Exploration is something I have facilitated for over a decade. I’ve collected all the stories like that geologist that was scared of cows and locked them all out from their watering paddock. Or that one time where an exploration hole with good results wasn’t within the lease. Or where the water brought in was contaminated with blue green algae, not great for the drill crew drilling on mud at the time or for the meterage with everyone off the rig sick. 

What I’m trying to say is things happen, we all know they do. But and it’s a big but there are plenty of things you can do before during and after your exploration program to manage or avoid these situations. 

Planning

How can you prevent the compliance issues in the first place?

An obvious one but in the excitement of planning of the logistics, safety and the geological interpretation the remaining various legal obligations can be easily overlooked. Here’s a link to our free Qld Exploration Checklist which gives a good overview of the general exploration planning requirements.

At a minimum you’ll need to ensure that you are aware of your obligations under all of the relevant legislation. For example, in Queensland you would need to consider the following legislation:

  • Mineral Resources Act & Regulation
  • Native Title Act & Regulation
  • Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act & Regulation
  • Environmental Protection Act & Regulation
  • Regional Planning Interests Act & Regulation; 
  • Any relevant local planning instruments.

Once you have a planning process in place it makes it far easier to gear up and get into your exploration program. Something as simple as the checklist we have provided can really assist with covering all of your bases.

checklist, what checklist? click here.

It’s important to note that this is a general one, but it gives you the basis to build form specific to your project and your requirements.

Performance

How do you ensure that you are operating within your obligations? How can you get your project geologist to take responsibility?

A systematic approach really assists here. Depending on the size of your exploration portfolio this might range from a simple document that steps out the process and requirements for site through to an Environmental Management System which captures your activities and actions across your portfolio.

The trick here is to make sure it‘s concise and tailored to your company’s specific requirements. Detailing the components of an EMS is a post for another time, however, it is a fantastic way to facilitate a risk-based approach to adaptively managing your exploration campaigns.

Plan B

If it all goes south do you have a policy in place to protect your people? What should you or your contractors & staff do?

This is particularly important to assist your organisation with responding efficiently and appropriately for the incident. Aside from the obvious of preventing further environmental or cultural harm this is incredibly important for maintaining your corporate reputation and social license to operate. Damage done to a relationship with your landholder or local community at this point can cause significant issues for your operations and personnel for many years to come.

Things you can do to assist are:

  • Provide training and guidance on what types of incidents there can be i.e. land access, cultural heritage and environmental
  • Establish a clear guideline for incident response that includes all of your obligations;
  • Provide training to your personnel with regards to stakeholder engagement.

There you have it, the three Ps of exploration excellence which can allow you to focus upon finding the next big deposit.

Just in case you missed it. Here’s a link to our free Qld Exploration Checklist which gives a good overview of the general exploration planning requirements.

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Ngaire Tranter – Environment Director & CEO

Ngaire’s passion for environmental management was accidentally discovered when she was informed that she “talked too much to ever be a traditional scientist”. Since those early days in university Ngaire has used her talents in scientific communications to conduct environmental impact assessments and provide environmental and social governance support for organisations.

In her spare time Ngaire is also developing a world first artificial intelligence program aimed at delivering complex environmental compliance advice in real-time. She also loves spending time with her family and her French Bulldog Gizmo and going boating on the bay.

Find out more about Ngaire.