Saraji East Mining Lease Project - BHP

Saraji East Mining Lease Project

Environmental Impact Statement

Chapter 9 Groundwater

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Contents

Saraji East Mining Lease Project

9 Groundwater.......................................................................................................9-1

9.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 9-1

9.2 Legislation and policy ..................................................................................................................... 9-3

9.2.1 9.2.2 9.2.3

Commonwealth Legislation.................................................................................................. 9-3 State legislation.................................................................................................................... 9-8 Policies, plans and guidelines.............................................................................................. 9-9

9.3 Methodology ................................................................................................................................... 9-9

9.3.1 9.3.2 9.3.3 9.3.4 9.3.5

Mine plan assessment ......................................................................................................... 9-9 Hydrogeological understanding ......................................................................................... 9-13 Hydrogeological conceptualisation .................................................................................... 9-13 Predictive simulations ........................................................................................................ 9-13 Model boundaries .............................................................................................................. 9-15

9.4 Description of environmental values............................................................................................. 9-15

9.4.1 9.4.2 9.4.3 9.4.4 9.4.5 9.4.6

Geology.............................................................................................................................. 9-15 Groundwater resources ..................................................................................................... 9-19 Groundwater levels and flows............................................................................................ 9-24 Groundwater quality........................................................................................................... 9-25 Groundwater dependent ecosystems ................................................................................ 9-27 Groundwater environmental values ................................................................................... 9-27

9.5 Potential impacts .......................................................................................................................... 9-29

9.5.1 9.5.2 9.5.3 9.5.4 9.5.5

Overview ............................................................................................................................ 9-29 End of mining drawdown ................................................................................................... 9-30 Impacts on groundwater levels and existing groundwater users....................................... 9-37 Groundwater quality........................................................................................................... 9-39 Environmental impacts ...................................................................................................... 9-39

9.6 Monitoring program....................................................................................................................... 9-39

9.7 Residual impacts .......................................................................................................................... 9-43

9.8 Summary and conclusions ........................................................................................................... 9-43

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Saraji East Mining Lease Project

Saraji East Mining Lease Project

9 Groundwater

9.1 Introduction

This chapter provides an assessment of the Project's likely impacts on groundwater resources. It includes an overview of the surrounding area's hydrogeological regimes, potential impacts of the Project and where necessary, actions to avoid minimise or mitigate these impacts. A detailed assessment is provided in Appendix F-1 Groundwater Technical Report.

For purposes of this chapter the Groundwater Assessment Area is defined as the groundwater model domain area, which extends approximately 15 kilometres (km) around the Project Site. This is illustrated in Figure 9-1.

Chapter 9 Groundwater

9-1

Suttor C re e k

Cooper Hail Creek

AECOM does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of information displayed in this map and any person using it does so at their own risk. AECOM shall bear no responsibility or liability for any errors, faults, defects, or omissions in the information.

Harrow

Conn ors R

Ver ll Cre

ek

bena Creek S u ttor River

Eaglefi eld Creek

Suttor Developmental Road

D iamond Creek

Brown Cre

Loga n Creek

Peak C reek

Downs

MORANBAH !

Peak Downs Mine Road

Highway

Marlborough Sarina Road Funnel Creek

Denison Creek e

D

Creek

a Road

Marlborough Sarin

e vli nCreek

NEBO !

Oxford Downs Sarina Road N ebo Creek

Bee Cr ek

iver

tus Cr eek

M

iclere

Greg Cre e k

Nine Mile Creek

Sawmill Cre e k

Boo merang C reek Phillips Creek

er

Isaac Riv Lo

ory Developmental Road

Sandy C reek Clermont Alpha Road

o lfang Cr

eek W

Table Creek

PEAK DOWNS !

reek

Ca mp b ell Creek

Ret ro Gregory Highway

C apellaC

a h aw re

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Tom

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! CAPELLA

C a rbine Cr e ek

Dysart Middlemount Road

! DYSART Step hens C reek

MIDDLEMOUNT !

Oa ky Cree k Cooro

C re

ek o ra

Rolf Creek May Downs Road

Fitzroy Developme

R o per Creek

ntal Road

Mack enzie River Cre ek

Parker

ve Mil

e Creek Tw el

K e ttle Cree k

Data sources:

ek

1. 2.

IBmaasgeelinrye?roEaASdrsRgaI WnydotrrladcIkmsa?geDryTMonRli,nSetate

of

Qld,

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3. Drainage ? AHGF, BOM, Accessed 2018

Retreat C reek

LEGEND ! Locality

Drainage

Project Site 15km Buffer

Highway Major Road

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No goa River

B lackw

ater Creek

? Figure 9-1 Groundwater Assessment Area

Environmental Impact Statement Saraji East Mining Lease Project

0 4.25 8.5

17

Kilometres Scale: 1:962,924 (when printed at A4) Projection: Map Grid of Australia - Zone 55 (GDA94)

DATE: 31/07/2020 VERSION: 2

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Saraji East Mining Lease Project

9.2 Legislation and policy

9.2.1 Commonwealth Legislation

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) is the Australian Government's central piece of environmental legislation. It provides a legal framework to protect and manage nationally important environmental assets, defined in the EPBC Act as matters of national environmental significance (MNES).

The `water trigger' amendment to the EPBC Act includes water resources as MNES in relation to coal seam gas (CSG) and large coal mining developments. This means that CSG and large coal mining developments require federal assessment and approval if they are likely to have a significant impact on a water resource.

The Department of the Environment and Energy (DoEE), who are responsible for administering the EPBC Act, has determined that the Project has the potential for significant impacts on water resources.

The EPBC Act requires that all CSG and large coal mining developments which are expected to have water-related impacts be referred to the Independent Expert Scientific Committee (IESC) for advice. The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Project must include a specific section responding to the information requirements in the IESC `Information Guidelines for the Independent Expert Scientific Committee advice on coal seam gas and large coal mining development proposals' (Commonwealth of Australia, 2015). Table 9.1 addresses the specific groundwater requirements of IESC (2015) within this chapter.

Chapter 9 Groundwater

9-3

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