| Community Excellence Award |
Rivulet restoration and community health centre project wins first prize in Community Excellence Awards
Successful remediation works of the Waratah Rivulet South West of Sydney and a unique collaboration between a mining company and its local community to establish a health centre in Cobar, have taken first prize in their categories in this year’s NSW Minerals Council’s annual Environment and Community Excellence Awards. Peabody’s Metropolitan Colliery took first prize in the environment category for its successful remediation of a stream rock bar at the Waratah Rivulet. The company has successfully completed a remediation trial using polyurethane (PUR) to repair localised cracking in a section of the rivulet, with the technique recently being approved by the Sydney Catchment Authority (SCA). CMPL’s CSA Mine in Cobar took first prize in the community category for working with its local community to establish the Cobar Primary Health Centre. The health centre opened earlier this year with three doctors, two practice nurses, the Aboriginal Medical Service and visiting allied health professionals. The mine has helped establish a medical facility which is sustainable in the long term, rather than take the traditional approach of providing in-house medical services which would only be available for the duration of the business and would not be accessible to the entire community. “These two projects are superb examples of the historic transformation which has taken place in the mining industry over the past 10 years in relation to its social and environmental obligations to the communities in which companies and their employees live and work,” said Dr Nikki Williams, CEO NSW Minerals Council. “Our annual awards are an opportunity to acknowledge leadership, innovation and commitment to environmental management and community engagement. “The range and breadth of projects being undertaken by individual companies – from our largest multinational to small juniors - are quite staggering and cover everything from mine site revegetation, protecting native species, reducing water use, engaging with the local community to ensure long term sustainability of communities and working with local Indigenous communities to preserve their heritage under the principles of the Native Title Agreement.” Peabody’s Wilpinjong Coal Mine won the People’s Choice Award and was highly commended in the community category for its successful partnership with the North East Wiradjuri under the Native Title agreement. A groundbreaking environmental remediation project by Hill End Gold which has returned an abundance of native fauna and flora to a gully near the historic village of Hill End was highly commended in the environment category. The Award-winning Presentations Wilpinjong Community Excellence Presentation 1.75 Mb
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