potential future open pits (Double A cutback and Otto Bore and Rainbow, depending on depth). The nearest pastoral bores are Leahman Well, Christmas Bore, Otto Bore and Andersons, Leahman Well and Otto Bore, located approximately 2km to the southeast and northeast of the Double A pit, respectively while Christmas Bore is located 5km from north northwest of the Waterloo Underground and Andersons Bore 5km South Southwest of the Waterloo Underground (Figure 8, Section 8).

Pre-mining standing water levels at Waterloo ranged between 37 and 42mbgl and largely depended on surface elevation, although the groundwater also exhibits a suppressed northwest direction in line with



surface drainage (toward Lake Carey). The salinity of water (2,400mg/L to 10,000mg/L TDS) increased as dewatering progressed and groundwater level was drawn down.

Pre-mining groundwater level at Double A was 23mbgl and the water was relatively fresh (1100µS/cm and pH 8.65), it is considered unlikely that vegetation in the area of the Double A, Otto Bore and Waterloo projects will be groundwater dependent due to the depth of groundwater table. Therefore, the abstraction poses minimal risk to the environment, in terms of water level drawdown effects on groundwater dependent ecosystems. A minimum freeboard of 6m below surface is in place for the filling of the Double A Pit with water, to protect surrounding vegetation.

Other groundwater users in the area include pastoralist prospectors and Murrin Murrin. Murrin Murrin’s borefield nearest bore is 14km north east of Double A thus is unlikely to be affected by dewatering from Double A. Saracen is in contact with the pastoralist and is committed to ensuring operation does not affect pastoral bores or ensuring supply of pastoral water is made available if Saracen operations do impact pastoral supplies.

3.4 KAILIS

The Kailis Licence (Section 8, Figure 9) is located in the Raeside Groundwater Subarea approximately just above Lake Raeside Palaeochannel. Bores and the open pit are located within Combined Fractured Rock West – Alluvium aquifer. Groundwater is commonly associated with the Kailis and Trump orebodies and the transition zone between weathered and fresh rock (Golder, 2000), the transported zone near surface (upper 10-15m) also produced groundwater flows during previous mining (Golder 2001). Pre mining ground water levels were 15m below surface in the Trump shaft and 18m in the Kailis pit area. Salinities range from 3,500mg/L to 81,000mg/L TDS indicating some stratification in groundwater with depth.

Surface water in the area occurs as sheet flow and defined channels (Kailis and Trump Creeks) upstream (northeast) of the Kailis deposit and transitions into a flood plan leading to Lake Raeside south-west of the Kailis area. One creek line that formerly ran through the Kailis Pit area has been blocked by the Goldfields Highway and the Kailis north waste rock dump.

There are no other ground water users in the immediate pit area; 4 Mile Well located immediately north of the Trump pit has either been destroyed or is no longer in use. The mine is located on Braemore pastoral lease which runs cattle and goats in the area and sources water from a number of dams and pastoral bores and creeks in the area. The Shire of Leonora and St Barbara source fresh water from Station Creek 7km north of Kailis.

Vegetation in the creek lines is likely to be groundwater dependant and water is used by pastoralists and other mining companies in the area, thus impacts of dewatering (i.e. groundwater drawdown around the underground operation) will be monitored to ensure other users are not affected and alternative supplies will be provided if monitoring shows mining operations are having a detrimental effect on pastoral water supply.



4 OPERATING RULES

The abstraction and use of groundwater in the North Eastern Goldfields Operations area is licenced by the Department of Water and Environment Regulation (DWER) under the RIWI Act. Groundwater licence conditions (Table 14) and DWER Guidelines form the basis of the operating rules. Groundwater Licence conditions have been standardised across Saracens five licences.

Table 14: Saracen Groundwater Licence conditions

Condition No. Condition

1 The licensee shall comply with the commitments of the operating strategy “North-Eastern Goldfields Operations, Combined Groundwater Operating Strategy, Version 7, 20 February 2019” as prepared by Saracen Metals Pty Ltd and approved by the Department of Water and Environment Regulation on XX Month 2019” including any modifications to the commitments as approved during the term of the licence.

2 The licensee must install an approved meter to each water draw-point through which water is taken under this licence.

3 The annual water year for water taken under this licence is defined as 1 October to 30 September twelve months later.

4 The licensee must not, in any water year, take more water than the annual water entitlement specified in this licence.

5 The licensee must take and record the reading from each meter required under this licence sat the beginning and another at the end of the water year defined on this licence.

6 The Licensee must submit to the Department of Water and Environment Regulation the volume of water taken within the water year, every 12 month(s) commencing 31/12/2016

7 Every 12 month(s) the licensee shall provide to the Department of Water and Environment Regulation a Groundwater Monitoring Summary for the preceding water year. The first report is due 31/12/2016.

8 Every 3 year(s) the licensee shall provide to the Department of Water and Environment Regulation a Groundwater Monitoring Review. The first report is due 31/12/2018. A Groundwater Monitoring Summary need not be submitted in a year in which a Groundwater Monitoring Review is due.

