The 2015 Golden Gecko winner will be announced on 29 October
| Date: | Thursday, 27 August 2015 |
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Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Marmion has announced the eight finalists for the Department of Mines and Petroleum’s (DMP) 2015 Golden Gecko Awards for Environmental Excellence.
Projects contesting for this year’s Golden Gecko include the first use of absorption refrigeration technology on an Australian mine site, an innovative tunnelling solution to avoid the environmental impacts of crossing a shoreline, and a project that preserves and maintains ecosystem integrity at the world’s largest bulk-export port.
DMP Executive Director Environment Dr Phil Gorey said this year’s Golden Gecko entrees were of outstanding quality and showed strong commitment to environmentally responsible resources sector development.
“This eight projects contesting for this year’s Golden Gecko are all extremely different and extremely worthy of the recognition that being a finalist in this award brings,” Dr Gorey said.
“It’s extremely pleasing that nominations were received from companies of all sizes as well as a not-for-profit organisation and a State Government authority.”
The eight finalists vying for the 2015 Golden Gecko Awards are:
- Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines
- Pilbara Mesquite Management Committee Inc
- Fortescue Metals Group, Ziltek Pty Ltd and PT Environmental Services
- Premier Coal Limited and Golder Associates
- St Barbara Limited
- Rio Tinto Iron Ore Utilities Division
- Pilbara Ports Authority
- Chevron Australia
The Golden Gecko Awards are assessed and judged by a panel of industry experts chaired by DMP Director General Richard Sellers.
Entrees are judged against the selection criteria, not against other entrees, meaning multiple Golden Gecko Awards can be received in one year and small companies are not disadvantaged.
The Golden Gecko award ceremony and seminar will again be a ticketed event open to anyone in the resources industry.
“Like last year, the Golden Gecko event will be staged in two parts, allowing the finalists to give short presentations on their projects to allow attendees and other nominees a deeper understanding of the project,” Dr Gorey said.
“The seminar event was very well received by last year’s nominees who appreciated the opportunity to share their innovative projects with their industry colleagues.”
The 24th annual Golden Gecko recipients will be announced on Thursday 29 October by Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Marmion at a cocktail awards ceremony at Fraser Suites, East Perth.
To purchase ticket to the Golden Gecko Award presentation event or for more information about the awards please visit the Golden Gecko website.
The eight finalists for the 2015 Golden Gecko Awards for Environmental Excellence are:
Chevron Australia
Project Name: Wheatstone Micro-tunnel Project
Chevron’s Wheatstone natural gas development is located adjacent to the Ashburton River Delta, which supports important mangrove and estuarine habitats.
Gas from offshore fields will be gathered using subsea wells and manifolds and transported via flowlines to the offshore Wheatstone Platform and then transported to the onshore processing facilities via the newly-installed 225 km trunkline (pipeline).
To protect the coastal area, the pipeline is linked to the processing plant via a micro-tunnel.
The micro-tunnel is the critical link, creating a shore crossing that starts behind the coastal dune system, extends seaward and terminates under the ocean floor.
It provides an innovative solution to crossing the shoreline by tunnelling under the coastal environment and reducing impacts to the onshore area.
Fortescue Metals Group Limited / Ziltek Pty Ltd / PT Environmental Services
Project Name: Better Environmental Outcomes from Hydrocarbon Spills using RemScanTM
Fortescue’s Chichester and Solomon Hubs in Western Australia’s Pilbara region are utilising an innovative Australian technology to improve the day to day management of hydrocarbon contaminated soil from spills.
This technology, developed by Ziltek and marketed as RemScan™, allows for the real-time in-field analysis of hydrocarbon contaminated soils, which reduces the need for costly and time-consuming laboratory analysis.
This leads to more effective on-site management and treatment of the soils as a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to off-site disposal.
Ultimately, the RemScanTM technology ensures that all hydrocarbon contaminated material is actually collected for remediation, removing the risk of further contamination to any potential environmental receptors.
Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines
Project Name: Gidji Emissions Reduction Project
Golden Mile sulphide ore has been roasted since 1898.
Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM) has been investigating and trialling concentrate treatment alternatives since the 1990s.
In 2015, KCGM installed a large ultra-fine grinding mill at Gidji to replace roasting, eliminating 100 per cent of atmospheric stack emissions.
This demonstrates continuous process improvement which has eliminated a major source of atmospheric stack emissions.
Pilbara Mesquite Management Committee Inc
Project Name: Battling the Thorny Menaces through Corporate Alliances
The Pilbara Mesquite Management Committee (PMMC) is spearheading the development of resource company alliances to invest in strategic and comprehensive weed management programs across the Pilbara.
These alliances are removing vast areas of Mesquite and Parkinsonia from the landscape, improving and restoring the natural environment.
Through partnerships with the PMMC, resource projects are able to participate in, and benefit from, a community approach to weed management.
Biannual meetings and local access to a PMMC Project Manager ensures opportunities exist to share knowledge and innovate, and to achieve maximum results for the Pilbara environment and landscape.
Pilbara Ports Authority
Project Name: Mangrove Rehabilitation Program
Balancing the needs of the North West’s vast mining industry with the protection of sensitive local ecosystems is a challenge at Port Hedland - the world’s largest bulk export port.
Pilbara Ports Authority’s unique Mangrove Rehabilitation Program incorporates a mangrove nursery, rehabilitation trials and research, and community engagement, and demonstrates an innovative approach to successfully preserving and maintaining ecosystem integrity.
Premier Coal Limited / Golder Associates
Project Name: Lake Kepwari Trial Flow-through
The former Western Area WO5B coal mining pit-lake in Western Australia’s South West has been the subject of an innovative trial to investigate and validate the benefits of flow-through systems by allowing degraded local river waters to mix with the acidic waters in a former mine void.
Premier Coal has spearheaded the Lake Kepwari project and spent the last four years working in partnership with environmental consultants Golder Associates and closely with key stakeholders to demonstrate flow-through can improve environmental conditions in the lake itself without affecting Collie River values.
Rio Tinto Iron Ore (RTIO) Utilities Division
Project Name: West Angelas Fuel Hub
Recently operational West Angelas Fuel Hub is the new benchmark for fuel facilities across the industry. It exceeds statutory and regulatory environmental requirements with state of the art installation including an industry-leading rail tank car unload facility, a site-wide fully integrated oily water treatment system, bulk storage tanks, leak and overfill protection, secondary containment and bunding, dewatering quick flush tanks and ground level product sampling cabinets.
St Barbara Limited
Project Name: Gwalia Operations Absorption Chiller Upgrade
St Barbara’s Gwalia underground mine is located close to the town of Leonora in the Goldfields region of Western Australia.
As the underground mine’s depth increased, an increase in the capacity of the mine cooling system was required to maintain safe working conditions.
The underground mine air cooling system had been the largest energy consumer at the Gwalia mine site.
To increase cooling capacity without increasing energy consumption, St Barabara applied absorption refrigeration technology for the first time in the Australian mining industry.
The new cooling system uses waste heat energy from the power plant and converts it to cool air for the underground mine.
The mine has more than doubled its cooling capacity while reducing power demand, resulting in a significant reduction in carbon emissions.
Eight finalists compete for this year’s Golden Gecko Award
