- The document proposes a sustainable solution for dealing with waste tires at mine sites through establishing recycling facilities to recover and process tires into recycled rubber products. - Currently, tire disposal costs mining companies significant expenses and buries tires in landfills, but recycling could turn the tires into a valuable resource and reduce environmental impacts. - A feasibility study is recommended to evaluate establishing recycling facilities in Australia to process mine site tires into recycled rubber products for use in mines, which would provide financial and environmental benefits over current disposal methods.

1. The Green Rubber Opportunity
– a sustainable solution for dealing with waste
tyre at mine sites
July 2014
Africa Zanella
Phillip Isaacs
Simon Michaux

2. Summary
• Current disposal of OTR tyres in operations currently not done efficiently with significant
burial and maintenance costs and potential reputation and hazard risks
• Proposals for safe disposal are underway with the establishment of Tyre Stewardship
Australia
• Recycling of end of life OTR tyres is proposed as a cost effective solution
• Environmental benefits to mining companies
• Going forward with a scoped logistics and feasibility study for a global solution to waste
tyre problems at mine sites
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3. Eliminating a current mining industry cost associated with
environmental compliance transformed into an opportunity
• OTR tyres at the end of their useful life need to be disposed of
• This is an OPEX cost that has been deferred by many operations by stockpiling
and burying the end of life tyres
• Domestic sector practice is coming to the attention to legislators
• Perceived changes in regulations will require compliance
• Green Rubber presents an opportunity to transform an OPEX cost and a
significant environmental problem into an exploitable resource
• Cost neutral, removing a compliance cost
• Potential generation of revenue
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4. OTR tyres at the end of their useful life
• Represent around 65,000 tonnes of waste annually, of which around 15,000 tonnes
annually is produced in the NSW Hunter Region.
• Handled like most waste at the end of its useful life, a cost of disposal is involved and
the current tyres given their size and difficulty in handling as well as transport
distances are presently costing mining companies considerable annual expense in
collection, burial and “environmental protection”.
• Furthermore, waste tyres in all states in Australia have come under a great deal of
attention and discussion over several years by all environmental authorities.
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5. The Green Rubber brand is so classified as a name given to recycled rubber that
would be extracted exclusively from the Waste OTR tyres to be found buried in the
mining sites across Australia.
The project has developed a “virtuous cycle” of Waste to Valuable Resource using a
holistic approach that takes into account collection, recycling and giving back to the
mining sector products that would substitute for existing products made out of
timber and other natural scarce and expensive materials.
Over time the carbon reduction of the project along with cheaper and longer life
products makes this project a unique example for Greener industries and better
management of waste that can be utilized using the right technologies available to
Green Rubber Pty Ltd globally.
9/07/2014 (#)
Green Rubber

6. Current tyre disposal is becoming an issue
• By their very nature, tyres are difficult to dispose
• Most tyres are put in land fill in some form
• In the Northern hemisphere approx. 18% are burnt as a "replacement fuel" in the manufacture of
cement. This is fast becoming the most popular way of disposing of them
• Tyre burning emits ultra-fine particles that have a toxicity all of their own. The toxicity is even
stronger if this contains metals such as nickel and tin, which you get when you throw the whole tyre
into the furnace. If the metal content of the particles goes up, then there is going to be an increasing
impact on human health
• Tyre burning is a very attractive short-term option but causes emissions of sulphur dioxide
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7. A change in legislation and compliance is coming
While this legislation change will be developed for the domestic
sector, this will also impact the industrial sector
The only long
term solution
Not sustainable
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8. Unsustainable practice for the disposal of tyres are forcing
review and restructure of regulations for compliance
This will eventually change what is required for compliance by anyone disposing of used tyres
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9. Conventional tyre life cycle
Manufacture
tyre
Use tyre
Disposal of
tyre
Steel= 25%
Rubber= 75%
(synthetic rubber derived from
petroleum and natural gas)
Land fill that
won’t break
down over time
Non renewable
natural
resources
Open ended and unsustainable
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Becoming more expensive
due to rise in OPEX
Capacity filling up and increased
volume becoming an issue

