PCE commends improved environmental performance

21 October 2009

PCE commends improved environmental performance at Stockton Mine

Energy producer, Solid Energy, welcomes today’s report by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE) which commends the company for its improved environmental performance and “world leading” environmental management system at Stockton Mine.

Solid Energy Chief Executive Officer, Dr Don Elder, says the PCE’s report, following the last report in 2006, is a huge endorsement of the commitment and work of a large number of people to bring about a demonstrable improvement in the company’s environmental management over the last five years.

“In 2004 we acknowledged to our shareholder and our stakeholders that in the past some of our mining activities, particularly on the West Coast, have fallen well short of environmental best practice. We promised to change the way that we did things to minimise our impacts on the environment. Everyone who works for us and with us can be very proud with the PCE’s recognition that we are delivering on our promises.

“Our environmental team and people working at Stockton have delivered on a huge undertaking to move the site to environmental best practice and have themselves developed innovative techniques and solutions to address some of the site’s environmental issues.

“I also must acknowledge and thank the local community (the mine’s neighbours), local councils, iwi and the Department of Conservation who have worked with us since we set up the Stockton Environmental Consultative Group in 2004. The group agreed meaningful targets for improving the quality of water running off the Stockton Plateau and into the Ngakawau River and they have stayed with us patiently throughout the last five years as we developed and implemented substantial improvements in the way we carried out mining and managed some of the long-standing environmental challenges at the mine.

“In June, we completed the first stage of a major programme to achieve ongoing improvements in water quality off the Stockton Plateau, at a cost of $45 million, with the completion of the Mangatini Sump, a large reservoir used to treat mine water. At year end, the water quality targets for dissolved aluminium and pH in the lower Ngakawau River were being met more than 95% of the time and this should increase to more than 99% by late 2009. And, for the record, our investment in the water treatment system would have proceeded regardless of the planned Cypress extension of the mine.

Solid Energy notes the PCE’s recognition that significant improvements in the environmental management and performance of Stockton have been made voluntarily and through interagency cooperation. The company also notes the PCE’s wider recommendations about the regulatory regime around mining.

Dr Elder says, “We take the sustainability and environmental performance of the mining industry very seriously as it is a major contributor to the economy and a significant employer. While we have not had the opportunity to consider these additional industry-wide recommendations in any detail, we are always happy to work with industry stakeholders to ensure that issues of common interest are addressed.”

ENDS

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