Hunter Valley Operations
- Overview
- Mining and production
- Sustainable development
- Library
HVO is committed to sustainable development and ensuring positive environmental, social and economic outcomes for the community in which it operates.
The mine ensures that all employees and visitors comply with Rio Tinto Coal Australia's environmental management policies to minimise the mine's impact on the environment and to ensure that mined land is effectively rehabilitated. HVO also implements a range of environmental management plans and programmes on site.
HVO is committed to the long term social and economic well being of the Upper Hunter. Through Coal & Allied's community relations programme and the Coal & Allied Community Trust, the mine is working to help provide positive long term outcomes for the region.
2007 Sustainable development report
| 2007 | 2006 | |
|---|---|---|
| Employees | 712 males, 41 females, Total 753 | 661 males, 36 females, Total 697 |
| Saleable production | 10.1 million tonnes. Production was impacted by decreased coal chain capacity, rail and port constraints and two flood events. | 12.0 million tonnes |
| Health & safety LTIFR (200,000) | Target 0.14, 2007 performance 0.31 | 0.15 |
| Freshwater use (litres per tonne of product coal) | Target 65, 2007 performance 111. Drought conditions in the first half of the year led to a greater reliance on river water than originally planned. | 87 |
| Energy use (gigagoules per tonne of product coal) | Target 0.190, 2007 performance 0.277 | 0.239 |
| Greenhouse gas emissions (kg -CO2 per tonne of product coal) | Target 82.80, 2007 performance 88.6. | 9.54 |
| Annual rehabilitation & disturbance (hectares) | Target rehabilitation 151, 2007 performance 109. Target disturbance 145, 2007 performance 105. HVO's rehabilitation targets were reassessed internally and decreased due to the forecast decrease in production. | Rehabilitation 95 Disturbance 149 |
2007 Highlights
- HVO won the prestigious Rio Tinto Chief Executive Safety Award that recognises outstanding safety performance across the Rio Tinto Group
- Five Aboriginal employees commenced working at HVO after graduating from a newly developed training programme
- HVO began a trial with Forests NSW to plant about 80,000 seedlings on an 80 hectare plot
- Business Improvement projects delivered $28 million of improvements. One third of this value came from yield improvements delivered through a spirals circuit upgrade, dense medium cyclone upgrade and seam preparation work in the pit with Mine Planning
- The Carrington Billabong River Red Gum Rehabilitation and Restoration Strategy was developed to help improve the health of a population of endangered trees
- An innovative self adjustable mirror was developed at HVO to make driving safer and prevent trucks from being parked up.
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