Table 15 summarises the licence activities, allocation and location of the water source, and activities for each of the five groundwater licences. Water sources including production bores, pits and undergrounds, and monitoring bores are summarised in Section 2. Tables 16 to 22 indicate the pump capacity for each source (production bore or pit) as well as its operating protocol within the licence (i.e. principle, secondary or back up bore) and the abstraction strategy of each source.

Due to the dynamic nature of the dewatering operations at NEGO pumps, operating protocols and abstraction strategies may change depending of LOMP. Tables 16 to 22 will be updated in the annual reports.


North Eastern Goldfields Operations COMBINED GROUNDWATER OPERATING STRATEGY – V7

Table 15: Northern Goldfields Groundwater Licences 2019

Licence Activity and Entitlement Tenements

Groundwater Sub Area

Project Area Licence No

Licence Name

Activity Max Annual Draw (kL)

Location of Water Source Location of Activity

Raeside

Bannockburn 63550(6) Bannockburn

Dewatering for mining purposes

Dust suppression for mining purposes

Mineral ore processing and other mining purposes

2,400,000

M36/682, M37/339, M37/340, M37/356 M37/357, M37/358, M37/359,M37/360, M37/361, M37/367, M37/368, M37/465, L37/61, L37/73, L37/215, L37/228, L37/229

M36/503, M36/504, M36/512, M36/542, M36/582, M36/599, M37/339, M37/340, M37/356, M37/357, M37/358, M37/359, M37/360, M37/361, M37/367, M37/368, M37/437, M37/465, M37/998 L37/166, L36/158

Thunderbox 158766(6)

Thunderbox Pit, Madras, Rogan Josh and Roadside Borefields




Mining Camp Purposes

2,000,000

M36/503, M36/504, M36/512, M36/542, M36/582, M37/437, M37/493 L36/155

M36/503, M36/504, M36/512, M36/542, M36/582, M36/599, M36/600, M37/437, M37/998, L36/158, L37/166

Kailis 181982(1) Kailis Dewatering for mining

purposes Dust suppression

1,300,000* L37/221 Harbour Lights* M37/46, M37/219, M37/564 Kailis Project

L37/221 Harbour Lights*

M37/46, M37/219, M37/564 Kailis Project

Carey Double A, Otto Bore & Waterloo

154472(5)

Double A, Otto Bore and Waterloo Nickel Operations




1,050,000

M36/35, M36/177, M36/421, M36/428, M36/473, M36/474, M36/462, M36/494, M36/541, M36/527, M36/516

M36/35, M36/177, M36/421, M36/428, M36/462, M36/473, M36/474, M36/503, M36/504, M36/512, M36/516, M36/527, M36/541, M36/542, M36/582, M36/599, M36/600

*Amendment submitted



Table 16: Bannockburn Bores

Bore Name Estimated pumping capacity

Annual abstraction

(kL/year) Operating protocols Bore abstraction strategy

BBRM1 60L/s 1,500,000 Principle bore Operated as required to provide water for Processing

BBRM2 60L/s 1,500,000 Secondary bore Operated as required to provide water for Processing (only one BBRM hole operate at time 5m apart accessing same water)

Bore 1 (ABW9P) 6L/s 150,000 Principle bore Operated as required to provide water for Processing

Bore 2 (ABW8P) 3L/s 90,000 Secondary bore Low flow not operated

Bore 3 (ABW18P) 2L/s 50,000 Secondary bore Low flow not operated

Bore 4 (BBW25P) 8L/s 230,000 Principle bore Operated as required to provide water for Processing



MCP-01 5L/s 125,000 Principle bore Operated as required to provide water for Processing

MCP-02 9.5L/s 240,000 Principle bore Operated as required to provide water for Processing








Table 17: North Well Bores


Annual abstraction


94BBNWP002 TBA* TBA* Principle bore Operated as required to dewater North Well (Frosty) pit

94BBNWP011 TBA* TBA* Principle bore Operated as required to dewater North Well (Frosty) pit *Production testing will be carried out before these bores are utilized to determine Pumping rates

Table 18: Water Sources Thunderbox Bores


Annual abstraction


Thunderbox Pit Up to 300L/s Est 1GL per annum Open pit Dewatering as required to remove water body from open pit

(2GL) and maintain dry conditions for mining. DWB007 1L/s 30,000 Principle bore Operated as required to dewater Thunderbox pit

TCS02 1.5L/s 45,000 Principle bore Operated as required to provide water for camp and other potable requirements

