Planting the future

Last updated: 9 September 2019

Meet Frances Whittle – animal lover, green thumb and proud member of the Land Management & Rehabilitation team at Rio Tinto's Weipa bauxite mine, in far northern Australia.

It can be tough work and you definitely get your hands dirty – and maybe other parts of your body too. But, Frances says, "I'm passionate about what I do – that's why I’m here."

Frances has an important job. She makes sure our mine leaves the smallest impact on the environment.

Frances and her team restore parts of the land back to nature, once mining stops. Just last year they grew 25,000 native plants from seed. And they planted 25,000 seedlings – baby trees – on 125 hectares. A year on, almost all of the seedlings planted are thriving.

"It means what we're doing is working. It's really important, because we want to make sure it's looked after properly for future generations," says Frances.

In fact it's an essential part of the mining process.

Long before mining starts, our team does cultural and environmental studies to understand the area and look for ways to reduce any impacts. We can do this by avoiding an area, or by working with Traditional Owners to make sure heritage sites are looked after during mining.

Other times it's about making sure land is rehabilitated the right way afterwards. One of the ways we're doing this at Weipa is by working with Traditional Owners to understand how they use the region's plants – for medicine, food and ceremonies.

Then, as part of rehabilitation, the team makes sure those plants are grown in the right areas: "We make sure trees like the nonda plum – an edible native fruit – are planted in areas where local Aboriginal people gather and share stories," Frances says.