TERRAMIN AUSTRALIA LIMITED

TERRAMIN AUSTRALIA LIMITED ABN 67 062 576 238

ANGAS ZINC MINECommunity Newsletter

DECEMBER 2009

IN THIS ISSUE

A bright future 1SCCC vacancy 1Managing dust 2Meet the team 2Greening Angas Zinc Mine 3Article 3There’s more to it than you think 4

A bright future

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ANGAS ZINC MINE

Callington Road, Strathalbyn, SA 5255 PO Box 125, Strathalbyn, SA 5255

ANGAS ZINC MINE OFFICET (08) 8536 5950

COMPLAINTS LINET (08) 8536 8010

ADELAIDE OFFICE

Terramin Australia Limited Level 22 Westpac House, 91 King William Street Adelaide, South Australia 5000T (08) 8213 1415 F (08) 8213 1416 E info@terramin.com.auW www.terramin.com.au

Since commissioning in July last year, the Angas Zinc Mine has exceeded expectations for both output and production costs. In its first year of operation, 301,000 tonnes of ore was processed producing 36,000 tonnes of zinc concentrate for export, and 14,000 tonnes of lead-copper concentrate for Nyrstar’s smelter in Port Pirie.

While the extension of Terramin’s seven year mine lease at Angas would require re-approval to accommodate any changes, the company has recently announced it is taking steps to plan for the future.

A relatively small investment, along with the appropriate regulatory approvals, could support the expansion of the Angas Zinc project to treat additional ore sourced either from the existing lease or, pending regulatory approval, from a satellite mine in the region.

Surface exploration undertaken by Terramin has confirmed that there are several old mine sites within a 30 kilometre radius of the Angas Zinc Mine that warrant further drilling testwork. These sites include Preamimma Mine, Anomaly “D” (north of Preamimma), Lady Jane Mine and Frahn’s Mine.

Above: Historic remains from the original Preamimma mine.

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Photos:1. Preparing to go underground (from

left: Kate Berry, Alexander’s teacher, Andrew Harris, Alexander Warin and Tom Denver)

2. Ben Alexander explains the process to Kate and Alexander

3. Alexanderlearnsaboutfrothflotation4. Returning from their underground

experience

Like the Angas Zinc project, these old sites are characterised by high mineral grades at shallow depths. When early mining activities ceased, these sites were never re- visited as in more recent times companies were more interested in large deposits.

Terramin will also be venturing further from the current operation to the Monarto and Warla regions investigating lead-zinc drilling targets on existing exploration leases.

There’s more to it than you think

The management and staff at Angas Zinc Mine would like to wish the

Strathalbyn community a safe and joyous festive season and thank

you for your ongoing support.

The South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy (SACOME) have been running a program called ‘There’s more to it than you think’, promoting careers in the resources industry, and other maths and science related paths, to secondary school students.

Part of the program was the ‘Ultimate Workplace Competition’ where students had to submit a short video outlining their ultimate workplace. One of the competition prizes was a trip to Angas Zinc, including the rare opportunity to go underground, as well as a detailed tour of the processing plant.

Ironically, the competition was won by Alexander Warin, a year 11 student from the Eastern Fleurieu School in Strathalbyn, so he didn’t have to travel far! Below is an account, in Alex’s words, of the day and his experiences.

“On the 10th of August two people from the ‘There’s more to it than you think’ team came into our Year 10 science class to talk about how science and maths can get you into all these jobs that we may not have considered yet. They talked to students on camera about what jobs they would like to do when they leave school, what they think about science and maths, and what it’s like to make career decisions. They also helped us film entries for their Ultimate Workplace Visit competition.

A couple of days later I got an email saying that I had won the competition. This was great news.

My teacher and I went to the Terramin Australia zinc mine on the 17th of September. On arrival we were shown to the briefing room where we met, Anya, who is the Environment & Community Relations Coordinator at the Terramin mine, Alyssa from ‘There’s more to it than you think’ and Emma from the South Australian Chamber of Mines & Energy.

We had a long presentation on site safety, and then met three of Terramin’s employees: a Metallurgist named Ben who works with the machinery that grinds up the rock, a Mining Engineer named Andrew who determines where to place the explosives underground in order to best extract the minerals, and Tom the Geologist who looks for what they want to extract. They really loved their jobs.

Then we got dressed in all the safety gear, including goggles and a hard-hat, but all necessary. We then went down into the mine

Once we had seen where the minerals come from and how they are extracted, Ben gave us an explanation of the separation process, which involves removing the dirt from the zinc and lead. This was quite interesting; it is a long process which involves crushing rocks and use of chemicals to extract the mined minerals. This is all regulated by computers and project managers from a control centre which is next to the aforementioned machinery.

Coming to the end of the tour, we saw the final product in a big shed. The zinc and lead were in separate piles in the corner, ready to be shipped off for export. That then concluded the tour.”

itself, in utes driven by Tom and Andrew. It was very wet, but we were wearing huge protective boots. When we reached level 120 (this is what they called it, in metres) we went to see the explosive holes being drilled and positioned by a team already at work. Then we went down to the next level to see how the explosives were going to deliver what was required.

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SCCC vacancyThe Strathalbyn Community Consultation Committee (SCCC) was established in May 2006 to provide a forum for communication between the government regulators, the community and Terramin.

The group meets quarterly and continues to play an important role as an advocate for the community, and an effective means for the parties to exchange information.