Madras 1 2L/s 60,000 Principle bore Operated as required to provide water for Processing Madras 2 3.5L/s 110,000 Principle bore Operated as required to provide water for Processing Madras 3 0.35L/s 10,000 Secondary bore Low flow Madras 4 0.6L/s 20,000 Secondary bore Low flow Rogan Josh 1 Unknown Unknown Airwell Low flow Rogan Josh 2 2L/s 50,000 Principle bore Operated as required to provide water for Processing Rogan Josh 3 2L/s 50,000 Principle bore Operated as required to provide water for Processing Rogan Josh 4 0.2L/s 5,000 Airwell Low flow Rogan Josh 5 0.2L/s 5,000 Airwell Low flow Rogan Josh 6 0.6L/s 20,000 Secondary bore Low flow Rogan Josh 7 1L/s 30,000 Principle bore Operated as required to provide water for Processing Rogan Josh 8 2.5L/s 75,000 Principle bore Operated as required to provide water for Processing Rogan Josh 9 Unknown Unknown Airwell Low flow Rogan Josh 10 2.5L/s 75,000 Principle bore Operated as required to provide water for Processing



Table 19: Roadside Production Bores

Bore Name Estimated pumping

capacity (L/s)

Annual abstraction


TP1 8L/s

350,000

Principle Bore Operated as required to provide water for Processing

TP2 2L/s Principle Bore Operated as required to provide water for Processing

TP3 3.5L/s Principle Bore Operated as required to provide water for Processing

TP4 unknown Low flow not pumped previously

TP5 1L/s Secondary bore Low flow

TP6 unknown Only pumped for 4 month previously

TP7 1L/s Secondary bore Low flow

Table 20: Double A and Otto Bore Production Bores and Pit

Bore Name Estimated pumping

capacity (L/s)

Annual abstraction


Double A

LWAAP01 2L/s 60,000 Principle source Operated as required, maintain water for processing and dust suppression.

LWAAP02 1L/s 30,000 Principle source Operated as required, maintain water for processing and dust suppression.

Double A Pit As required - Principle source Operated as required, maintain dewatering for mining or supply water for processing.

Otto Bore

LWMEP01 2L/s 60,000 Principle source Operated as required, maintain water for processing and dust suppression.

LWMEP02 3.5L/s 100,000 Principle source Operated as required, maintain water for processing and dust suppression.

Table 21: Waterloo Groundwater Bores and Underground Operations

Bore Name Installed pumping

capacity (L/ s)

Annual abstraction


LWWLP1 0.5L/s

TBC

Secondary source Operated as required maintain dewatering for mining.

LWWLP2 2L/s Principle source Operated as required maintain dewatering for mining.

LWWLP3 low Secondary source Operated as required maintain dewatering for mining.



LWWLP6 35L/s Principle source Operated as required to supply to Thunderbox as process plant

Waterloo Underground As required Principle source Operated as required maintain dewatering for mining. Water may be

sent to Thunderbox as process water supply.

Table 22: Kailis Groundwater Bores

Bore Name Estimated pumping capacity (Litres/ sec)

Annual abstraction (kL/year)

Operating protocols Bore abstraction strategy

Kailis

KAD B1*

KAD B3** TBA TBA TBA TBA *Bores likely to be destroyed by mining

**Production testing will be carried out before these bores are utilized to determine Pumping rates



4.1 BORES AND OTHER WATER SOURCES

Monitoring bores are primarily needed to assess changes to the water table and groundwater quality as a result of pumping from bores, dewatering for mining operations, or infilling of pit voids with excess dewatering water or tailings. The major aquifer in the pit areas (outside palaeochannel aquifers) is the aquifer located at the base of the saprolite; limited aquifers in fresh rock may be associated with ore deposits. Thus monitoring bores need to extend to below the base of the saprolite, or into the fractured rock aquifer as it extends beyond the pit. Monitoring bores should be located both up gradient and down gradient of a pit (in the direction of groundwater movement) to monitor groundwater levels and quality across a site.

Each of Saracen’s water licences has a prescribed legacy list of production and monitoring bores that have been monitored as part of previous licence compliance conditions. On the recommendation of Saracens groundwater consultant (Pennington Scott), Saracen will adopt the following operating rules to standardise the number of required monitoring bores:

Each active pit shall have a minimum of 2 out-of-pit monitoring bores within 500m of the pit,

In addition, where cumulative effects are possible as the result of multiple draw points within an area i.e. borefields, or multiple closely spaced pits where predicted drawdown cones overlap, Saracen is required to also include additional monitoring bores to monitor cumulative effects (as determined by a competent groundwater professional); and

That all active monitoring bores be named in the Operating Strategy.

Dip tubes are to be installed in all production bores prior to insertion of the pump to allow monitoring to be undertaken.

Due to the dynamic nature of mining operations, water management must also be dynamic and responsive to changes in the mining operations, the following operating rules will apply:

Before any new pit or borefield can be used or reused, a baseline water level and field water quality survey will be undertaken in all proposed production water bores, void water and monitor bores;

While mining or abstraction is active, water levels in all pit-sumps, production water bores and monitoring bores associated with the abstraction be monitored monthly; field EC and pH will be monitored quarterly; and water chemistry in all production bores and sumps will be monitored annually; and

After the cessation of mining or abstraction activity, the monitoring schedule will be continued as per the active schedule until such time as the water levels recover to within 95% of their pre-mining level, or water levels remain stable for a consecutive period of three months; whichever occurs first. The bores will then be monitored according to the Non-Active Monitoring Schedule.

