Environment

The Cape Preston landscape is more than 2.5 billion years old. CITIC Pacific Mining is committed to sustainability and ensuring our operations are environmentally responsible for the life of our project and beyond.

CPM has an Environmental Management System that facilitates compliance with our approvals and obligations to prevent or mitigate adverse environmental impacts and promote continuous improvement. We believe that effective environmental performance is an integral part of well-managed, socially responsible operations, whilst creating economic value for our shareholders.

CPM is focused on fostering a sustainable and environmentally responsible culture within the company. SinoSAFE Environment is an important initiative in promoting this culture, where environmental risks are identified and appropriate management actions are incorporated into everyday operations.

As the operator of Sino Iron, CPM implements the requirements endorsed by the Minister for Environment (issued in Ministerial Statements: MS635 in 2003, MS822 in 2009 and MS1066 in 2017).

Sino Iron’s management plans contain specific standards that apply to the project. Commitment to these standards is essential to our success. CPM works closely with relevant government agencies in fulfilling its requirements including audits and inspections, submissions of annual compliance reports, and maintaining environmental licences.

Below are the Environment Policy and Management Plans related to the project.

• Environment Policy
• Sino Iron Project - Operational Environment Management Plan
• Operational Environment Management Plan - Appendix A
• Operational Environment Management Plan - Appendix B
• Operational Environment Management Plan - Appendix C (Part 1)
• Operational Environment Management Plan - Appendix C (Part 2)

Mining and processing of magnetite is an energy-intensive process. CPM has minimised its energy consumption for the operation of the Sino Iron through utilisation of a 480 megawatt combined-cycle power station. It was the first of its kind in the Pilbara and was recognised by the Energy Efficiency Council as the ‘Best Industrial Energy Efficiency Project’ in 2012. In an open-cycle plant, nearly half of the energy generated is lost as heat. In a combined-cycle plant, lost energy is captured and used to heat water to generate steam power energy. Recovery and reuse of this heat through the steam process creates a more efficient power plant with reduced greenhouse emissions.

CPM’s power station is approximately 40% more efficient than an equivalent size open-cycle gas turbine power station. At full capacity, it saves greenhouse gas emissions of 440,000 tonnes of CO2-e per year.

Over the full steel production cycle (i.e. from ground to steel) there’s a net expected environmental benefit of using magnetite rather than Direct Shipped Ore. Magnetite concentrate is exothermic, releasing heat during smelting and, therefore, consuming less energy in the overall steelmaking process when compared with hematite.