The SCCC is currently looking to fill one or more positions and would like to invite expressions of interest from members of the community.

For more information, or to submit your expression of interest, please contact Charles Irwin, SCCC Chair, on 0412 161 908 or via charlesirwin@msn.com.au.

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Greening Angas Zinc Mine

With a link to coal mining in the eastern states spanning generations, Simon’s career path is probably no surprise. Simon previously spent 10 years managing the 95 year old State Coal Mine in Wonthaggi, Victoria which is kept in ‘care and maintenance’ as a living museum. More recently Simon worked with a consulting group facilitating risk assessments and developing systems for various mines, including Angas Zinc.

The opportunity to be involved in a modern mine attracted Simon to his current role at Angas Zinc which he commenced in June this year. On a day-to-day basis, Simon’s key focus is to have everyone working safely. He works with employees across all levels of the business on safety issues and solutions, as well as assisting in the development of safety training, systems and procedures.

Simon enjoys the diversity and challenges his role and the Angas Zinc mine offer, and working with an experience and knowledgeable team.

Meet the team

Simon Longstaff – Occupational Health & Safety Coordinator

Earlier this year, the Angas Zinc revegetation plan was revised in conjunction with local environmental contractor Natural State to better reflect work already completed, and to detail the work planned for the coming years.

The purpose of the Angas Zinc revegetation plan is to improve the visual amenity of the site, create a ‘green buffer’ and beautify the mine during its operation. The plan also plays an important part in the rehabilitation of the site following mine closure, and the trees and shrubs planted provide a carbon off-set for the emissions from the mine.

This year, 1,250 trees and shrubs were planted either side of the mine entrance and in the staff car-park. Twenty-five established gums were planted in the car park in the hope that they will soon provide shade. It was also planned that we could vegetate the southern and western-facing walls of the tailings storage facility with grasses for visual purposes in 2009. The steep slope and lack of topsoil has proved a challenge in the planning and coordination of the exercise. Specialist consultants have recommended spray seeding a mix of native and other grasses as the safest and most effective method of vegetating the area. This project has now been scheduled for the start of the 2010 growing period, around May.

In addition, it is also planned to plant a mix a native species in the north eastern corner of the mine site, adjacent to Callington Road.

Managing dustOne of the mine’s environmental obligations is to monitor dust from the operation at locations both on and off the lease. There are a number of potential dust sources at the Angas Zinc site and without proper monitoring and management, this dust could create issues for both employees and the mine’s neighbours.

As part of Terramin’s application for approval to mine, an extensive dust study was undertaken by specialist consultants. The aim of this study was to determine the baseline soil quality prior to mining activities commencing, and propose a suitable dust monitoring and management strategy.

Our dust monitoring program is based on maintaining regulatory compliance, measuring our performance against criteria set out by both PIRSA and the EPA. To do this, we monitor total dust and lead in dust levels via two high volume samplers, and 12 dust deposition gauges, positioned around and off the mine site. As well as defining upper limits, our regulatory criteria also serve as an early warning system to detect potential dust problems.

Treated water to benefit polo groundsTreated water from the Angas Zinc mine is set to help keep the Strathalbyn recreation grounds green over the summer months.

Water that is excess to the site’s requirements is being processed by a reverse osmosis treatment plant to reduce impurity and salinity levels, making it suitable for irrigation.

Under a new agreement between the Alexandrina Council, Terramin and the EPA, treated water will be sent to the council’s effluent lagoons via a pipeline under Callington Road. The supply of this extra water will allow the recreational grounds to be irrigated over the drier months when water has traditionally not been available.

The recreational grounds on Callington Road are used for a number of community activities including soccer, polo and other horse events.

Andrew Robertson, General Manager Angas Zinc Mine, is pleased that the water can be used for the community’s benefit. “Water is a precious commodity so I’m glad we will be able to contribute to the community positively by sharing this resource”, said Mr Robertson.

Simon Longstaff working at Angas Zinc Mine.

Simon is married to Jenny, a teacher by profession, who he met while conducting a tour at the Wonthaggi mine. They have a son, Isaac, who is three. In his spare time, Simon enjoys spending time with his family, bike riding, antique bottle-digging and blacksmithing.

The help manage dust generation on site, we use sprinklers and water trucks to keep unsealed roads and high traffic areas wetted down in dry conditions. Access roads on and off the site, as well as the roads around the processing plant and the mine entrance, are sealed and cleaned with a road-sweeper on a weekly basis.

Angas Zinc’s environmental monitoring and performance data is published in the Quarterly Environment Report, which is presented to the Strathalbyn Community Consultation Committee and available via the PIRSA website.

(from left): Neville Styan from the Alexandrina Council, Sarah Frayne from the Strathalbyn Recreation Grounds Group, Trent Rusby from the Alexandrina Council, Anya Hart from Angas Zinc Mine, and AdrianPeacheyfromtheAlexandrinaCouncilexaminethenewfloodmarkerinstalledtoensure theeffluentlagoonisnotover-filled.

Terramin’s EPA licence conditions have been amended to reflect this transfer of treated water, including conditions on ensuring irrigation quality water standards are maintained and the allowable water level in the lagoon is not exceeded.

Above: Over 1,000 trees and shrubs were planted at the mine entrance

Left: Car park plantings will beautify and provide shade

Top left: Dust deposition gauge 7, located behind the processing plant.

Top right: One of two high volume dust samplers measuring total dust and lead levels.

Above: Internal roads and the mine entrance are swept weekly.