Saracen has a maximum water level limit of 6mbgl on all water storage pits to protect surrounding vegetation. Water quality going into the pit is also monitored to minimise the risk of deterioration of groundwater quality. Dip tubes are to be installed in all production bores prior to insertion of the pumps to allow monitoring to be undertaken.

4.2 FLOW METERS

Flowmeters will be installed at each draw point (pits and production bores) to monitor abstraction volumes. Flowmeters will also be installed at all discharge points to monitor discharge volumes and other points of use (such as standpipes for dust suppression purposes and the inflow point for the process plant) to ensure all water use is recorded.

The installation and maintenance of the meters associated with each licence will be managed as follows:

Electronic flowmeters and telemetry systems by the Electrical Supervisor; and

Manual flowmeters by Mine Services technicians.

Flow meters will comply with the Rights in Water and Irrigation (approved Meters) Order 2009.



Leak detection and flow cut-off devices will be installed where required.

4.3 MULTIPLE SOURCES

Due to the nature of the NEGO, a water circuit diagram has been developed to represent the interaction between various sources and their uses (Section 8 for NEGO). Several areas have rules to ensure water is used efficiently.

The main source of water is from the dewatering of open pits and underground mines, rules applying to the use of dewatering in order are listed below.

Dewatering water is to be used:

1. In the Processing Plant;

2. For dust suppression (including public roads and third party haulage where required);

3. Stored in nearby pits for later reuse and groundwater recharge; and

*Third party use is not currently a viable option however will be considered if opportunities arise.

Bores for dust suppression shall only be used when there is no dewatering supply available or stored water in pit nearby.

Processing water supply at Thunderbox is made up of return water from the TSF and make up water from open pit dewatering or borefields. The operating rules that apply to the use of water for processing are:

Maximise use of return water from TSF to assist in management of the TSF and reduce process chemical costs;

Active dewatering water from pit dewatering shall be used in preference to stored water in pits; and

Borefields will only be used for process water supply where return water from TSF and dewatering water is inadequate to meet supply requirements.

4.4 SPECIFIC SITUATIONS

RO Plants

Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants at Thunderbox operate most efficiently on low salinity water with low metal and other contaminate levels. It is essential that these potable water sources are protected to ensure continuity of supply for the RO plants. The majority of groundwater at Thunderbox is suitable for use in RO plants, however water from active pits will not be used due to the potential for contamination from hydrocarbons, explosive residue and metals in the ore i.e. arsenic, lead and copper. Water from suitable ground water bores (i.e. low salinity and metal content) will be prioritised for use in the RO plants and kept separate from dewatering and process plant supplies.

Other Users

Saracen has a responsibility to ensure its dewatering operations do not affect the supply of water to other users.

Pastoralist

Weebo, Sturt Meadows and Braemore Stations all currently run cattle on Saracen’s groundwater licenced areas. Consultation with pastoralists is required before and during dewatering and production from bores to understand Pastoral use and ensure that where supply is affected, i.e. during mining of pits used as water source (e.g. North Well and Rainbow), alternate water sources are made available. Operating rules to protect pastoral water supply and operations include the following:

Saracen are to monitor pastoral bores in the drawdown zone of mining operations for impacts;

Saracen are to provide an alternate supply for stock quality water if supply is affected (i.e. North Well); and



Saracen is to ensure any dewatering infrastructure has adequate crossing points so as not to interfere with Station operations.

Consultation with pastoral operators will continue throughout operations to ensure either non-impacts or impacts to pastoral activities are managed in consultation with the pastoralist.

Shire

The Shire of Leonora use Bannockburn Bore 1 and Roadside Bore TP3 periodically for road maintenance. Saracen will continue to supply water as requested for road maintenance.

Talisman – Sinclair Nickel Mine’

The two bores owned by Talisman (Bores 7 and 8 formerly part of the Bannockburn Borefield) are located 1km west-southwest of Bore 3 and 500m south of MCP04. Modelling (Pennington Scott, 2018) indicated that these bores could be affected by drawdown from the Bannockburn borefield in the order of 6m, the bores are around 33m deep and have a static water level around 10mbgl. The bores are used for the camp water supply for the Sinclair Nickel mine (9km to north) which is currently in care and maintenance, and will also be used as a supplementary groundwater source for the operating plant in conjunction with their dewatering bores and open pit dewatering around the mine itself.

Saracen maintains a good relationship with Talisman and will ensure that the supply of water to Talismans mine is not materially impacted by Saracens operation. Saracen and Talisman have executed an agreement between the parties which will allow Saracen to operate the Bannockburn Borefield at the new proposed allocation level. In this agreement if Talisman’s bores are materially impacted Saracen will adjust its Borefield operating parameters to mitigate the risk and provide make-up water to Talisman in the interim.



