Environmental Care

Environmental Sustainability

TAM conducts its operations in a manner that not only meets but exceeds regulatory requirements. Environmental sustainability is essential to TAM’s social licence, its success and longevity.

Strategic Prospectivity Zones

Our mines in the north-west of Tasmania lie within legislated Strategic Prospectivity Zones. These areas are designated “to provide the continuing access to certain areas of the State having a very high potential for effective and efficient mining for minerals”.

Pre-approval environmental investigations are undertaken for iconic fauna such as Tasmanian Devils or Wedge Tail Eagles as well as lesser known insects, snails, worms, plants or lichens. We continuously collect data during the operational phase, such as stream sampling, devil den surveys and phytophthora monitoring, to ensure we will return the land to its former state.

Both the silica deposits and the overburden are inert. There are no acidic or heavy metal containing by-products. Rehabilitation can be completed quickly and fully by land contouring, replacing stored topsoil, and seeding with local species. Our rehabilitated areas swiftly return to native vegetation.
In addition to the mines’ rehabilitation works, using similar methods TAM is also rehabilitating depleted quarries near the Wynyard processing plant using the process’ tailings. Upon completion the land will be handed back to the Tasmanian government.

The Wynyard facility uses a wet process to beneficiate the silica prior to drying and bagging. All water used in the process is thoroughly treated before being recycled and does not leave the site.