Rehab Recap: Batchfire’s Callide Mine reaches rehabilitation milestone
Batchfire is proud to have completed 225 hectares of final stage rehabilitation using cutting-edge techniques, as we continue our push to offer sustainable post mining land uses (PMLUs) for future generations.
Batchfire Resources is the land manager of more than 17,000 hectares across Queensland’s Callide Basin, with various areas actively used for mining since 1944.
Our Progressive Rehabilitation and Closure Plan (application) offers productive future outcomes including bushland, sustainable grazing, soil reconditioning for carbon sequestration, protected areas of native forestry, and shaping of rehabilitated land for potential renewable energy projects.
In the past the Callide Mine has successfully returned mined areas to bushland featuring native trees and pastoral grasses, some which has matured for over 20 years, and our ongoing rehabilitation aims to ensure self-sustaining, stable landforms with rich vegetation, support for local habitat, and reduced erosion through proper drainage.
Further monitoring is underway to prepare for certification.
“We take great pride in the quality of rehabilitation at Callide Mine, an area which has now been utilised as an active coal mine for 80 years,” said Batchfire Resources General Manager ESG and Development, Stuart Schmidt.
“It’s a complex undertaking, using a mix of sustainable land management practices in consultation with stakeholders and leading environmental experts, but we are constantly refining the process to achieve impressive results.”
We are now excited to share that we have rehabilitated in the last 3 years (to the planted stage) just over 225 hectares, on track to meet – and likely exceed – our target of 345 hectares by 2025 at the Callide Mine.
Rehabilitation of mined land isn’t as simple as pushing some topsoil and spreading some seed, with carefully planned works required including drain construction, rock mulching, topsoil spreading and treatment, ripping, and seeding for bushland growth.
Much of the earthmoving techniques used are proprietary too, having found our own ways of doing things ‘better,’ including the design of our very own custom-fabricated seed box implement.
The innovative methods have allowed us to reduce time and cost, while also improving quality, across the various rehabilitation efforts at Callide Mine. Some of the improvements include:
- two Cat 637G scrapers which can prepare 2,016 m2 of surface profile every nine hours;
- the scraper method which can lay one hectare of 200 mm topsoil per day;
- targeting 80 hectares of first stage rehabilitation in approximately 40 days,
- two 40 tonne excavators place and trim rock in drains and chutes covering 1,260m3 every nine hours.
“Much of the innovation has been centered around productivity and quality, but there have also been cost and emissions reductions through the careful coordination of earthworks,” said Stuart.
Batchfire also works closely with specialist seed suppliers and environmental experts to ensure the correct mix of native grasses, shrubs and trees that naturally occur and thrive within the Callide Valley.
“We use a primarily native plant seed mix, and rehabilitation areas are monitored annually through vegetation surveys, stem counts and assessing the biodiversity of the seeds that are germinating,” Stuart said.
“Beyond selecting a suitable array of seeds, we also place a huge emphasis on the correct method of seeding to ensure the land is re-established to its bushland state in the shortest possible time.”
“The process is a long one, but we remain on track to have mature rehabilitated land, which can sustain vegetation and wildlife, within around 15-20 years. Once the rehabilitated land is mature, we can return the stable, free-draining land to successive landowner management,” said Stuart.
“We’ve got 40 years of rehabilitation knowledge here and it’s going well, yet we are always looking at ways to improve our rehabilitation program. It’s all about providing quality rehabilitated land for the next generation.”
Check out the ‘sounds’ of rehab, below!
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