5 MONITORING AND REPORTING

The purpose of groundwater monitoring across NEGO is to assess changes to water table levels and groundwater quality as a result of abstraction for mining, dust suppression or low salinity water use. Changes in the water table and or groundwater quality are a measure of the impacts of abstraction on the aquifer. Where tailings are deposited or pits are used to store groundwater, monitoring is used to assess impacts of seepage from the tailings or water source on groundwater and water levels around the pit.

The monitoring program below is designed to provide sufficient data for borefield management and reporting requirements of DWER Operational policy no. 5.12 - Hydrogeological reporting associated with a groundwater well licence. Monitoring of all monitoring points associated with all GWLs associated with the NEGO will comply with requirements of each GWL, this Operating Strategy and DWER Operational policy no. 5.12 - Hydrogeological reporting associated with a groundwater well licence.

Monitoring of all operational abstraction areas will follow the NEGO Active groundwater monitoring standard. Monitoring of all non-active abstraction areas will follow the Non-Active groundwater monitoring standard. The Active and Non-Active monitoring standards are shown in Tables 23 and 30. All groundwater monitoring completed at the NEGO will comply with these standards and the operating rules listed in Section 4. Any new GWLs granted will be added to the NEGO Monitoring Schedule and monitoring will be conducted according to this standard.

Should an abstraction area change from active to non-active, the active monitoring schedule will continued until such time as the water levels recover to within 95% of their pre-mining level, or water levels remain stable for a consecutive period of three months; whichever occurs first, then the non-active monitoring schedule will be applied. Changes in status of each borefield will be provided to the DWER in the Groundwater Monitoring Summary for that borefield.

Table 23 Operating and Non-Active Monitoring Standard Operating Status

Production & Monitoring Bores

Water Volume

Water Levels TDS/pH Full

Analysis

Active Production bores and pits Monthly Monthly January, April, July, October July

Monitoring bores - Monthly January, April, July, October -

Non-Active Production bores and pits N/a January,

July January & July July

Monitoring bores - January, July January & July -

5.1 WATER VOLUMES

Abstraction volumes for operating locations will be recorded monthly, entered into the NEGO Groundwater Database and summarised in the monthly report as a cumulative total for the reporting year and as a cross check against the annual draw.

A Water Balance for the NEGO will be generated monthly from the Groundwater Database, to monitor the usage of water and enable improvement in water management to be made in a timely manner.

5.2 WATER LEVELS

Water levels will be recorded monthly at all production and monitoring bores during operation. Water levels of all pastoral bores within predicted drawdown zones will be recorded monthly during operation.

Water levels will be recorded bi-annually at accessible monitoring bores and disused production bores when the project is inactive.

All water level data will be entered into the groundwater database by the end of each month. Water level data for operating GWLs will be assessed on a monthly basis. Water level data for non-active GWLs will be assessed on an annual basis.



5.3 WATER QUALITY

Standard sample suites have been developed for the NEG Operations. These include:

Suite 1a (Field) – Quarterly pH & EC

Suite 1b (Lab) - Quarterly pH/EC/TDS

Suite 2 – Monthly discharge analysis including pH, EC, TDS, hardness, alkalinity, major anions (Cl, SO4) and cations (Ca, Mg, Na, K), metals (Al, As, Fe, Mn, Pb), nitrogen, phosphorous and mercury.

Suite 3 – Annual full analysis including pH, EC, TDS, alkalinity, major anions (Cl, SO4) and cations (Ca, Mg, Na, K), metals (As, Fe, Pb), nitrogen, phosphorous, mercury, cyanide (Total and WAD).

Samples will be taken quarterly from operating bores and active pits or bi-annually from non-operating bores and non-active pits and Suite 1a (Field) analysis will be cross checked with Suite 1b (Lab) samples submitted to a NATA accredited laboratory to confirm the accuracy of field analysis (results presented in Annual Monitoring Report), once accuracy is established only 1 in 10 samples will be lab tested as a QAQC procedure.

A sample will be collected annually from each production bore or pit (regardless of operational status and submitted to a NATA accredited laboratory for full chemical analysis (Suite 2).

Suite 3 analysis is used when a bore or water source is collected for monitoring of a Tailings Storage facility.

Where practical, water samples will be collected in accordance with Australian Standards AS/NZS 5667.1:1998.

Water quality data will be loaded into the Groundwater Database within a week from when it is received and reviewed against previous results. If results are significantly different or indicate contamination, samples should be repeated immediately. Water quality data will be reviewed on an annual basis by a competent groundwater professional.

5.4 INSPECTIONS

All active infrastructure including pumps, pipelines and turkey nests will be inspected twice daily, by the responsible department. Each inspection will be logged along with details of any identified issues. Any required repairs or maintenance works identified either during the daily inspection, or at any other time, will be done so as soon as practicable.

