Attended Noise Monitoring - Quarter Ending December 2013

Transcription

1 Big Island Mining Pty Ltd Majors Creek Road Majors Creek Version:

2 Page 2 PREPARED BY: ABN Units 7-8, Napier Close Deakin ACT 2600 Australia (PO Box 9344 Deakin ACT 2600 Australia) T: F: E: canberra@slrconsulting.com This report has been prepared by with all reasonable skill, care and diligence, and taking account of the timescale and resources allocated to it by agreement with the Client. Information reported herein is based on the interpretation of data collected, which has been accepted in good faith as being accurate and valid. This report is for the exclusive use of Big Island Mining Pty Ltd. No warranties or guarantees are expressed or should be inferred by any third parties. This report may not be relied upon by other parties without written consent from SLR Consulting. SLR Consulting disclaims any responsibility to the Client and others in respect of any matters outside the agreed scope of the work. DOCUMENT CONTROL Reference Status Date Prepared Checked Authorised R5 Issue Murray Neish Jamie Hladky Murray Neish

3 Page 3 Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION 4 2 CRITERIA - DEVELOPMENT CONSENT CONDITIONS Operational Noise Criteria Operating Hours 5 3 ATTENDED NOISE MONITORING Noise Monitoring Locations Measurement Data and Procedures 6 4 NOISE MONITORING RESULTS 6 5 DISCUSSION SUMMARY Wind Noise Noise Levels 8 6 SUMMARY OF RESULTS AND FINDINGS 8 TABLES Table 1 Mine Operating Times 5 Table 2 Noise Monitoring Locations 6 Table 3 Daytime Measurements 7 FIGURES Figure 1 Site plan indicating approximate attended noise monitoring locations 1 1 Figure 2 Site plan indicating approximate attended noise monitoring locations 2 1 Figure 3 Site plan indicating approximate attended noise monitoring locations 3 2 APPENDICES Appendix A Site plan indicating noise assessment and measurement locations

4 Page 4 1 INTRODUCTION Big Island Mining has commissioned (SLR) to conduct quarterly attended noise monitoring, as part of the requirements of the Noise Management Plan for the project (ref 752/12, dated February 2012). Dargues Reef gold mine is currently undergoing preliminary construction work at Majors Creek, NSW. Major s Creek is located 16 km south of Braidwood, NSW, and approximately 55 km south east of Queanbeyan, NSW. Attended noise monitoring for this quarter was conducted on Thursday 12 December Activities on site were mainly rehabilitation works with an excavator, with dump trucks running to the run of mine pad. Work was also undertaken on the sediment ponds. The objectives of the attended noise monitoring/survey for this quarter were as follows: Operator-attended monitoring at six designated locations with one 15 minute measurement at each location within the Day period as defined by NSW environmental noise legislation (7am to 6pm). The monitoring was undertaken in accordance with Section 8.2 of the Noise Management Plan. Big Island Mining currently has responsibility for the unattended noise monitoring component of the Noise Management Plan. As such, the results of unattended noise monitoring are not presented in this report.

5 Page 5 2 CRITERIA - DEVELOPMENT CONSENT CONDITIONS 2.1 Operational Noise Criteria Environment Protection Licence Section L4 Noise Limits states the following conditions: Noise from the premises must not exceed the sound pressure level (noise) limits presented in the Table below. Note that the limits apply to the operation of the project and represent the sound pressure level (noise) contribution, at the nominated receiver locations in the table. Location Day Evening Night LAeq (15 minute) LAeq (15 minute) LAeq (15 minute) LA1(1 minute) Any residential premises Majors Creek State Conservation Area (when in use by any person) Notes: within 30 metres of a dwelling façade, but not closer than 3m, where any dwelling on the property is situated more than 30 metres from the property boundary closest to the premises; or, where applicable within approximately 50 metres of the boundary of a National Park, Nature Reserve or State with the LA1(1 minute) noise limits in the Noise Limits table, the noise measurement equipment must be located within 1 metre of a dwelling façade. with the noise limits in the Noise Limits table, the noise measurement equipment must be located at the most affected point at a location where there is no dwelling at the location; or at the most affected point within an area at a location prescribed by these conditions. The noise limits in Table 1 apply under the following meteorological condition: - wind speed up to 3 m/s at 10 metres above ground level; or - temperature inversion conditions of up to 3 C/100m and wind speed up to 2 m/s at 10 metres above ground level. A breach of this licence will still occur where noise generated from the premises in excess of the appropriate limit is measured at a location other than an area prescribed in these notes and/or at a point other than the most affected point at a location. 2.2 Operating Hours The operating hours for the mine are summarised in Table 1, as defined in the consent conditions. Table 1 Mine Operating Times Activity Operating Hours 3 Vegetation clearing, topsoil stripping, construction of the box cut and rehabilitation Remainder of construction operations Mining, maintenance and processing operations Crushing operations (including operation of front-end-loader) 1 Transportation 2 Day Day / evening / night Day / evening / night 7am-7pm, 7 days per week Day / evening Notes: 1. Crushing operations may be undertaken outside these hours on a maximum of 20 days per year 2. - Maximum 4 concentrate trucks from site per hour - these trucks may exit the site from 7am to 10pm Monday to Saturday and 8am to 10pm Sundays and Public Holidays - trucks will not operate between 7am -8:30am and 3pm-5pm on school days - feasible and reasonable measures will be implemented to reduce the impact of site generated traffic on local roads 3. Day is 7am to 6pm, Evening is 6pm to 10pm and Night is 10pm to 7am

