What’s it about in short: launch of the Great Vic­to­ria Desert Bio­di­ver­sity Trust
as part of the off­sets strat­egy for the Trop­i­cana Gold Mine in West­ern Australia

When was it released: Novem­ber 25, 2014

By whom: 360 envi­ron­men­tal

More info: http://www.360environmental.com.au/news-resources/great-victoria-desert-biodiversity-trust-launched/ and http://www.tropicanajv.com.au/irm/content/biodiversity-trust1.aspx?RID=339 and goo.gl/iv463P (pdf)

Short extract:

On Novem­ber 25, the Great Vic­to­ria Desert Bio­di­ver­sity Trust (the Trust) was launched. 360 Envi­ron­men­tal worked with Angl­o­Gold Ashanti Aus­tralia Ltd to develop the Trust ini­tia­tive with the assis­tance of the State and Fed­eral reg­u­la­tors, stake­hold­ers and the Peer Review Panel (made up of expert sci­en­tists, indige­nous and com­mu­nity rep­re­sen­ta­tives) estab­lished through the Envi­ron­men­tal Impact Assess­ment process for the project. The Trust is a new envi­ron­men­tal ini­tia­tive which will focus on con­serv­ing and increas­ing knowl­edge of bio­di­ver­sity in the Great Vic­to­ria Desert.

The Trust was estab­lished by the Trop­i­cana Joint Ven­ture (AGAA 70% and man­ager, Inde­pen­dence Group NL 30%) as part of its off­set strat­egy for the Trop­i­cana Gold Mine in West­ern Aus­tralia. The Trust rep­re­sents a new struc­ture of off­set deliv­ery and oper­ates as a unique part­ner­ship model between indus­try and gov­ern­ment.   The Trop­i­cana Gold Project is located on the west­ern edge of the Great Vic­to­ria Desert (GVD).  The joint ven­ture part­ners recog­nised the need for bas­ing man­age­ment deci­sions on robust sci­ence and hence, the con­cept of the Great Vic­to­ria Desert Bio­di­ver­sity Trust (the Trust) was conceived.