5.5 RAINFALL

Rainfall data collected at the NEG Operations will be presented and discussed in annual monitoring reports. Rainfall and evaporation data collected by the Bureau of Meteorology at the Leinster and Leonora airport weather stations (Station no. 012241 and 12314) and other nearby stations (dependant on GWL location) will also be discussed where relevant.

Table 24: Bureau of Meteorology Stations in the NEGO Region Station Data Associated Licences

Leonora (012241) All All

Leinster (012314) All All (except Bannockburn)



6 CONTINGENCY PROGRAM

Contingency planning is a component of good business practice. For water use, licensing contingency planning is important so that changes in water use during operation can be dealt with efficiently, a reliable water supply is maintained to the processing plant, RO plant and for dust suppression, dewatering is maintained for mining purposes and to prevent breeches of water licence conditions or commitments. Potential areas of impact for each licence were discussed in Section 3. This section identifies contingency measures that will be enacted if required to mitigate impacts.

6.1 DEWATERING

Most of Saracens groundwater licences are aimed primarily at the dewatering of mining operations to allow safe mining below the water table. Failure to adequately dewater a mining operation causes increased costs and safety issues, as well as making conditions in the pit or underground operation unsafe and unpleasant. The main issues identified needing contingency planning associated with dewatering are:

Inadequate dewatering prior to mining;

Storage or disposal of excess dewatering water; and

Failure or destruction of production and monitoring bores.

Planning is the key to ensure adequate time and resources are allocated to allow dewatering to commence prior to mining from production bores or historic pits and undergrounds. Sufficient groundwater studies are also required to understand the volumes and location of the water requiring dewatering. Once mining commences, dewatering should be continued from production bores and sumps in pit. This dewatering needs to be managed as pumps often need to be removed during blasting, reducing the time available for pumping.

Critical to the success of dewatering is having adequate storage or disposal options available to manage excess dewatering water (which is not required in the processing plant or for dust suppression). In line with Saracens efficiency measures (Section 7), water should be used in processing plant, for dust suppression, or stored in inactive open pits for reuse. Table 25 shows the contingency options for dewatering from each mining operation.

Table 25: Dewatering Contingency Table Licence Pit / UG Storage options (in order of priority)

Thunderbox Thunderbox A Zone Thunderbox C Zone - > Double A

Thunderbox C Zone Double A

Waterloo Waterloo Underground Double A

Double A Double A Waterloo Underground

Bannockburn

Bannockburn Pit North Well Pits -> Slaughter Yard Pit

North Well Pit - Frosty Other North Well Pits -> Bannockburn -> Slaughter Yard Pit

North Well Pit - Diesel Other North Well Pits -> Bannockburn -> Slaughter Yard Pit

North Well Pit – Son of Diesel Other North Well Pits -> Bannockburn -> Slaughter Yard Pit

Slaughter Yard North Well Pits - > Bannockburn Pit

Kailis Kailis Pit Trump Pit -> Harbour Lights Pit *Not currently Licenced will be licenced if mining recommences

Triggers for dewatering are the LOMP and pit floor level / underground depth; sumps in the pit floor are maintained at 1-2 m below the lowest pit floor. The aim of dewatering is that all pit water and inflows are managed by production bores, sumps and dewatering from historic pits (in case of cutback) so that water level is maintained below the pit floor.

Failure or destruction of production or monitoring bores and flow meters has the potential to limit the ability to adequately dewater an open pit or underground and to cause breeches of licence conditions (DWER) for monitoring of the water resource. Saracen has inspection and incident report procedures in place to detect and report failure. Flowmeters can be repaired or replaced on site and procedures are in place. However, the



destruction or failure of monitoring bores requires specialised drill contractors to repair or replace the hole. Saracen does not currently have a programme to replace or repair ageing bores.

6.2 PROCESSING PLANT (THUNDERBOX ONLY)

Water for the Thunderbox Processing Plant is a critical component of ore processing and hence the viability of the operation. The Processing Plant water supply is made up of:

Return water from TSF;

Dewatering water from mining operations;

Stored water from open pits and underground (Double A, Bannockburn and Waterloo)

Water from Borefields.

The Processing Department will manage the return water from the TSF and supply of stored water from open pits (i.e. Double A, Waterloo and Bannockburn). The mining department supply dewatering water to the Thunderbox Mine Water Dam which is then used by processing and for dust suppression. Table 26 shows the priority of each source and trigger for using the next source.

Table 26: Processing Plant Water Supply Contingency Table Licence Source Priority Trigger

Thunderbox

TSF Return 1 No return due to change of discharge location

Pit Dewatering 1 Pumping>inflow or no pumping due to blasting Thunderbox 1a

Mandilla, Rainbow as developed 1b

Stored water 2

25% Double A 2c

Waterloo 2b

Bannockburn

Pit Dewatering (in line (LOMP) 3 25%

Borefield 2a* 25%

Stored water 1

25% Bannockburn Pit and UG 1a

North Well Pits 3 *Bannockburn Borefield operated in a sustainable manner in preference to stored water in Waterloo and Double A – Waterloo and Double A are kept as a contingency in case the Bannockburn pipeline is damaged or offline due to access during wet weather.

