Independent Review: Stawell Gold Mine Peter Beck | Principal Environmental Scientist Image placeholder

Scope of the review Review existing environmental monitoring data, which includes consideration of impacts on the environment and public safety, and discussing this data with stakeholders to understand the context Participate in a workshop with all stakeholders, at which community concerns will be discussed Clarify environmental standards (including consideration of impacts on public safety) for offsite impacts arising from SGM operations Assess SGM’s compliance with environmental and public safety standards Identify information gaps where additional monitoring may be required Prepare a report to the Minister for Energy and Resources, and present findings and recommendations to the community and stakeholders Present the review findings at key stakeholder workshops Independent Review: Stawell Gold Mine | 2

Approach and methodology Approach in line with Section 5 of Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism, Leading Practice Sustainable Development Program for the Mining Industry Handbook: Evaluating Performance Monitoring and Auditing (2009) Based on ISO 19011:2002 Guidelines for quality and/or environmental management systems auditing: “An audit is a systematic, independent and documented process for obtaining audit evidence and evaluating it objectively to determine the extent to which the audit criteria are fulfilled” Key Victorian legislation and policies: Environment Protection Act 1970: Control of emissions to environment and elements of the environment to be protected State environmental protection policies (SEPPs): Air, Land and Water Qualitative Risk Assessment – Tier 1: AS/NZS 4360:2004 Aspects: Human Health, Environment, Economic, Social, Reputation, Regulatory / Political Precautionary Approach: UNESCO 2005 Independent Review: Stawell Gold Mine | 3

Qualitative Risk Assessment Risk = Source -> Pathway -> Receptor linkedVoluntary and Involuntary Risk = Source -> Pathway -> Receptor linked RiskHazard Assessment Exposure DoseScience: Risk = Hazard Assessment + Exposure + Dose RiskActual Hazard OutragePublic: Risk = Actual Hazard x Outrage Source -> Pathway -> Receptor A risk will only exist if all three of Source -> Pathway -> Receptor are linked as illustrated below (a) If there is no receptor (b), or if the pathway is incomplete (c), the risk does not exist. Existing risks were ranked based on the adopted risk matrix (next slide) Independent Review: Stawell Gold Mine | 4

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Elements of the environment considered The Environment Protection Act 1970 focuses on protection of beneficial uses of the air, land, water and groundwater elements of the environment. For this review the following elements were considered: Independent Review: Stawell Gold Mine | 6

Key contaminants of potential concern The following key contaminants of potential concern were considered in the review of SGM’s environmental performance: Derived from soil and rock mineral: Aluminium (Al) Antimony (Sb) Arsenic (As) Cadmium (Cd) Chromium (Cr) Lead (Pb) Mercury (Hg) Nickel (Ni) Selenium (Se) Sulphur (S): Thorium (Th) Derived from process and emissions: Carbon monoxide (CO) Cyanide (CN) Nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) Particulate Matter (PM) Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH) Sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ) Independent Review: Stawell Gold Mine | 7

Guidance values in Victoria, Australia, and the majority of international jurisdictions are based on animal toxicology studies extrapolated to humans. ‘Tier 1’ criteria are also developed on the ‘precautionary principle’ and use safety factors of 10 to 1000 due to extrapolation, so they are quite conservative, and are not specific to a particular situation. Therefore, if ‘Tier 1’ criteria are exceeded, it does not mean that there is an unacceptable risk of adverse impact, just that further assessment is required to understand the level of risk and its acceptability. The Tier 1 criteria used in the review are presented in Section 6 the report: Section 6.1 – Tier 1 Air criteria Section Tier 1 Land Criteria Section Tier 1 Water Criteria How are health risk criteria established? Independent Review: Stawell Gold Mine | 8

