Land Use and Biodiversity Management

We have an important role in biodiversity stewardship – contributing to the proper risk assessment of biodiversity conditions, minimising habitat degradation, and planning for habitat restoration during the mine lifecycle.

Local stakeholders are valuable sources of knowledge concerning biodiversity, and we work closely with the local communities to identify sensitive areas and monitor any potential impacts. We work with local conservation groups and seek to find collaboration opportunities that
lead to positive environmental outcomes for the local communities. We incorporate stakeholder concerns into our environmental stewardship approach.

Our biodiversity strategy is linked to the stage of development of projects. For example, at all operations in production, biodiversity risks are actively mitigated through ongoing risk assessment, baseline and continuous field mapping of fauna and flora, and land disturbance permit process. Sensitive flora and fauna are only impacted where the internal and external risk management and permitting process have been met and no other alternative is available.

In FY23, we completed a gap analysis against TNFD in its beta framework to improve Evolution’s awareness and capability in emerging disclosure requirements regarding nature. The analysis positioned Evolution as a leader in water management, with opportunities for further
development in biodiversity protection, offsets and progressive rehabilitation. Relevant recommendations will be implemented, communicated across the business, and utilised to inform future disclosures in relation to regulated and non-regulated biodiversity, impacts and dependencies. We will take opportunities to assess alignment once the final TNFD Framework is released.

We strive to apply the mitigation hierarchy from Avoidance to Transformation with the ambition of no net loss in protecting biodiversity and ecosystems. We design our exploration or mining operations to avoid or minimise impact to protected areas and commit to the protection of World Heritage Sites.

We are committed to minimising impacts to forests and our environmental footprint through risk-based and responsible biodiversity management, and to enhancing biodiversity via reforestation nearby our operations via our Environmental Enhancement projects
and investments. In FY23, Red Lake participated in the Federal Government’s 50 Million Tree Planting Program and planted 25,000 trees in a single day, in partnership with a local forest management company and schools, to revegetate an old tailings area. These revegetation efforts complement previous work in 2011, where Red Lake constructed a 5.5-hectare wetland treatment area within the tailing storage facility to aid in natural degradation of ammonia in the contact water. In early 2022, Red Lake began a wetland expansion project to increase the wetland size to 14 hectares, which has improved effuent water quality discharged from the operation.

Biodiversity Management Plans which meet the requirements of the Biodiversity Sustainability Performance Standard are in place at all operations, where required, and are regularly reviewed. All activities are monitored in accordance with relevant jurisdictional obligations. Biodiversity assessments are undertaken in the project planning phase to identify risk of impact biodiversity and mitigation opportunities which inform the development of operational plans at each operation in alignment with local regulations the Sustainability Performance Standards.