TELLUS RELEASES SANDY RIDGE PER FOR PUBLIC REVIEW

• Public Environment Review (PER) document is now available for review by the public
• A 12-week public consultation and feedback process has commenced
• The full PER document is available on Tellus Holdings web site
• Public submissions can be made via the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority

Feasibility studies 

• Scoping Study (FEL 1) – 2014
• Pre-Feasibility Study (FEL 2) – 2015
• Interim Bankable Feasibility Study (FEL 2.5) – 2016.

Geotechnical and engineering surveys

• JORC inferred mineral resource estimate of 41 million tonnes kaolinised granite, with an inferred ceramic grade resource of 7.9 million tonnes of kaolinised granite1
• Bulk sampling and kaolin process pilot plant operation (35 t pilot in Perth produced 9 t of saleable product)2
• Market development trials (resulted in signed agreement with AMR-HK based kaolin trading house)3
• Geotechnical and mine planning drilling and sampling (265 holes, 7,938m)4
• Site topographical survey and digital aerial photography
• Waste solidification and stabilisation testwork (successful German trials).

Independent peer reviews

Tellus used a number of independent subject matter experts to complete a formal independent value engineering step5 and an independent safety case peer review6 step of the Facility.

The value engineering (VE) exercise was done by UGL Limited, with support from GHD and other industry experts covering mining, logistics, process design, construction and operations. Ten organisations provided 3,000 hours of independent input over four months for Tellus two connected projects.

Tellus also commissioned the UK-based Eden consulting company if the design, operation and closure system of the proposed Sandy Ridge Facility is sound and meets a best practice design that can protect the environment
and human health. On the basis of knowledge of other disposal facilities for the disposal of difficult to manage hazardous waste and low level radioactive waste (LLW) worldwide, Eden concluded that:

• the design of the Sandy Ridge Facility is excellent
• the proposed multi-barrier system offers very good prospects of excellent long-term performance that can protect the environment and human health
• the long-term performance outcomes are comparable or better than the performance of many other LLW disposal facilities in other countries
• the sound design is facilitated by the favorable hydrological and hydrogeological environment.

Community consultation

Tellus has engaged openly with stakeholders about its proposed Sandy Ridge proposal. Key stakeholders were offered the opportunity to provide feedback and raise issues during the development of the draft Environmental Scoping Document and draft PER.

• Tellus has completed extensive briefings of individuals and groups within Federal, State and Local Government Departments and Authorities and the main political parties
• Tellus has also consulted with non-government organisations, industry and business, landholders, traditional owners and potential customers.
• Tellus has also completed numerous briefings and consultations with local stakeholders and residents of the surrounding communities of Kalgoorlie, Coolgardie and Southern Cross. The latest briefings in Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie were in November 2016.
• Further public consultations are planned in Southern Cross in December 2016 and again in Perth, Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie and Southern Cross in February, 2017.

The focus of the consultation to date has been to explain the main outcomes of the detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) done for the proposal and to obtain feedback on key environmental and social benefits or concerns associated with the proposed project.

Managing Director of Tellus Mr Duncan van der Merwe commented “Tellus is a unique dual revenue business that is assisting in providing much needed infrastructure that can assist in cleaning up Australia of hazardous waste and at the same time create long term, green, sustainable, well paid jobs covering technical (engineering, chemistry, science), commercial (sales, business) and operational skills. We are looking at investing over $61 million in regional Australia that will assist in diversifying the economy and with a policy of hiring and buying locally we also create hundreds of millions of dollars of business opportunities.

What is the problem Tellus is trying to solve, the current situation and the Tellus solution

The problem that Tellus’ proposed project is trying to solve is that Australia is one of the highest emitters of hazardous waste on a per capita basis. Australia’s large 900-million-ton legacy waste stockpile is increasing every year as does the risk profile and on top of that volume we also produce approximately 5.5 million tonnes per annum of new hazardous waste that is also growing in complexity and volume in line with population growth and increased industrialisation. There is a lack of sufficient infrastructure at a cost-effective price point that can deal with this volume and that can permanently solve this problem. Many producers resort to storing their waste in temporary solutions on site or with third parties that create increased risk, or they send their waste overseas as Australia has limited solutions.

The current situation is that the regulators and the community recognize that medium to high hazardous waste should be permanently isolated from the biosphere to remove the risk and protect the environment and people and where possible, valuable materials should be recovered and pushed back into the circular economy. Tellus has developed a solution that solves the “protect” verse “recover dilemma”.

Tellus can store, recover or permanently isolate waste in a geological repository that is simple to use, cost effective and applies global best practice solutions.

What is a geological repository?

