19
Water
While rainfall can occur year round, it is gener-
ally concentrated in the annual monsoon. The 
responsible management of water is therefore of 
utmost importance to Chatree Mine and to the 
surrounding area. Chatree operates on a nil-
release basis, and all rain water on the mine lease 
is harvested with no water leaving the site. This 
requires continuous management of usage, 
quality and storage. A total of 32 surface water 
and 72 groundwater quality sampling sites have 
been established, all of which are regularly 
monitored and sampled. To date, no results  
from any of these sites have caused concern.
To gauge any potential drawdown impact on 
local groundwater, the mine regularly monitors 
80 water table measuring stations, located on 
the mine site and in surrounding villages. Water 
levels rise and fall seasonally but no long term 
adverse trends have been identified.
A total of 2,454,585 tonnes of water was used to 
process 5,699,014 tonnes of ore during the finan-
cial year. Water usage was reduced onsite via 
recycling of water from the Tailings Storage 
Facility via the decant water return system. The 
excess recycled water is stored in a number of the 
historic mining pits for re-use in the process plant.
Environmental Audit
In December 2012 the eleventh annual Tailings 
Storage Facility Audit was undertaken. Knight 
Piésold found that the tailings facility continues 
to be operated at best practice and that the 
Processing Department demonstrates a good 
understanding of the facility. Concern was 
expressed about the steepness of two access 
ramps which have since been remediated.
In February 2013, Environ Australia Pty Ltd under-
took the eleventh ‘whole of site’ environmental 
audit of the Chatree Mine. The audit is designed 
to assess compliance with conditions in the 
Mining Leases, corporate commitments made in 
the current Environmental Impact Assessment, 
adherence to board environmental policy, obser-
vance of the Australian Minerals Industry Code for 
Environmental Management and Enduring Value and 
our environmental performance overall. The audit 
concluded that, the operations of the Chatree 
Gold Project comply with applicable statutory 
requirements as well as voluntary environmental 
commitments made by Akara Mining Limited. The 
audit also indicates that the project operations 
are being carried out in accordance with the 
requirements of the Australian Minerals Industry 
Code for Environmental Management, and that 
the responsibilities of Kingsgate, as a Code 
signatory, are being addressed.
Rehabilitation
No contaminated land issues arose during the 
period. The rehabilitation program is ongoing with 
areas contoured and planted as soon as is practi-
cable. Trials of various species are undertaken to 
ensure the optimal results for each location. Many 
species of trees and grass have been sown 
successfully across the site. Some 26.2 hectares 
were rehabilitated last year and 14.2 hectares of 
rehabilitation is planned for the present year.
Cyanide Management
Chatree continues to meet all requirements of 
the International Cyanide Code for Gold Mining 
Operations. The Code mandates strict protocols 
for the manufacture, transport, storage and use 
of cyanide. As part of the plant expansion, the 
operation will move to the use of solid cyanide 
delivered and dispensed from sealed containers 
(ISOtainers). This system improves the safety of 
transportation and usage. The cyanide code 
audit will be done in late 2013 to certify the new 
processing plant and re-certify the old 
processing plant.
Readings of discharge to the tailings storage 
facility are taken every 60 minutes. Of the 8,760 
readings taken during the year, a total of 99% 
showed the discharge of cyanide did not exceed 
the 20 mg/L CNTOT standard. The highest 
monthly reading obtained was 12.0 mg/L CNTOT 
with an annual average of 8.4 mg/L CNTOT.
Birds continue to nest and breed near the tail-