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Environment

We recognise that managing our impacts on the environment is a crucial part of our business now and into the future. The location of the Bendigo mine provides us with a challenge to prove that we can develop in a sustainable manner and that we can demonstrate multiple land use in action.

We share an understanding of sustainable development that is now widely accepted by governments and communities, that is development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Our Common Future, Brundtland 1987).

For a mining company, this means that the project should be financially profitable, technically appropriate, environmentally sound and socially responsible.

Further commitments to best practice include:

  • A Company Environmental Policy is in place
  • Produce an annual Community and Environment Report, since 1998
  • Signatory to the Australian Minerals Industry Framework for Sustainable Development: Enduring Value
  • Hold a Greenhouse Challenge Cooperative Agreement – defining our commitment and targets for greenhouse management
  • Actively participation in the annual National Pollutant Inventory
  • Developed an integrated Environmental Management System aligned to ISO 14001
  • Initiated the Bendigo Mining Environmental Trust Fund to support community environmental projects that is overseen by a Board of “trustees” comprising independent members of the local community.

To assess our environmental performance we obtain advice and validation from our Environmental Review Committee, peer reviewers (nationally recognised experts) and an annual independent environmental audit (review of all monitoring data and protocols and compliance with environmental guidelines and legislation).

In 1999 Bendigo Mining was judged the winner in the 1999 - 2000 Rural Pride Keep Australia Beautiful competition in the Commercial/Industrial Site category.