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agreements with relevant native title groups, and environmental
and water extraction approvals for JHEP are well advanced.
The company takes its environmental responsibilities further
than is strictly necessary, as seen when protected spider species
Idiosoma nigrum
(the Shield-backed Trapdoor spider) was
identified at the Jack Hills site. Listed as a Schedule 1 species
under the Wildlife Conservation Act 1950, the spiders’ presence
represented a restriction to exploration because the Department
of Environment and Conservation (DEC) specified a drilling-free
buffer of 200 metres around spider burrows.
Crosslands engaged scientists to conduct research employing
highly innovative designs, including fibre optic technology,
to observe the spiders without digging them up, and a mobile
vibration device to simulate drilling and thus allow spider surveys
without new clearing.
Going beyond simple regulatory compliance, the research
project at Jack Hills led to a greater understanding of the spider’s
ecology and its resilience to disturbance from exploration
activities. Consequently, the DEC granted a buffer reduction
down to 25m (and less on a case-by-case basis), both at Jack Hills
and elsewhere in the mid-west region.
The study provided invaluable insight into the habitat, ecology,
population size and distribution of the spiders. It also set new
benchmarks for scientific research in mining, and provided new
techniques for low impact fauna surveys. In doing so, Crosslands
won the prestigious WA Department of Mines and Petroleum’s
Golden Gecko environmental award for 2010.
Crosslands’ spider experience illustrates the power of the
company’s creative approach to obstacles it may encounter in
its ambitious growth plans. The size of the Jack Hills Expansion
Project is massive, and Crosslands have a testing pathway ahead.
In three years the expansion will see iron ore operations grow
approximately tenfold, with ten times the mining operation,
ten times the exports, and ten times the staff requirements.
Not everyone would be up for the herculean undertaking, but
Crosslands’ backing and development expertise fuels the team’s
appetite for success, and challenges small or big, eight-legged or
two, only feed this progressive miner’s commitment to evolve
further towards its corporate vision.
THE SHIELD-BACKED TRAPDOOR SPIDER
IDIOSOMA NIGRUM,
A SCHEDULE ONE SPECIES FOUND IN THE VICINITY OF JACK
HILLS. RESEARCH INTO THE LOCAL SPIDER POPULATION
WAS CRITICAL TO CROSSLANDS’ EXPLORATION PROGRAM
THE JACK HILLS RANGE WHERE
CROSSLANDS IS PLANNING A MASSIVE
EXPANSION TO ITS IRON ORE OPERATIONS
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Engineers and Project Managers
Level 2, 503 Murray Street
Perth, Western Australia
(08) 9214 8888
www.twsp.com.au