Thiess' Mount Owen team leads dust and noise mitigation

Thiess’ Mt Owen team takes a proactive approach to environmental management to ensure dust, noise and blasting emission impacts are minimised on local communities. 

 
Working together with our client, Glencore, the team has developed a range of controls including leadership training and education sessions, noise and dust risk forecasting, targeted sound power testing of operating equipment and real-time monitoring technology. 
Thiess Senior Environment Advisor Linda Lunnon said the real-time data enables our operational team to monitor dust and noise levels and respond swiftly to changing weather conditions. 
“Paired with regular visual inspections, the technology provides further guidance throughout each shift, enabling our leaders to readily modify operations as needed,” Linda said.
“The system also triggers SMS alerts to relevant personnel if dust or noise levels reach a defined threshold,” she said. 
“This provides a prompt for operational staff to reassess controls and implement further actions if required.” 
“The forecasting system also allows us to plan for adverse weather conditions.” 
“Dust and noise are two of the highest environment risks for our projects in the Hunter Valley, and we are continually monitoring and refining controls that can assist in managing these risks.” 
Thiess’ Environment team believes engaging our people is critical to effectively manage risks. 
“We prioritise continued support and coaching of our people to ensure they understand the context and importance of our environmental controls and can get optimal value from the systems we’ve developed,” Linda said. 
“We educate them on the monitoring of data, trends and how they can apply their knowledge to minimise short-term and longer-term community impacts.” 
Thiess Environment and Civil Manager James Anderson recognises his team’s ability to stay abreast of emerging environmental trends in industry and legislation to reduce risks and identify and action opportunities for our client. 
“Our Mt Owen team works closely with our wider operations in the Hunter Valley to collaborate on solving problems and achieve tailored dust and noise management solutions,” James said. 
More broadly the Mt Owen team works with Thiess’ wider operational and technical teams to design and deliver integrated solutions that optimise overall mining and rehabilitation efforts. 
“Each project leverages our global insight to provide local value, with our head office team offering industry-leading environmental insights across each of our operating countries,” James said. 
“Our proven experience managing the full suite of environmental services on mine sites ensures we continually deliver exceptional outcomes for our clients.”