Mining
MRP provides air quality and meteorological consulting services to the Australian mining sector. Our team has delivered technical programs across iron ore, gold, lithium, coal, mineral sands, and base metals operations, from pre-approval impact assessments through to operational compliance and monitoring. We understand what mining projects need to demonstrate and how regulators will assess it.
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How we support mining clients
Mining operations create a range of air quality and environmental challenges across every phase of a project's life. Our expertise covers mining approvals, compliance obligations, and operational issues affecting surrounding communities and workforce health.
Air quality risk in mining operations
Mining activities generate a range of air quality risks that vary by project phase, site conditions, and operational practices. Our technical expertise focuses on understanding how these risks arise, how they interact with the surrounding environment, and how they are managed to meet regulatory and operational requirements.
Emissions sources and pathways
Mining operations produce air emissions from mobile equipment, processing activities, power generation, and fugitive sources. We characterise how emissions are generated, identify the relevant pathways to receptors, and define the technical basis required for impact assessment, approvals, and management planning. This includes both particulate and gaseous emissions relevant to environmental and health-based criteria.
Dust generation and off-site impacts
Dust is often the most prominent air quality issue for mining projects, driven by material handling, earthworks, haulage, and exposure to wind. We understand how site layout, operational practices, and meteorological conditions influence dust generation and dispersion, allowing dust risks to be assessed and managed in a practical, site-specific manner. Our expertise focuses on linking sources, conditions, and controls in a way that is meaningful for both regulators and site teams.
Processing and power generation
In addition to dust, mining operations can generate air toxics and combustion-related pollutants, including metals and diesel-related emissions. We assess the relevance of these contaminants to regulatory criteria and environmental risk, supporting informed decision‑making during approvals and ongoing operations.
Meteorology
Meteorological conditions drive how pollutants and dust disperse from mining operations. We develop site-representative datasets, forecasting systems, and wind analyses that underpin your dispersion modelling and regulatory submissions.
Workplace exposure considerations
Mining workforces may be exposed to airborne contaminants such as respirable dust, crystalline silica, metals, and diesel particulate matter. We understand the distinction between environmental air quality and occupational exposure settings and assess workplace airborne risks in line with relevant exposure standards and operational controls.
Community amenity and odour
Where relevant, mining operations can give rise to odour impacts that affect nearby communities. We assess odour risks within the broader air quality context, focusing on source characteristics, operating conditions, and potential off-site effects.
Services
Each mining project carries its own air quality requirements depending on stage, commodity, and regulatory jurisdiction. We provide services that address the air quality challenges of the full project lifecycle, from initial impact assessment and regulatory approvals through to operational monitoring, compliance reporting, and ongoing management planning.
Air quality impact assessments
Mining project approvals depend on technically sound air quality impact assessments. We prepare assessments for regulatory assessments and environmental impact statements that meet regulatory requirements and hold up under technical review.
Air Quality Impact Assessments
Air quality management plans
Operational mining sites need clear plans to manage dust, emissions, and odour. We develop management plans with defined triggers, response actions, and monitoring requirements aligned to your approval and licence conditions.
Air Quality Management Plans
Air quality monitoring
Mining operations often require ambient monitoring networks to demonstrate compliance at nearby sensitive receptors. We design, implement, and manage monitoring programs that meet AS 3580 requirements and deliver defensible data.
Air Quality Monitoring
Atmospheric dispersion modelling
Regulators require modelling to assess how emissions from your mining operation will affect air quality at surrounding receptors. We deliver dispersion modelling using AERMOD, CALPUFF, and other models matched to your project's scale and regulatory context.
Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling
Environmental compliance
Mining projects carry ongoing reporting obligations under the NPI, NGER Act, and state regulatory licence conditions. We manage your emissions inventories, regulatory submissions, and compliance programs across all applicable frameworks.
Environmental ApprovalsMeteorology and forecasting
We can provide forecasting services that allow you to plan operations in advance to reduce impacts at nearby receptors. We can also develop site-representative met datasets, build forecasting systems, and deliver custom data tools tailored to your operation.
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