INDEPENDENCE GROUP NL SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2017

cattle within the surrounding pastoral leases. The most significant historic feature is the abandoned Teutonic Bore open pit mine (refer to the Environmental Impacts section of this report page 72). BACKGROUND The Jaguar Operation was acquired by IGO in 2011 as part of its takeover of Jabiru Metals Ltd. The operation consisted of two underground deposits, Jaguar and Bentley. Operations at the Jaguar underground mine ended at the start of FY14 and, as a result, all FY17 mill production ore was, and continues to be, sourced from the Bentley underground mine. Additional potential ore sources have been identified below the existing Bentley deposit, as well as the new deposit known as Triumph. The Jaguar Operation employs predominantly long-hole stope mining methods, with ore brought to the surface for crushing and further processing. The processing plant has been designed to recover copper and zinc by milling, flotation, thickening, and concentrate filtration. Copper and zinc concentrates are transferred into sealed containers and transported from site to the Geraldton Port for export. The mining process at the Jaguar Operation results in the creation of underground voids. Voids must be backfilled where surrounding rock is to be mined to prevent the collapse of the new mining areas. This is achieved by backfilling voids with waste rock and cement aggregate fill. CONSUMABLES The main consumables used at Jaguar in FY17 were natural gas, diesel, grinding media (steel balls) and explosives. The Jaguar power station, fuelled by compressed natural gas (CNG), produces the majority of Jaguar’s power demand. However, some areas (e.g. the Jaguar accommodation village) are powered by local diesel- fuelled generators where power lines have not been installed. Groundwater is recovered from the Bentley underground mine, pumped to surface settling dams before reaching the Jaguar process water dam. This water is used in the processing plant, and reused underground, and for exploration activities. Any surplus water is discharged into the historic Teutonic Bore open pit mine. Water is also recovered from the tailings dam and reused in the processing plant as required. WASTE The key waste streams from the mine are waste rock and tailings. Waste rock is extracted from underground and placed in above ground waste rock dumps. Some of this material is classified as potentially acid-forming (PAF). Waste rock brought to the surface, both non acid-forming and PAF, is blended and placed in waste rock dumps. As the majority of waste rock is non acid-forming, it creates a neutralising environment for any PAF waste. The blended PAF rock is then progressively encapsulated within non-PAF material and rehabilitated. Annual photo-monitoring records vegetation health surrounding the waste rock dumps to detect the presence or absence of acid mine drainage. The Jaguar Operation, as a result of the mining method used, also requires waste rock to backfill open stopes as it undertakes the bottom up mining method. As a result of this, a significant portion of the waste currently mined is left underground due to the loose rock backfill requirement. Tailings are generated by the metal recovery process and are pumped to the tailings storage facility for disposal. The tailings are radially deposited within the facility to allow them to settle, forming a ‘beach’ that drains to a central pond. Tailings are cyclically deposited and the beaches dry evaporatively, which enables the dried tailings to be progressively stacked higher. During FY17 the Jaguar Operation extended the height of the existing containment structure to accommodate additional tailings. A small volume of both putrescible and inert waste is disposed of in the on-site landfill. CASE STUDY / SAFETY PERMIT TO WORK ‘Permit to Work’ systems are an industry standard approach to managing workplace hazards. In essence, a permit to work is a written approval to complete a task subject to various precautions being taken. At our Jaguar Operation, we successfully implemented a new Permit to Work system for the whole of the Jaguar Operation to improve both the safety and efficiency of potentially hazardous task completion. Development of the system commenced in mid-2016 and involved the preparation of procedures, training packages and an overarching Permit to Work linked to twelve sub-permits. Designed for the whole of the Jaguar Operation, the system covers all activities including maintenance, processing, underground mining and the camp, with sub-permits including Level 2 Isolation, Hot Work, Confined Space Entry, Excavation, Work at Heights, Lifting, Gridmesh/Barrier Removal, Land Clearing, High Voltage Vicinity and High Voltage Access. A training program was rolled out before the system went live across the site in October 2016, which was put to the test during one of our biggest maintenance shutdowns at Jaguar. Feedback was sought from employees and contractors to ensure the system was practical and effective, with comments indicating the system exceeded performance expectations, particularly under pressure. Through the dedication of over 600 man-hours, the centralised Permit to Work system was fully implemented in January 2017, resulting in noteworthy improvements to safety performance at Jaguar. Site personnel are now trained to stop and assess hazards and prompted to carry out risk assessments before undertaking tasks, enabling safety risk to be reduced as low as reasonably practicable. Processing of permits occurs at a purpose- built permit hut, emphasising the importance of the Permit to Work system and the value of safety embedded across our operations. IGO SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2017— 37