10. Proposed tyre life cycle
Manufacture
tyre
Use tyre
Recycling of tyre
in rubber pellets
Steel= 25%
Rubber= 75%
Much less use of
non renewable
natural resources
Closed loop and sustainable
Manufacture new
rubber products
Much less
land fill use
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11. Virtuous cycle of waste to valuable resource
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The Australia-wide Green Rubber Project provides a proven
solution to the logistics, environmental and financial feasibility of
fully integrated facilities for recovery, downsizing, transport and
recycling of mining industry “off the road” (OTR) tyres
This proposal provides an opportunity to turn an end-of-life
product into a valuable and beneficial resource at an initial
facility in the NSW Hunter Region followed by facilities in
Queensland and Western Australia.
GREEN RUBBER PROJECT – VIRTUOUS CYCLE OF WASTE TO VALUABLE
RESOURCE – A SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION – NOTE G4 CHANGE
OPERATING
ENTITY
OTR WASTE TYRE
LOGISTICS GROUP
ASSOCIATED
MINING
COMPANY
WASTE TYRE RECOVERY &
PRE-CUTTING AT MINE
SITES
TRANSPORT FROM
MINES TO
RECYCLING PLANTS
RECYCLING
PLANTS
WA, QLD, NSW
MANUFACTURING PLANTS
HIGH NET RESOURCE
VALUE DOWNSTREAM
PRODUCTS FOR THE
MINING INDUSTRY
Reporting on
Outcomes under
Global Reporting
Initiative
G4 Guidelines
POSSIBLE MINING
COMPANIES
BACKLOADS
INITIATORS &
CONSULTANTS
GREEN RUBBER
PTY LTD
RECYCLED
PLASTICS AND
FILLERS SUPPLY
CRUMB RUBBER
AND/OR POWDER
WASTE TYRE
SUPPLY

12. Examples of Global State of the Art Mobile Equipment
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Bagel Cutter for up to 55/80/R63 tyres Rotary ShearsOTR Tyre Debeader for up to 55/80/R63 tyres Super Chopper
These units are mobile and can be easily moved around a mine site

13. Using recycled rubber to manufacture new products
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Replacing old timber railway sleepers with rubber and plastics new sleepers

14. Using recycled rubber to manufacture new products
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A feasibility study is required to determine the viability of manufacturing new products from recycled rubber pellets

15. Environmental benefits of recovery and recycling
– a sustainable solution for dealing with waste tyres at mine sites
• Turning a waste into a valuable resource
• Eliminating current mining industry costs for collection, burial and maintenance
in order to provide sensible “environmental protection”
• Avoiding significant harmful environmental impacts including the fire potential
during storage and interaction with the water table when buried
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16. Carbon footprint
• The weighted average carbon footprint was 124 kilograms of CO2 equivalent per
metric ton of materials recycled back into commerce
• The mean carbon footprint in 2007 was 153 +/- 92 kilograms of CO2 equivalent
per metric ton of material recycled. Larger tire recycling facilities tended to have
lower carbon footprints than smaller tire recycling facilities.
• The use of recycled rubber in moulded products provides a substantial carbon
footprint advantage over the use of virgin plastic resins, having between four and
20 times lower carbon footprint
• When used in road surfaces, recycled rubber had between three and seven times
lower carbon footprint than asphalt on a materials basis
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17. Carbon footprint of recycling tyres
• The carbon footprint was dominated by the processing of the tires followed by
transport of the used tires to the processing facility
• Electricity was the largest source of the carbon footprint, followed by the use of
diesel fuel
• When used in energy recovery, recycled rubber tires provided about a 20 percent
carbon footprint advantage over coal, but tires had substantially more carbon
emissions than other fossil fuels
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The upstream carbon footprint for the production of asphalt is 840 kg CO2 per metric ton. In comparison, the carbon
footprint for recycling tires is 124 kg CO2 per metric ton. This reuse of rubber tires in roads is clearly highly favourable
from a climate change perspective.

