Independence Group Sustainability Report 2019

In FY19, the Nova Operation generated 440,612t of waste rock, of which the majority was placed on the recently approved waste rock dump, adjacent to the underground portal. The remainder was placed around the tailings dam consistent with the final closure design. The Nova Operation continues to optimise waste generation and placement in its underground mine. Potentially acid forming waste rock is preferentially used underground as backfill and non-acid forming material is strategically placed at the storage facility to ensure it is available for rehabilitation purposes. Waste management at the Tropicana Operation At the Tropicana Operation, waste rock and tailings are the main waste streams generated. In addition to the gold bearing ore, waste rock is extracted from the various pits during the mining process. Some of this material is classified as potentially acid- forming due to its high sulphur content which, if left unmanaged and exposed to the elements, could potentially generate acid and / or metalliferous drainage (AMD). A waste rock management strategy is employed to mitigate possible downstream impacts to biota and groundwater. The encapsulation of potentially acid-forming waste with benign material is the principal method to prevent AMD generation. During FY19, the Tropicana Operation produced 75.87Mt of waste rock. Tailings produced from the processing plant are pumped into the purpose- built TSF. The main environmental consideration in managing water in the TSF is to minimise the presence of weak acid dissociable (WAD) cyanide in the tailings liquor. WAD cyanide is toxic to fauna. Given water bodies are very attractive to avifauna in arid environments, the presence of WAD cyanide in the water contained in a tailings dam presents both a lure and a threat to the bird life. As a consequence, careful management is required. Within this context, it should be noted that there have been no material numbers of fauna fatalities at the Tropicana TSF. The Tropicana Operation has a single-cell TSF where all tailings from the processing plant are deposited. In FY19, the Tropicana Operation deposited 8.23Mt of dry tailings into its storage facility. Environmental compliance and standards Key to maintaining our licence to operate is compliance with all relevant regulations and conditions on our exploration and mining tenure. Australian jurisdictions have strict conditions for the prevention or mitigation of environmental harm. These conditions operate concurrently with the terms of any relevant environmental approvals issued under relevant Australian, State or Territory government environmental legislation. We maintain and update a Group-level obligations register which is used to systematically capture the environmental conditions associated with both our tenements, obligations arising from environmental approvals and other public commitments. During FY19 we completed an internal audit to assess compliance against the environmental obligations stipulated under various statutory approvals and IGO’s own policy and systems for the Nova Operation. The key findings were positive and highlighted areas for minor improvement in relation to the operation of the site’s landfill. While some conditions and commitments could not be audited by Talis Consultants during the available time, in the auditor’s view the Nova site demonstrated a high level of compliance with statutory requirements relating to environmental management. In addition, IGO has developed its own internal requirements. These are based on our standards and go over and above statutory obligations. This set of Group environmental standards were developed during FY18 to guide responsible environmental management across the business and define a performance expectation that exceeds simple compliance with our statutory obligations. These publicly available standards cover rehabilitation and mine closure, social and environmental impact assessment, mineral waste management, water management, land use and biodiversity management, air emissions management, and general waste management. Each standard has been developed to meet industry best practice and are based on relevant Australian and internationally-accepted standards, including the Leading Practice Sustainable Development Program for the Mining Industry (Australian Department of Industry, Innovation and Science), and publications produced by the Minerals Council of Australia, and the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM). The standards were benchmarked against our peers and incorporated feedback from both our workforce and our host communities. During FY19, we continued to implement the environmental standards released during FY18, using our environmental risk register to determine priorities. The implementation program will target both our workforce and our host communities and provide insight into the standards to ensure they are reflected in our operational management plans and our actions on site and in the communities. Ongoing impact monitoring As a matter of normal practice, we complete ongoing impact monitoring at our operational mines, assets under care and maintenance, and at closed mines for a designated period prescribed in the mine closure plan. At a minimum, our monitoring continues until we have a firm understanding of: • the total area of land disturbed or otherwise impacted by our activities; • changes to ecosystem function, and the composition of flora and fauna present within the area potentially impacted by our activities; • changes to the socio-economic circumstances of our host communities; and • the adequacy of our impact controls or mitigation activities. In the event of any adverse changes, we take reasonable steps to engage relevant experts to advise how best to minimise, mitigate or offset impacts, and complete corrective actions. Our environmental and conservation management plans are kept current and updated when government legislation requirements change, or when new information becomes available. IGO SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2019 — 45