Sustainability Report 2021

Further land access studies were completed during the financial year to understand the environmental and social values of the region and stakeholder sentiment insights and to inform a future land access strategy. Understanding sentiment insights and the values of specific stakeholders is crucial to ensuring the community and other key stakeholders are informed and engaged. Paterson The IGO exploration Paterson team completed a desktop environmental and biological study across the whole of IGO’s Paterson tenement package in FY21. This study was completed to better understand the environment in which we conduct exploration work programs and identify any critical environmental receptors. Previous environmental investigations have identified fauna species of conservation significance with proximity to the IGO tenure holding, including the Greater Bilby (Macrotis lagotis). IGO exploration have put in place strategies to mitigate any potential impact upon these species. Participation in research and conservation programs IGO has an ongoing commitment to fund or contribute to environmental and biodiversity research programs. Some of the programs we continued to support in FY21 include: • Curtin University Topsoil Health study, determining how the diversity, abundance and activity of soil microbes within topsoil stockpiles is influenced by factors such as storage time • Curtin University eDNA Fauna Research Project • our ongoing collaboration with not-for-profit company Thylation, to support the development of the Felixer prototype to manage feral cat populations. Read more in our FY20 Sustainability Report; and • various collaborations in the innovation and technology space that will ultimately result in improved environmental outcomes. Read more on pages 56, 57 and 95. Case Study: Nova eDNA Study - Phase 2 Understanding the impacts on fauna at our mining operations can be challenging. The diverse array of mammals, reptiles and birds in the GWW and associated low densities make monitoring their numbers and range difficult. The open nature of the region also means numerous species of mammals, reptiles and birds rely on hollow trees and logs as habitat for breeding and shelter. This makes them vulnerable to the impacts of land clearing, which is often required for mining and exploration. IGO, in collaboration with Curtin University and the Australian Centre for Mine Site Restoration, undertook a project to compare vertebrate biodiversity assessments using camera traps and two eDNA metabarcoding assays of two different substrates: soil, and hollow sediment, focusing sampling around likely areas of concentrated biodiversity in log hollows. The aim of the project is to improve decision making for terrestrial eDNA surveys by: • examining whether eDNA from terrestrial vertebrates can be recovered from log hollow sediment and soil surface samples and assess diversity within and overlap between these two substrates; and • comparing DNA sequence-based and traditional biodiversity survey methods. Specifically, we compared a DNA sequence-based approach with camera trap studies to understand the extent to which they complement one another. Results of these studies have shown a higher degree of species diversity present in eDNA samples than suggested by camera traps. These findings demonstrate that the choice of biomonitoring technique critically affects diversity detected and that single method monitoring regimes may underestimate diversity at our operations. This study has helped us better understand the fauna populations at Nova and the best ways to successfully manage and rehabilitate areas throughout our operational phase and during closure. Motion sensor camera images captured during the eDNA study IGO SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2021— 77