6.3 CONTINUITY OF SUPPLY FOR THE RO PLANT

Fresh water supply is critical for the operation of the camps and ablutions at offices, at Thunderbox TCS02 currently supplies raw water for camp use and ablutions at the office. Water is pumped to a storage tank at the mill where it is treated with chlorine and UV filtration before being pumped to the administration areas and village. The Reverse Osmosis plant that feeds the camp kitchen and ice machines has been re-commissioned to supply high quality water for specific purposes (i.e. steam ovens, ice machines) where the mineral load of untreated water is detrimental to the operation of the machine.

Potable water for the Kailis operation is trucked in from the town water supply in Leonora thus not dependant on Saracens Ground water licences.

Water is tested regularly in line with Health Department requirements to ensure it is suitable for human consumption. If potable water requirements increase other bores may be added to the potable water supply; these are likely to be sourced from within existing borefields, however CAW Licences over the whole project will be applied for to cover any redrilling of existing bores (due to collapse or blockage) and any water exploration required. Further Reverse Osmosis plants will be added if required.

In the unlikely event suitable potable water is not located, or the RO plant is off line for any period of time, Potable water may be sourced from the Leinster or Leonora RO plants to supplement supply.



Table 27 and show the priority of each source and trigger for using the next source.

Table 27: Thunderbox RO Water Supply Contingency Table Licence Source Priority Trigger

Thunderbox

TCS02 1 TDS >50,000mg/L

TBC 2 TBC

Leinster (RO Plant) 3 Bores insufficient or RO plant not functioning

6.4 DUST SUPPRESSION

The majority of dust suppression will be carried out around active mining areas where the dust suppression requirements are expected to be met from dewatering. The exceptions are the planned haul roads to access future mining areas (Bannockburn, Otto Bore & Rainbow). Bores may be developed along these proposed haul roads in the future (CAW and GWL licencing applications, including updating the Operating Strategy, will be made to reflect any changes).

Contingency planning for these bores includes ensuring supply and protecting the aquifer if the bore is over pumped. Supply of water from the bores may be affected by collapse or damage to the bore, failure of the bore pump, or damage to the aquifer from over-pumping.

In the event that supply is affected by over-pumping, the draw from the bore should cease immediately and alternative water sources should be used (i.e. carting water from Bannockburn or Thunderbox).

In the event of failure of the bore pump, Saracen has spare pumps (or hire options) readily available to replace the pump.

If associated infrastructure is damaged, Saracen will have the capacity to repair damage and reinstate supply.

If the bore collapses or is damaged, a new bore will require construction, this will require application for a construct and alter well licence and contract water bore driller, where alternative water sources (i.e. carting water from Thunderbox or Bannockburn) will be required in the interim. Table 28 shows the priority of each source and trigger for using the next source.

Table 28: NEGO Dust Suppression Water Supply Contingency Table Source Priority Trigger

Pit /UG Dewatering 1 Inadequate to meet dust suppression needs

Stored Water in Pits 2 Active Dewatering not occurring or >30km away

Dedicated dust suppression bore 3 Active Dewatering >30km away

6.5 MONITORING AND REPORTING

Non-compliance with water licence terms and conditions may result in a fine of up to $10,000 or loss of Groundwater licence. Non-compliance with water licence terms and conditions may result from:

Inadequate staffing to meet monitoring and reporting requirements;

Inadequate funding to meet monitoring and reporting requirements;

Staff not adequately trained in monitoring and reporting requirements;

Inadequate monitoring bores to meet operating requirements; and

Break down in flow meters and monitoring equipment.

Staffing levels at Thunderbox will be monitored regularly to ensure there are sufficient personnel to meet requirements. Training of staff for water monitoring is done either through external compentent training, or supplemented with in-house training. It is the responsibility of the Site HSEC Manager to ensure the environmental staff and contractors in their team are provided with adequate training and resources to meet the requirements of the role. The site HSEC Manager is also responsible for overseeing the budget to ensure



adequate funding is available to meet monitoring and reporting requirements and allow the purchase and maintenance of monitoring equipment as required.

7 WATER USE EFFICIENCY PLAN

The main sources of groundwater throughout Saracens operations include the dewatering of mining operations (open pits and underground) and borefields for potable and process water supply. The main users of groundwater are the Processing and Mining Departments. Processing use water in the processing of ore (Thunderbox only) and this water is discharged along with tailings to the tailings storages facilities at Thunderbox. Mining use of groundwater is mainly for dust suppression activities which occur in all active mining areas and along haul roads. Excess mine dewatering will be stored in inactive pits for reuse when dewatering needs do not meet processing requirements. Water usage is measured using flowmeters on all draw and transfer points, the flowmeters are read monthly.

A number of water efficiency measures will be implemented at the NEGO.

