02 March 2015

ERA has reached a major milestone in its progressive rehabilitation program of the Ranger open cut mine.

For the first time tailings waste from the site's milling operations has been transferred directly to the mine's last open pit, Pit 3, following careful preparation to ready the pit for tailings storage.

This important step will facilitate a number of further key milestones for ERA over the coming months.

"In February we met a significant target in our water management system in line with our long term closure strategy," said Ranger mine General Manager Operations, Tim Eckersley.

"So far Pit 1 has been backfilled with tailings and preliminary rock capping put in place. As of last month, Pit 3 began receiving tailings directly from our processing mill, for permanent storage.

"In a couple of months we are scheduled to commission a dredge and infrastructure to transfer dredged material from the Tailings Storage Facility into Pit 3. We are also scheduled to begin brine storage in Pit 3 from the Brine Concentrator."

According to Mr Eckersley, to enable long term closure, Ranger's two former open cut pits are being converted into permanent repositories for the mine's tailings as required by the Ranger authorisations. Once all waste material, which is created during the mining of ore, is moved to the pits for final long term storage, the pits can be capped with rock and ultimately re-vegetated.

Meanwhile, ERA's Brine Concentrator is treating process water from the site's Tailings Storage Facility to reduce the operation's water inventory. Brine, which is the residue from that process, is scheduled to be moved to Pit 3 for permanent storage later this year.

"Last year we completed the initial backfill of Pit 3, with more than 33 million tonnes of waste rock placed into the base of the pit, and the installation of in-pit drainage and an extraction pump system to convert the pit into a storage repository for brine and tailings," Mr Eckersley said.

"We've installed extensive drainage works across the floor of the pit, while a water extraction bore system has been installed to transfer water removed from the pit to the Tailings Storage Facility.

"Later this year we are scheduled to commission a custom-designed, stainless steel dredge built in Queensland to dredge tailings from the Tailings Storage Facility for containment in Pit 3."

The recent activities demonstrate ERA's commitment to the rehabilitation of Ranger. Since 2012 ERA has invested $378 million in rehabilitation and water management projects.

Recent rehabilitation has seen the revegetation of an interim water management pond at Jabiluka, where more than 8000 seedlings have been planted on the site. The revegetation project was one in which ERA worked in close consultation with the Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation as representatives of the Traditional Owners, the Mirarr People.

ERA's Ranger mine is in transition, having finished open cut mining in 2012 and now moving to a potential underground mine, Ranger 3 Deeps.

With open cut mining finishing at Ranger in 2012, ERA is committed to a closure plan to achieve full rehabilitation of the former mine and ensure no detrimental impact to the surrounding environment of Kakadu National Park over a period of 10,000 years.

For further information, please contact:

Media Relations

Alison Smith
Office: +61 (0) 8 8924 3514
Mobile: +61 (0) 438 787 038
Email: VA-Alison.Smith@riotinto.com

Investor Relations

Rachel Storrs
Office: +61 (0) 3 9283 3628
Mobile: +61 (0) 417 401 018
Email: rachel.storrs@riotinto.com



Key rehabilitation milestones in sight [PDF: 306 KB]

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