Awards recognise excellence and innovation in resources sector

Renewable energy powering mining projects and partnerships that reinvent community engagement were rewarded with top honours at the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety’s Resources Sector Awards for Excellence ceremony.

Projects demonstrating innovation and sustainability took out the top awards for 2019, with a company from the petroleum industry winning the Community Partnership Award for the first time, while a remote mine site has demonstrated world leading use of solar power to reduce carbon emissions from mining activities.

DMIRS Director General David Smith said the Western Australian Community is the real winner from these projects.

“These awards bring to the forefront the world-class work being done in the resources sector and in the communities where resources companies are working,” Mr Smith said.

“Western Australians expect the State’s resources companies to be responsible. This includes companies being aware of their duties in environmental stewardship and understanding the importance of working closely with the local community.

“As a member of the judging panel for the Community Partnership Award, I can tell you we were impressed with the high standard of projects being undertaken and the positive outcomes being achieved. These are the stories we don’t hear often enough and we are keen to hear more.”

Mr Smith announced there will be a new category added to the 2020 Community Partnership Resources Sector Awards, which will recognise smaller operators in the industry. More information will be available when nominations open in February next year.

The Award Winners

The innovative Woombooriny Amboon Angarriiya Partnership Initiative (WAAPI) won the Community Partnership Resources Sector Award for its unique Aboriginal-led, place-based, co-designed approach to improving the early childhood outcomes of Aboriginal children living on the Dampier Peninsula in the Kimberley.

Led by the Save the Children Foundation and Woodside Energy, WAAPI brings community members together to focus on system change and developing community capacity. This initiative has shown it is a truly progressive model, which is now being considered for other communities across the State.

Sandfire Resources NL received the Golden Gecko Award for Environmental Excellence for its DeGrussa Solar Project in the Mid West.

Generating approximately 17 to 20 per cent of the total power requirement of the DeGrussa Copper-Gold Mine, 34,080 solar photo-voltaic panels have reduced Sandfire’s carbon emissions by 30,789 tonnes since 2016. The DeGrussa Solar Project has provided a blueprint for the adoption of renewable energy at other mine sites around the world. The Project has been visited by mining companies, government representatives, universities and schools, and has been showcased around the world to educate the global mining industry about how to transition to renewable energy.

2019 Resources Sector Awards for Excellence - full list of winners

Community Partnership Resources Sector Award

Winner

• Woombooriny Amboon Angarriiya Partnership Initiative (WAAPI)*
  Save the Children and Woodside Energy
  *The name means ‘All People Moving Forwards Together’ in the local Bardi and Nyul Nyul languages.

Certificate of Merit

• The Shooting Stars Program
  Glass Jar Australia and Sandfire Resources NL

Enduring Partnership Award

• The Alcoa Harvey Waroona Sustainability Fund
  Shires of Harvey and Waroona and Alcoa of Australia

Golden Gecko Award for Environmental Excellence

Winner

• The DeGrussa Solar Project
  Sandfire Resources NL

More information about the 2019 Resources Sector Awards for Excellence projects can be found in the commemorative booklet.