 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Heritage
As part of Alcoa’s bauxite mining operations in the jarrah forest, an Aboriginal heritage program has been developed to minimise the impact of these operations on Aboriginal cultural values. The traditional owners of the land, the Noongar people, seasonally used the land in what is now Alcoa’s mineral lease for at least 40,000 years. The jarrah forest was used for hunting, travel to and from the semi-arid zone and coastal plane, and for cultural activities. Alcoa’s aboriginal heritage program has been ongoing since the late 1990s and activities undertaken as part of the aboriginal heritage program can be broken into three major areas:
Pre-mining Aboriginal Heritage Surveys
Pre-mining Aboriginal heritage surveys are undertaken ahead of mining operations when a crusher move is imminent. As crusher regions are in the order of 10,000 ha, it is not possible to survey all areas that will be disturbed by mining. A model has therefore been developed to predict where significant aboriginal sites are likely to be located. Several types of aboriginal heritage sites have been encountered in Alcoa’s mining lease including artefact scatters (tools and tool making items), gnamma hole (rock cavity that holds water), modified tree (tree with bark or limbs removed to make baskets or shields), quarry (location where stone is used to maufacture artefacts) and lizard traps (rock assembled to attract reptiles). Surveys involve archaeological consultants and a minimum of five Aboriginal people (two elders and three trainees).
Aboriginal Heritage Predictive Model
The Aboriginal Heritage Predictive Model was originally developed in 1999. The aim of the model is to use possible relationships between environmental variables and site location to predict the location of significant aboriginal sites. The first models were derived in 2001 and 2002. The recent heritage surveys undertaken for the Larego crusher region (part of the Willowdale mine) were used as a test of the predictive model. The model is currently being revised in light of the results of the Larego surveys and the updated model will be used to locate sample areas for the Myara crusher region (part of the Huntly mine).
Aboriginal Heritage Surveys in Informal Reserves
Alcoa has committed to undertake heritage surveys of any Informal Reserves that are proposed to be disturbed as part of its mining operations. These are generally haul roads crossing streamzones. A number of haul road alignments have been moved to avoid significant sites identified during these surveys.
If any significant sites are located, they are avoided. All sites identified in the Alcoa surveys are sent to the Department of Indigenous Affairs and added to their site register. Alcoa has developed an aboriginal heritage training package that is part of the environmental induction undertaken by any new employees that work in the bush. Regular refreshers are also undertaken.
|
|
|
|
|
