Cultural heritage disturbances at Hail Creek
On the 29th November 2005, the team performing Cultural Heritage mitigation work south of the Ramp 0 haul road discovered ground disturbances where a poly pipeline had been laid without the required heritage permit. This discovery was reported to Hail Creek Mine and a formal Taproot investigation was conducted.
Through the investigation the following Root Causes were identified:
- The meaning of "Disturbance" was not clearly understood
- The process for the management of Cultural Heritage boundaries is not clearly defined
- No effective plan, incorporating risk assessment, was compiled for the pipe installation.
Working in close cooperation with the Wiri People, the Aboriginal Traditional Owners for the Hail Creek area, a number of revised protective management measures have been implemented at Hail Creek to ensure that non-compliances of this sort do not reoccur. These key protective measures were:
- Review the process for Ground Disturbance to ensure accurate & timely information is available to support communication of expectations to mine personnel.
- Undertake further training & awareness of staff and contractors to reinforce the requirements for Cultural Heritage management.
- Review the mine dewatering management processes to establishing systems integrating project management principles.
RTCA is driven by its commitment to developing its relationship and trust with the Wiri People. This is reflected in the importance placed on investigating all unauthorised ground disturbance and potential unplanned disturbances of Cultural Heritage.
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