Independence Group Sustainability Report 2019

with the affected host community in Kambalda. We are also proud of the environmental clean-up and remedial works completed prior to the sale of the Long Operation to Mincor Resources NL in May 2019. At the end of FY19, the estimated total cost of rehabilitating and restoring the environmental disturbance that has occurred as a result of our operations amounted to $62.44M. ESTIMATED COST OF CLOSURE Nova Operation $37,832,616 Tropicana Operation 1 $24,608,361 Total 2 $62,440,977 1. This figure represents IGO’s 30 per cent share in the Tropicana Operation. 2. The total cost of closure includes the present value of the estimated cost of rehabilitating and restoring the environmental disturbance that has occurred as a result of our operations. Mine rehabilitation fund IGO, like many other mining companies, pays a levy to the Western Australian Government’s Mining Rehabilitation Fund for the purpose of funding the closure of abandoned mine sites; that is sites where liability rests with the government because of business failure or other historic reasons. In FY19, IGO’s levy payments totalled $0.12M. GOOD CLOSURE PLANNING AT THE DIVESTED LONG OPERATION In June 2018, IGO ceased mining at the Long Operation, in the Kambalda region, after 16 years of production and placed the mine into care and maintenance. IGO had acquired the Long Operation from BHP Billiton Nickel West Pty Ltd (formerly WMC Resources Ltd) in September 2002. The mine was re- commissioned in October 2002 and operated safely and successfully. In May 2019, the Long Operation was divested to Mincor Resources NL. IGO was acutely aware of the impact of the transition into care and maintenance, and the subsequent impact that redundancies would have on individuals, their families and the community. To minimise this, one of the key elements of the transition was to provide support to those leaving the business or changing roles within IGO. Dedicated resources were provided to the site from early in the planning phase to assist employees with managing the change and navigate the redundancy process. The final employee transition and change management plan was the result of a collaborative process. It considered the views of the Long Operation’s leadership team and the employees themselves and resulted in the identification of the types of assistance that they required to find new employment. Other care and maintenance activities carried out during the financial year and before divestment were focused on ensuring public safety at the Long Operation, minimising environmental impacts and closure liability, meeting regulatory obligations and preserving existing infrastructure for future use. To identify the necessary environmental management activities during care and maintenance, and to continue to refine the closure plan, a site environmental audit and risk assessment was completed. As a result, progressive rehabilitation and clean up works were carried out during the financial year. Rehabilitation work was completed on 14 of the 20 Long Operation closure domains identified in IGO’s mine closure plan, to mitigate environmental and safety risks. A total of 13.26ha was rehabilitated, including parts of the two historic tailings storage facilities, upper and lower run-of-mine (ROM) pads, underground dewatering storage dam and some sections of the paste plant. Works included the removal of remaining residual ore from the ROM pads with the surfaces rehabilitated to ensure the capture of all sulphide bearing fines and adverse materials; slopes of the ROM pads were battered down and re-profiled; and all steel, plastic or other waste was collected, recycled or disposed by licenced contractors. Following the transition into care and maintenance, IGO reviewed the closure data, which identified some knowledge gaps as well as opportunities for further studies. As a result, vegetation surveys were carried out to identify suitable reference sites, enabling the establishment of completion criteria for closure planning. During this work, ten sites were selected to represent vegetation adjacent to areas proposed to be rehabilitated, to understand what rehabilitation success may look like. This data assisted in closing the knowledge gap in refining metrics for vegetation establishment and performance indicators for Long’s closure completion criteria. The care and maintenance activities completed during FY19 have been successful in decreasing the overall mine closure liability of the Long Operation and mitigating the main environmental and safety risks on site. IGO is proud of the environmental clean-up and remedial works completed prior to the sale of the Long Operation to Mincor Resources NL. We are also proud of both the way we assisted those employees who lost their jobs as a consequence of the mine closure and our consultation with the affected community in Kambalda. Before After IGO SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2019 — 47