Anglo American has launched a livestock grazing trial on 49.6 ha of rehabilitated mine land at Dartbrook coal mine in Australia. The three-to-five year trial will evaluate whether the rehabilitated land can sustainably support productive and commercially viable livestock grazing.

Rehabilitation of the land was completed in 2007 after the surface was shaped to the required slope and revegetated with a mixture of improved pasture species including rhodes grass, rye grass, green panic, kikuyu and phalaris.

Rural Property Manager Ian Curtis said after consistently good pasture growth, a herd of 27 cattle were introduced onto the property in April 2015 to begin the trial.

“The objective of the trial will be to demonstrate that the rehabilitated mining land can be successfully grazed at a reasonable and commercial stocking rate,” Curtis said.

“There is now full cover and good bulk in the pasture, and a number of legumes have successfully established including lucerne and white clover, so we are quite positive that the land will be able to sustain cattle grazing.”

Curtis said to prepare the property for productive cattle grazing a significant amount of work was undertaken including fencing and gate construction.

The trial would involve extensive monitoring of the land and stock, including regular counting and weighing of the cattle, and background structural and chemical assessments on the soil to monitor changes or evidence of erosion.

Pastures would be monitored monthly for quantity and quality parameters including dry matter yield, ground cover and changes to species composition.

Curtis said it was important for Anglo American to continue to demonstrate that the land has a sustainable future after mining. “We’re at the forefront of strategies for sustainable final land use and we’re committed to the rehabilitation of mining sites with the long term in mind,” he said.