SITE VISIT: EnviroKey visit the Broken Hill Cobalt Project (BHCP) for ecological surveys

Ecologists from EnviroKey were on site at the BHCP in July 2022 to undertake detailed ecological surveys within the proposed area of disturbance. This was their second fieldwork campaign following initial site investigations undertaken in March and April this year.

Principal Ecologists and accredited biodiversity assessors from EnviroKey, Steve and Linda Sass, completed a biodiversity plot using the NSW Government specified Biodiversity Assessment Method (BAM).

The BAM outlines how an accredited person assesses impacts on biodiversity at development sites. It is a scientific document that provides a consistent method for the assessment of biodiversity values from a proposed development (including major projects such as the BHCP).

This biodiversity plot is assessing the ecological integrity of Plant Community Type 136 Prickly Wattle open shrubland of drainage lines on stony rises and plains of the arid climate zone, which exists in some of the creek lines at the BHCP site. A large number of BAM plots in other Plant Community Types and surveys for threatened species have also been undertaken.

The results from the BAM are reported in a Biodiversity Development Assessment Report (BDAR) that will be a part of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to be submitted for State Significant Development Approval.