Extreme weather posed significant risks to the social and economic wellbeing in communities near our operations in FY23. Given the unprecedented floods experienced in NSW over the year, and the extreme La Niña weather alerts in Queensland, our operations at Cowal and Mt Rawdon and the surrounding localities have experienced many stories of loss and hardship. Our Teams reached out to their local stakeholders, regulators and councils, to manage water impacts and to understand how we could best support the disaster response and recovery.

Many of our employees have been personally affected by these events and it is important that we contribute to the recovery of these regional communities. Evolution contributed $100,000 distributed across the Forbes, Lachlan and Cabonne Shire Councils. At Mt Rawdon, significant investment and commitment successfully managed time and resources to ensure safe and sustainable operations – in excess of $9 million was committed to help manage water on site, with $4.2 million spent up to 30 June 2023.

As well as financial investment, our sites have implemented measures to mitigate the impacts of stormwater runoff. Demonstrably, Mt Rawdon managed existing water storage capacity, pumped excess water prior to wet seasons, and continue to manage geotechnical hazards to keep our people healthy and safe.