Lady Loretta Mine continues to shine for local stakeholders

Once again, with support from our contracting partner Redpath, Glencore’s annual Neighbours Day at Lady Loretta Mine was a success with local stakeholders relishing the opportunity to learn about this tight knit operation.

Eager for the unique opportunity to experience the ins and outs of the high-grade zinc-lead-silver underground mining operation, the visitors were up bright and early to embark on the 280 kilometre round trip to Lady Loretta Mine.

The day started with a quick mandatory visitor’s induction as well as an operational update delivered by our leadership and environment teams who shared the history of the mine and the plans being prepared for its closure in 2024.

A demonstration by Lady Loretta’s Emergency Response Team showed their mine rescue capabilities, while visitors gained an appreciation of the local geology learning about the minerals and types of rocks mined at the operations. The group then had the chance to go underground, and the experience left the visitors in awe at the unique subterranean environment.

The day concluded with a delicious catered lunch at the Lady Loretta village camp, which also included a tour of the facilities. The immaculate state of the camp with a large pool, gym facilities, tennis and basketball courts, walking trails and shared common spaces to hold social gatherings impressed the visitors.

Glencore’s Lady Loretta Project Manager, Sam Roberts, was pleased with the positive response from stakeholders at the Neigbours Day.

“It’s important that we continue to share and have open conversations about what we do here at Lady Loretta Mine, how we do it sustainably and what our closure plans will look like moving forward,” Sam says.

“We aim to achieve and maintain the highest standards of health, safety and environmental performance at our operations, and continue to work in partnership with the local community and our neighbours.”

With the mine coming to the end of its life in 2024, Sam says Glencore was working hard towards having a detailed plan to ensure the land was rehabilitated and returned to an agreed post-mining use.

“We are in the process of developing a Progressive Rehabilitation and Closure Plan in accordance with recent Queensland legislative reforms,” says Sam.

“Where possible, we’ve already commenced progressive rehabilitation of some of the disturbed land on the mining lease.”

“In 2019 and 2020 the drill pads and ponds within the ventilation infrastructure footprint were reshaped, exploration drill holes were capped and the landfill was decommissioned.”

“This year we commenced revegetation of the ventilation and landfill areas, in addition to reshaping and the revegetation of the exploration drill pad,” Sam says.

Lady Loretta’s mining lease covers about 2782.8 hectares with its underground operations reaching 550 metres deep, with around 41 kilometres of tunnels.

Although a relatively small mine, the operation produces about 1.6 million tonnes of high-grade zinc-lead-silver ore each year. The ore is crushed onsite before being transported to Mount Isa and blended with ore from George Fisher Mine prior to processing.

Lady Loretta has a finite life of mine, but the success of the operations has continued to be a source of pride and prosperity to Glencore and its employees.