6 Page 6 3 ATTENDED NOISE MONITORING 3.1 Noise Monitoring Locations In accordance with the Noise Management Plan, attended noise monitoring was conducted at the six noise monitoring locations shown in Table 2 for one 15 minute period during the each of the Day, Evening and Night periods. The locations are displayed in Appendix A. Table 2 Noise Monitoring Locations Residence Identifier R20 R27 R29 R34 R81 R108 Landowner A and MZ Page M Dickinson B and C James A Davies J and I Wolford J and K Spring 3.2 Measurement Data and Procedures Measurements were undertaken in conformity to the following standards and codes: EPA NSW Industrial Noise Policy, 2000(INP) AS Acoustics - Description and Measurement of Environmental Noise - General Procedures SLR Consulting s noise measurement instruments are Type 1 meters which conform to AS IEC , Electroacoustics - Sound Level Meters. The following sound meter was used for these measurements: Rion NA28 integrating sound level meter, serial number The operator present for these measurements was Murray Neish, Senior Acoustic Consultant, MAAS. Measurement data and observations were recorded in accordance with the requirements of Section of the Noise Management Plan. 4 NOISE MONITORING RESULTS Operator attended noise measurements were conducted on Thursday 12 December Results of the pre-commencement operator attended noise measurements are given in Table 3. Ambient noise levels given in the tables include all observations on the contributory noise sources such as traffic, insects and birds.

7 Page 7 Table 3 Location Daytime Measurements Date/ time R20 12/12/13 11:33 am R27 12/12/13 3:08 pm R29 12/12/13 11:09 am R34 12/12/13 10:37 am R81 12/12/13 12:00 pm R108 12/12/13 14:20 pm Note: Weather 1 -temperature -wind speed -cloud cover 2 -humidity 26 C 1-3.5m/s 2 33% 28 C 0-1m/s 1 26% 23 C 1-3m/s 0 30% 22 C 1-2m/s 0 33% 22 C 2-3m/s 2 33% 24 C 1-2m/s 0 26% Sound pressure level (db re 20 µpa), 15 minute measurement period LAmax LA10 LA50 LA90 LAeq Description of Noise Emission and Typical Observed Maximum Noise Levels LAmax, dba Lmax due to car pass by on local road Site noise audible during lulls in wind (excavator). Local small bird noise 40 db. Local machinery noise audible, no change in levels. Wind noise contributing 40 db Sheep in nearby paddock to 40 db. Lmax also from sheep. Site noise occasionally audible during lulls in wind. No other noise apart from buzzing flies Lmax due to passing light vehicle on Majors Creek Road. Diesel engine noise from site faintly audible during lulls in wind. Otherwise no other major noise sources Lmax due to 1 passing semi-trailer. Small birds 35 to 40 dba. Wind in pine trees Occasional noise from cows across the road. Site noise not audible Lmax due to multiple small birds. Tractor to 50 db Distant lawnmower audible. Wind contributing 40 db. Noise level about 35 db when wind absent. Site noise not audible Lmax due to local birds. Noise from pump onsite audible but <30 db. Excavator on site briefly audible during lulls in wind. Cicadas audible but not affecting measurements. Wind gusts to 4.5 m/s 1.Weather observations are approximate, for information only. These are based on measurements of temperature wind speed and humidity with a handheld instrument, and subjective assessment of cloud cover made during the attended noise measurement period. 2. Cloud cover reported in Oktas

8 Page 8 5 DISCUSSION SUMMARY 5.1 Wind Noise Ambient noise levels at all of the measurement locations were typically low, with the main influence on the measured noise level being wind in the trees.. This is a normal characteristic of this area. While the winds only briefly approached the maximum strength for valid measurements under EPA/OEH policy, wind noise from vegetation influenced much of the recorded data during this visit. 5.2 Noise Levels The range of measured Daytime LAeq levels was db. These levels were mostly due to wind noise in vegetation. Noise from the site was well below the project target of LAeq 35 db during all measurements. The highest level of LAeq 45 db recorded at Spring (R108) and Dickinson (R27) was due to wind gusts of up to 4.5 m/s. Site noise was faintly audible at all locations except for Davies (R34) during lulls in the wind, however the noise was not sufficient to affect the LAeq noise levels. Construction activities only occurred during the daytime period. A considerable amount of attended ambient monitoring (in the absence of site activities) has already been obtained for the evening and night-time periods. Therefore only daytime noise data was recorded. Equipment in use on the site during the measurements was generally well shielded from the receiver positions by local land topography. In addition, most of the activities currently occurring on site were also visually screened at the noise monitoring locations, with the exception of Dickinson (R29) and Page (R20). 6 SUMMARY OF RESULTS AND FINDINGS SLR Consulting was engaged by Big Island Mining Pty Ltd to conduct a quarterly noise monitoring/survey during the construction of the Dargues Reef Mine in accordance with Noise Management Plan 752/12. This report summarises the results of a full set of daytime attended noise measurements. Responsibility for unattended noise monitoring currently with Big Island Mining, and as such is not reported here. During the attended monitoring, noise from the mining site was just intermittently audible at all monitoring locations (except R34) during calm weather conditions. Noise from the site was well below the operational limit of Leq 35 dba at all locations and therefore complied with the site noise limits prescribed in Environment Protection Licence

9 Appendix A-Attended noise monitoring locations Page 1 of 3 Figure 1 Map 1 - Site plan indicating approximate attended noise monitoring locations 1 Site plan indicating Attended Noise monitoring locations 1 See Map 3 R29 R27 R20 See Map 2

10 Appendix A-Attended noise monitoring locations Page 2 of 3 Figure 2 Map 2 - Site plan indicating approximate attended noise monitoring locations 2 To Map 1 R81

11 Appendix A-Attended noise monitoring locations Page 3 of 3 Figure 3 Map 3 - Site plan indicating approximate attended noise monitoring locations 3 R34 R108 R27 To Map 1