Pit dewatering may be utilised ahead of scheduled mining operations (i.e. Rainbow, Otto Bore, Bannockburn, North Well) to supplement borefield supply for processing, if not required, once mining is complete and dewatering ceases and the water table is allowed to recover, in filling the pit.

Pit dewatering water is used for processing water supply.

Pit dewatering water is used for dust suppression around mining operations. Dust suppression activities are carried out as required to prevent over use of water. Additives may be added to dust suppression water to enhance dust suppression and reduce water use.

Dewatering in excess of processing plant and dust suppression requirements is discharged to inactive open pits for storage until required.

Water is recovered from the tailings storage facilities and re-used in the processing plant, reducing the amount of dewatering water and chemicals required.

Saracen plan to store pit dewatering from Thunderbox (up to 1GL) in the Double A pit, to be re-used in the processing plant at a later date. Other water storage options will be explored as pits are mined and become available for water storage.

7.1 OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVING WATER EFFICIENCY

Opportunities for improving water efficiency will be incorporated into the planning and construction of borefields at NEGO, and continually reviewed during operation to improve efficiency.

The DWER provided Table B1 as a general guide on the scope of water use efficiency measures that the Department considers are appropriate for the Mining sector. The Goldfield’s region is less than 30% allocated thus in accordance with Table 2 Operational Policy No.1.02, the level of water conservation/efficiency plan required for Saracen water licences varies from basic to intermediate, for consistency an intermediate level has been adopted for all water licences covered by the efficiency plan.



Water Efficiency Measure

Requirements Saracen Response

System Design

Fittings to avoid unnecessary/continual discharge

All Saracen draw points will require pumps to initiate flow; pumps will be either manually controlled with limited diesel power or controlled via the processing plant control system (CITEC). Pipelines will have flow monitors to detect leaks and shut off flow if a leak occurs and isolation valves to control water in pipe in the event of a leak. Turkeys nest dams will be fitted with high water level indicators to prevent overtopping.

Metering of water use Flowmeters will be installed at each draw point (pits and production bores) to monitor abstraction volumes. Flow meters will be installed at all discharge points to monitor discharge volumes and other points of use (such as standpipes for dust suppression purposes and the inflow point for the process plant) to ensure all water use recorded.

Water use efficiency considered in system design

Water use efficiency is considered with regard to pipe and pump sizes appropriate for the volumes of water movement required, Saracen also prioritizes the use of dewatering from pits close to the processing plant as makeup water to reduce costs.

Water return from thickener maximized

The Thunderbox processing plant includes a tails thickener to recover water and process chemicals from the tailings prior to Ferric Sulphate dosing to precipitate Arsenic, which also destroys Cyanide.

Water return from tailings maximized

Water return from the tailings storage facilities will be maximized at Thunderbox as this assists in consolidation of tailings and stability of the facility. This also reduces the volume of make-up water required from other sources (dewatering and borefields).

Water accounting and loss of control

Leak detection and repair strategy

Pipelines will have flow meters to detect leaks and shut off flow if a leak occurs. Active pipelines are also inspected every 12 hours to monitor leaks and damage to bunding. In the event of a leak, bunding is in place to capture the leak and leak detection automatically shuts off flow and isolation valves can be used to further control the incident. The spill is cleaned up (if required) and pipeline repaired before pumping recommences.

System maintenance schedule

Active pipelines are inspected every 12 hours; any maintenance issues are reported to supervisors and fixed as required.

Self-audit of water system

Saracen does not currently have an audit system for water. This Operational Strategy is the first step in developing an internal audit system.

Total site water balance and water circuit describing water use in each use point

A total site water balance has been developed as part of the water database and updated with the H3 report. A water circuit describing water use in each draw point is included (Section 8).

Information and Education

Employee education and awareness program (at induction)

The General Induction given to all employees contains information on the spill procedure for water; all employees are required to report leaks and spills. Further education is given to employees working with or near abstraction points, pipelines, dams and discharge points.

Dust Suppression

Use of additives or alternatives to reduce water needs for dust suppression

Water used for dust suppression at Thunderbox is relatively fresh, additives will be considered to reduce dust as required.

Replacements and upgrading

New systems designed for water use efficiency All new systems are assessed for the most efficient pump and pipeline configurations.

Water efficient systems incorporated when upgrading facilities

If systems require upgrading they are reassessed for the most efficient pump and pipeline configurations.

Dewater Use of dewatering in other processes and dust suppression

Dewatering water is inadequate for processing plant supply thus borefields are required to supplement the supply, along with return water from the tailings facilities. Dewatering water is also used for dust suppression.

Reporting Report on implementation with standard water licence reports

Saracen will provide a summary of water use efficiency measures undertaken during the reporting year in all future groundwater reports.



8 ASSOCIATED MAPS



Figure 1: General Location of North-Eastern Goldfields Operations

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saracen - der.wa.gov.au · saracen . acquired the kailis tenements from st barbara in august 2015....

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