Beyond quantity: Rio Tinto’s focus on quality rehabilitation outcomes in the Pilbara region of Western Australia

Authors: Wittkuhn, R; Cowan, E; Chester, P; Wood, B Download Paper Open access courtesy of:

DOI https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_repo/2615_68

Cite As:
Wittkuhn, R, Cowan, E, Chester, P & Wood, B 2026, 'Beyond quantity: Rio Tinto’s focus on quality rehabilitation outcomes in the Pilbara region of Western Australia', in AB Fourie, G Boggs, J Heyes & M Tibbett (eds), Mine Closure 2026: Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Mine Closure, Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth, pp. 1-13, https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_repo/2615_68



Abstract:
Rio Tinto has responsibility for rehabilitation across its Pilbara operations, which include 18 mine sites, port facilities and an extensive rail network in Western Australia. As the operational disturbance footprint has grown, so has the need for increased progressive rehabilitation to offset it. In response, a rapid increase in rehabilitation delivery has been a focus across landforms of various complexity and size, achieving an average of 50% year-on-year uplift in hectares rehabilitated since 2019. With a continued pipeline of rehabilitation hectare outputs, the focus has now turned to quality and replication of successful outcomes. Rio Tinto’s investment in research, development and trials to improve rehabilitation performance in the Pilbara is informed by a rehabilitation strategic plan and performance framework endorsed by senior leadership. In 2022 the business established dedicated rehabilitation performance resourcing and technical expertise to support delivery of improved rehabilitation quality outcomes. Since this time, the rehabilitation performance team has managed an increasing portfolio ranging from seed forecasting and procurement through to rehabilitation monitoring and reporting, capturing knowledge gaps and identifying programs of work to resolve them. Central to this has been increasing the utilisation of rehabilitation monitoring data to: (1) develop digital tools to improve reporting and business understanding of rehabilitation quality; (2) develop proposed specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART) rehabilitation criteria; and (3) demonstrate the quality of previous rehabilitation outcomes against proposed rehabilitation criteria. This paper will describe the evolution of the program and provide insights of connected seed and species projects, replicated field trials, monitoring and reporting improvements, and collaboration with research institutions. The aim of the program is to move beyond simply hectares rehabilitated and towards developing evidence-based prescriptions to achieve quality rehabilitation outcomes.

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