HEMI GOLD PROJECT PRELIMINARY DOCUMENTATION Response to comments
Document | Reviewed | Approved |
Site Name: Hemi Gold Project | D Ginger | K Tedesco |
Hemi Gold Project 1
The project 1
Public comment 1
Public comment received 1
- References 11
Table 1: Summary of comments and Responses 2
Table 2: Predicted Turner River Composition Post-discharge 9
Table 3: Uranium Toxicity terrestrial, aquatic and marine species 10
LIST OF APPENDICESConfidential Attachment A - Updated Stakeholder Register 11
Hemi Gold Project
Northern Star (Pilbara) Pty Ltd (Northern Star) (a wholly owned subsidiary of Northern Star Resources Ltd) is proposing to develop the Hemi Gold Project (Hemi, or the Proposed Action), located approximately 85 km south of Port Hedland in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia (WA). Hemi is a greenfield gold mining project involving the excavation of open pits, mine dewatering, surplus water management, and associated infrastructure. Northern Star Resources Ltd acquired Hemi through the purchase of De Grey Mining Ltd on 5 May 2025.
The Proposed Action was referred to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) on 15 May 2023. On 15 November 2023, De Grey received formal notification from a delegate of the Minister for the Environment and Water that the proposed action is a Controlled Action, to be assessed by Preliminary Documentation for the following controlling provisions:
Listed Threatened species and communities (sections 18 and 18A of the EPBC Act); and
Listed migratory species (sections 20 and 20A of the EPBC Act).
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The project
The Project involves the excavation of open pits, mine dewatering, surplus water management including reinjection and controlled discharge. Associated supporting infrastructure includes onsite processing facilities, run of mine pad and ore stockpiles, an integrated waste landform (IWL) tailings storage facility (TSF), waste rock landforms (WRLs), low-grade stockpiles, explosive magazines and compounds, offices, workshops, laydowns, airstrip, workforce accommodation, surface water infrastructure, sealed and unsealed access and haulage roads, power and pipeline corridors, borrow pits, wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), landfills and other ancillary infrastructure.
The Project will commence with approximately a two-year period of dewatering, earthworks (including pre stripping), and construction activities, followed by operational pre-strip mining and processing. Dewatering activities will be ongoing for the life of mine to allow for safe operations.
The total indicative disturbance footprint for the Proposed Action is anticipated to be up to 5,830 ha within a Development Envelope of 22,194 ha.
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Public comment
The Preliminary Documentation was prepared in accordance with the requirements of the 'Request for Further Information for Preliminary Documentation' provided to De Grey on 18 January 2024. This document was published for public comment on 11 March 2026 until 1 April 2026 at the following locations:
Online at https://www.nsrltd.com/about-us/corporate-governance/
Available in hard copy from:
The Western Australian State Library, 25 Francis Street, Perth, 6000 and
South Hedland Library, Leake St, South Hedland WA 6722.
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Public comment received
One comment was received from DCCEEW. The topics were:
Methodology of the Western Wildlife Fauna Survey
Consultation regarding the Yule River Water Reserve
1
Possible treatments to reduce naturally occurring concentrations of Uranium, Vanadium and Arsenic in groundwater discharged to the Turner River
2
Table 1: Summary of comments and Responses
Date | Topic | Summary of comment | Response | Update to PD |
31/03/ 2026 | Fauna Survey -Northern Quoll | The Detailed vertebrate fauna survey 2021-2024 (Western wildlife, 2024) Appendix 23 outlines survey methods and provides records of protected matters, could you provide further detail on: The Northern Quoll was recorded on the Turner River. The species requires rocky outcrops for breeding, and there is a ridge of rocky outcrop located just outside the development envelope (Stony hills / Rocky outcrop in which MG Site 01 was located). Can you provide further detail on results of trapping and camera trapping at MG Site 01? Did all cameras record successfully, and were the pitfall traps able to be successfully located in the rocky substrate? | Trapping location MG Site 01 should not be considered as a ridge or rocky outcrop, but as a Stony Hill, so not likely to provide quoll shelter habitat. Western Wildlife (2024) (p. 14) describes this location as: Stony hills. Occasional tall Acacia shrubs over open spinifex hummock grassland on stony slopes. Dense Acacia shrubland in minor drainage. Plate 2 Accordingly, this habitat and the location at MG Site 01 is not likely to constitute suitable Northern Quoll shelter or foraging/dispersal habitat (Western Wildlife, 2024, Figure 12). Camera trap locations and start/stop dates are given in Western Wildlife (2024), Appendix 2. No indications of missing or faulty recordings were noted in the report. Camera traps were not used at MG Site 01but were used at nearby locations primarily deployed to target rocky or riverine habitats that may support the Northern Quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus) and sandplains that may support the spectacled Hare wallaby (Lagorchestes conspicillatus), Bilby (Macrotis lagotis) or Brush-tailed Mulgara (Dasycercus blythi). Camera traps were also set at two locations in Stony hills habitat types approximately 1km south and 1km southwest of MG Site 01 (Western Wildlife, 2024, Figure 9.5). There were multiple records of Northern Quoll at both the Yule and Turner Rivers, but they were not recorded at any other locations in this survey (Figure 11 of the Western Wildlife Fauna Survey (2024). | Not required |
Pitfall traps were successfully located in the area. Western Wildlife (2024) page 13 indicates that 420 pitfall trap nights were completed overall, with 10 pitfall traps in each of 6 locations (including MG Site 1), for 7 nights. |
Date | Topic | Summary of comment | Response | Update to PD |
Fauna Survey - Bilby | The diurnal survey included 32 x 2 ha quadrats which were searched for signs of the Bilby in April 2024, which returned secondary signs (old burrows). Were any nocturnal searches carried out to target the Greater Bilby? | Nocturnal searches were carried out to capture all activity identified (including Bilby). It should be noted that the majority of the nocturnal transects (Western Wildlife, 2024, Figure 7) were located within identified Bilby habitat, and traversed near a number of noted Bilby location records (Western Wildlife, 2024, Figure 14). . | Not required | |
Fauna survey - Night Parrot | The survey outlines Night Parrots were not detected and attributes this to absence of long unburnt Triodia, however examination of aerial photography, fire age mapping (Figure 3) shows a portion of Spinifex sandplain within the development envelope that has not been burned since 2014 (>10 yrs unburnt) (a mark-up can be provided, if requested). | The survey points out that very little potential night parrot habitat was identified within the survey area. Additionally, this potential habitat was unlikely to support Night Parrots as the Triodia spinifex patches showed evidence of more frequent or recent burn history than is required for the presence of Night Parrots. Despite this lack of potential habitat, an acoustic survey was completed within potentially suitable and surrounding locations. The lack of detection of Night Parrots is a result of the analysis of acoustic surveys and other field surveys, supported by habitat evaluation including consideration of length of time since previous burn. | Not required | |
Fauna survey - Night Parrot | The report refers to the Conservation Advice for Night Parrot, dated 2016. New conservation advice was published in 2025. Does the assessment of impacts change, including in light of the new definitions of Critical Habitat presented in the 2025 Conservation Advice? | The fauna survey (Western Wildlife, 2024) was published in July 2024 before the 2025 Conservation Advice came into effect. The 2025 guidance:
The Western Wildlife survey did not confine searches to roosting habitat and was undertaken over a large area over multiple years. Even 10 years unburnt is likely to be too young for spinifex. In addition, the 2025 guidance states "at sites where night parrots | Not required |
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