Mount Pleasant – focused rehabilitation effort delivers results

Thiess’ Mount Pleasant team continues to deliver industry-leading rehabilitation results, creating lasting environmental value in the Hunter Valley, Australia.  




Working with our client, the team adopted a fluvial  geomorphic landform design ensuring long term stability against erosion and building the foundation for the establishment of self-sustaining ecosystems post mining.  

The team identified areas where rehabilitation could connect more closely with the broader landscape and worked to create wildlife corridors to facilitate the movement of fauna. This included planting trees with hollows, creating land crevices and scattering loose bark and large branches to create a natural habitat for native species.  

Thiess’ Environment & Civil Manager James Anderson said the design outcomes continue to meet end of land use objectives, comply with regulatory obligations and address long-term closure requirements.  

“Our tailored solution meets the mine and our client’s needs and enables us to optimise our rehabilitation design, reducing operating costs without compromising quality,” James said. 

“It’s also informed our approach to use ejector trucks to haul and place topsoil and tailor seed mixes to better suit the final landscape including areas with increased stabilisation requirements.”  

Since the start of the project in 2018, Thiess has progressively completed 60 hectares (ha) of rehabilitation with more than 354 habitat features incorporated into the current landscape.  

“We successfully delivered our first rehabilitation two months before first coal was mined and seven months before the first coal train was loaded,” James said.  

“More recently, we researched the habitat preferences of local bird species in the area. This allowed us to identify the ideal placement for habitat features (trees) across the newly constructed landscape which is now home to a number of bird species.”  

Thiess’ Mount Pleasant Project Manager Michael Redman reiterated the importance of progressive rehabilitation, adding that it provides benefits including stabilising soil which minimises dust impacts, and delivers a visually appealing landscape for the Muswellbrook community.  

“The Mount Pleasant Operation is on the doorstep of Muswellbrook’s township and has some of the most stringent environmental requirements in New South Wales,” Michael said.  

“We pride ourselves on being environmentally aware and understanding and respecting how the operation has the potential to impact the surrounding local community.”  

Learn more about Thiess’ Mount Pleasant Operation.