Findings: Licence and Environment Management Plan (EMP) The licence aims to achieve compliance with Victorian legislation and generally achieves this aim. Some aspects with regard to protection of beneficial uses of some elements of the environment were not clear. The primary aim of the EMP appears to be compliance with the licence requirements and there appears to be limited consideration of ‘beyond compliance’ goals. The EMP does not make reference to several, relevant state, national and international standards and guidelines, such as SEPP Land, NEPM 1999, SEPP Water. The EMP includes provision for auditing but does not reference relevant ISO and Commonwealth standards. Independent Review: Stawell Gold Mine | 9

Findings: Qualitative Risk Assessment Independent Review: Stawell Gold Mine | 10

Key findings: community concerns (from Firelight Consulting report, December 2015) TSF – Leakage and impacts on environment SeeAir recommendation 1, 5 and 6, Land recommendation 7, Water recommendation 12, 13, 14 and 15 Blasting – Impacts on buildings and amenity SeeLand recommendation 9, 10 and 11 Air Quality – Impacts on health SeeAir recommendation 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 Air Quality – Impacts from vent emissions SeeAir recommendation 1, 2 and 6 Lack of Trust in government and the Mine SeeAll recommendations Independent Review: Stawell Gold Mine | 11

Findings: community concerns (cont’d) Noise No recommendations as existing approach and improvements are acceptable Damage to environment SeeAll recommendations Engagement and sense of influence for Community Improve communication and consultation processes Communication from Mine Improve transparency and responsiveness Potential for sinkholes SeeRecommendation 20 - Conduct review by suitably qualified independent geotechnical engineer Independent Review: Stawell Gold Mine | 12

Findings: conclusions & recommendations Air Element Impacts probably limited to localised areas around emission sources Extent of localised impacts inadequately understood Ambient air monitoring appears to show acceptable air quality in western parts of Stawell No.Recommendation 1. Conduct emission modelling to assess impacts on air quality as a result of emissions from Vent 4, Afterburner Outlet, and TSF 2. Include monitoring of PM10 and PM2.5 in the Vent 4 emissions sampling and analysis program 3. Switch to use of directional dust deposition gauges 4. Install a directional dust deposition gauge at the location of the former DG13 5. Install four additional directional dust deposition gauges and monitor for hydrogen cyanide around TSF2 6. Install high volume air samplers to be sampled on the same schedule as the existing two samplers 17. Identify three locations where directional dust deposition gauges can be installed to establish natural and ambient background dust deposition and composition Independent Review: Stawell Gold Mine | 13

Findings: conclusions & recommendations Land Element Dust deposition has potential to impact land Soil impacts in Stawell likely due to natural and anthropogenic sources No.Recommendation 7. Sample the surface soils of the waste tailings at 10 locations selected on a randomised grid pattern and analyse these for heavy metals, hexavalent chromium and cyanide species 8. Sample the surface soils at three locations in the stained fall out area at Vent 4 9. Conduct a full and independent audit of the current blast impact monitoring 10.Offer to install monitoring equipment that measures peak particle velocity and overpressure 11. Engage an independent suitability qualified engineer to inspect properties of owners that consider their properties have suffered damage due to blasting 18.Assess impacts on amenity from blasting and identify measures to limit the impacts 19.Alternative mining methods assessment 20. Engage a suitably qualified, independent geotechnical engineer to assess the geological condition and mining history to provide an opinion on the risk of sinkhole development Independent Review: Stawell Gold Mine | 14

Findings: conclusions & recommendations Water Element Historically impacts occurred regularly but have declined in recent years. Occasional impacts still occur. No.Recommendation 12. Collect water samples for total and dissolved analysis of heavy metals and cyanide species from the raw drinking water supply dams 13. Include collection of samples for both total and dissolved analysis in the current surface water sampling program 14. Collect sediment samples at the current surface water sample collection locations and analyse these for the same analysis suite as the surface water samples 15. Engage a suitably qualified tailings dam stability specialist to conduct an independent review of the design and stability of the TSF 2 dam Independent Review: Stawell Gold Mine | 15