PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diversified miner Glencore on Tuesday reported that an Independent Monitor (IM) report at its McArthur River zinc mine, in the Northern Territory, has found that the mine continued to avoid or minimise potential environmental risks through proactive management and monitoring across a wide range of site activities.
The primary objective of IM’s annual environmental performance audit report is to ascertain whether Glencore, through its subsidiary McArthur River Mining, was fulfilling and managing compliance related to environmental obligations.
The IM found that the mine demonstrated a "high level" of environmental performance, with no significant environmental issues requiring urgent investigation during the audit period, which ran from the beginning of May 2020, until the end of April 2021.
A 2021 report by the University of New South Wales (UNSW) had previously warned that up to 22 sacred Indigenous sites and an important river system in the Northern Territory face irreversible cultural and ecological damage if operations at the McArthur River zinc mine continue unabated.
The UNSW report followed the Northern Territory government in 2020 approving Glencore’s amended mining management plan for its zinc mine that allowed mining activities to continue.