A geological repository is an underground storage or disposal facility of hazardous waste that relies on a thick, flat, dry, geologically stable and extensive natural geological barrier (clay bed) and man-made engineered barriers that form part of a multibarrier system as part of an overall safety case that are globally recognised for permanent isolation capabilities.

Tellus plans to permanently isolate hazardous and intractable waste that is generated due to our industrialized and modern lifestyle using environmentally sound management (ESM) principles that protect the environment and human health. Tellus also supports the circular economy using long term storage by placing like-with-like waste resource for operational safety reasons and to create opportunities for the future recovery of valuable materials at a proposed technology park on site. Tellus’ business model mirrors international solutions operating in the UK, Europe and North America.

What is the difference between a well-engineered landfill and a geological repository?

The key difference between a well-engineered landfill and a geological repository is that a landfill only has manmade engineered barriers typically comprising an artificial or thin clay liner approximately 1.5m or less, that usually can only isolate hazardous waste for 10- 30 years before degradation of the liner creates a potential contamination risk (pollution plume). Whereas a geological repository with its engineered and natural barrier (best barrier of them all) is passively safe on a geological timescale. As a result, internationally, regulators are restricting landfill development and their use for most hazardous waste types and are moving towards
geological repositories that can permanently isolate the waste and protect the environment and people’s health.

What are the waste types accepted at Sandy Ridge?

Most industry sectors and households generate hazardous and intractable waste. For example:

• Agriculture, forestry & fishing sector- Pesticides, acid and alkaline chemicals and contaminated soil
• Construction sector –commercial and industrial building materials contaminated with waste like asbestos
• Government sector – Federal, State and Local Government responsibilities– e.g. Emergency Services for man-made disaster management like waste recovered from vehicle, train, ship and aeroplane accidents or natural disaster management like waste recovered from fires, floods, cyclones
• Healthcare sector – Medical isotopes, pharmaceuticals
• Manufacturing sector (chemicals) – Inorganic chemicals, acid and alkalines, organic solvents
• Manufacturing sector (heavy industry) – Plating and heat treatment, PCB’s, acids, and alkalines, heavy metals, organic solvents
• Mining & processing sector – Acids, alkalines, Organic chemicals (arsenic and cyanide from gold industry), inorganic chemicals like spent pot liner from the aluminium industry)
• Media, telecoms & technology sector – E-waste, lead batteries
• Oil and gas sector – NORM scale, hydrocarbon sludges, mercury
• Utilities – electricity and gas supply, water sector – Inorganic chemicals
• Utilities – waste management sector (including household haz. waste) – Paints, resins, inks
• Scientific & technical services sector – Contaminated cupels, legacy chemistries, sealed source LLR.

Almost everything in nature has some small amount of natural radioactivity and processing concentrates it. At Sandy Ridge the acceptance criteria identify NORM up to Low level radioactive waste (LLW) activity content and other LLW such as medical isotopes, smoke detectors, sealed gauges as suitable for storage and disposal in accordance with the safety case. For planning purposes Tellus is assuming that LLW will account for <1% of the volume of waste received.

What are the waste types NOT accepted at Sandy Ridge?

Chemical wastes which are gases, highly corrosive, highly oxidising, infectious or uncertified will not be accepted under any circumstances. Wastes which are liquids or sludges, explosive, flammable liquids or solids, selfcombusting, generate a gas-air mixture which is toxic or explosive, biodegradable, tyres, could release free liquid or react with the host geology will not normally be accepted unless they can be stabilised, solidified or modified in such a way that they will not affect the operational or post closure safety of the facilities.

“Nuclear waste storage or disposal services would not be provided at the proposed Sandy Ridge Facility. Nuclear material is already prohibited from being transported into and stored within Western Australia by the Nuclear Waste Storage and Transportation (Prohibition) Act 1999. The proposed Sandy Ridge Facility has not been nominated as a potential National Radioactive Waste Management Facility. No such nomination is planned and no such nomination would be accepted should it be made by any other party,” the PER document states.

Key characteristics of the project

• The project life for planning purposes is 25 years, however the project life could be multi-generational
• A capacity up to 40,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of refined kaolin could be used for the ceramic, paint, stabilisation/ solidification clay markets
• A capacity up to 100,000 tpa of waste storage, recovery or permanent isolation is being applied for
• Approximately 90 jobs would be created during the construction phase of Sandy Ridge, and approximately 23 direct and 46 indirect (2x multiplier) during the operation phase,
• The Project will also provide training, employment and business opportunities for local and Aboriginal people during construction and operation
• Pending the receipt of regulatory approvals and finance, Tellus hopes to commence construction during the
  second half of 2017 and fully operational during the second half of 2018.