18. The Green Rubber opportunity
• The Green Rubber Project will bring financial benefits to the mining companies not just in
substitution of the raw material but also in the safety and longer life-cycle performance of the
Green Rubber products and the virtuous cycle of reducing and working towards a zero waste in
this area for the mining companies and the producers of OTR tyres across the world.
• The current acknowledged practice of burying waste OTR tyres at mine sites is costly and in some
circumstances creates serious environmental impacts from chemical emissions, insects and fires.
• Establishing a new practice of well organized collection and downsizing of the tyres on mine sites
and in stages also collecting tyres from existing stockpiles will deliver direct cost and
organizational benefits. The new practice will comply with mine site occupational health and
safety requirements and individual mine site access requirements, all prior to commencement
and thereafter.
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19. Opportunity to improve relations with government and communities
• The carbon footprint of the Green Rubber Project is less than 1% of the initial embodied
energy of the new tyres, which is a compelling case for the need to ensure that the
mining companies work closely with the tyre producers, the recycling industry and
Green Rubber Pty Ltd to arrive at an environmentally and socially acceptable solution for
the disposal of the waste and its conversion into Green Rubber.
• The opportunity for mining companies to participate in the usage of downstream
products on mine sites can be utilized in Reporting under the Global Reporting Initiative
G4 Guidelines with clear environmental and community benefits declared to improve
the image of the mining companies.
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20. Opportunity to improve relations with government and communities
• Tyre Stewardship Australia has implemented a new Levy to be charged on all tyres
around Australia to pay for research and ongoing costs of implementation
• The formation of Tyre Stewardship Australia and the participation in it by the Minerals
Council of Australia is a real opportunity for individual mining companies to show
leadership and to reap the benefits of research funding as well as reduction in
operational costs and increase in sustainability of operations
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21. Formation of Tyre Stewardship Australia
• Tyre Stewardship Australia has recently been formed as the basis for a future viable
tyre recycling industry for both passenger, truck and OTR tyres. Mining companies in
Australia currently bury around $1.5 billion in initial value of new tyres which simply
becomes “waste”.
• Green Rubber Pty Ltd has had extensive participation in the formation of Tyre
Stewardship Australia and is registered with it as Project Managers and Consultants to
the mining industry, recyclers and downstream products manufacturers. Work for
Mining Companies will take account of any impacts from the activities of Tyre
Stewardship Australia.
9/07/2014 (#)

22. Meeting NSW Government Strategies for Sustainability Advantage
STRATEGY
• Legislation and policy drivers
• Technology & infrastructure
changes and challenges
• Market development for recycled
products
• Research to support recycling
RESPONSE
• Landfill disposal banned in NSW and resource
recovery encouraged (Tyre Stewardship
Australia is functioning as a voluntary scheme)
• Proven process for downsizing tyres
• Moving to maximize high net resource value
products
• Energy efficient plant now available
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23. Meeting NSW Government Strategies for Sustainability Advantage
STRATEGY
• Reducing waste generation
• Community support & expectations
• Product stewardship and producer
responsibility
RESPONSE
• Mining companies are achieving
extended life of the OTR tyres
• A Green Rubber Project working with
DECC and HEDC (Newcastle)
• EPHC developing these and Green
Rubber Project in close dialogue
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24. Development targets for a feasibility study
• The number of tyres estimated in historical stockpiles and the rate at which they can be
recycled off operations real time – accessible stockpiles only and not buried tyres.
• The value of crumb rubber and/or powder currently and projected
• Technical viability of recycling OTR tyres and development of a viable process flow chart
• Estimation of the profile of proposed operation vs. existing practice
• pollution footprint
• carbon footprint
• Optimisation of logistical operation
• Development of business model and its stages of evolution
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25. Development targets for a feasibility study
• More appropriate exploitation of contained fossil fuels (oil & gas) in each tyre
• while the oil extraction to produce tyre derived fuel is not working as well as hoped, this could be
important if the price of oil goes up
• The range of products that could be made from the rubber (show a spectrum of
manufactured products)
• Perceived value and market share footprint of those manufactured products
• The potential for those products to overturn existing products due to shorter supply
chain logistics (made in Australia as opposed to overseas)
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26. Steps going forward
Step 1 –
• Determination of Mining Companies current and projected situation regarding its waste OTR
tyres including annual throughput, tyre types, site locations, stockpile data and accessibility,
OH&S and environmental conditions that apply at the mine sites and indicative costs of
collection, burial and maintenance applying at these mine sites.
Step 2 –
• Review of Green Rubber Project Stage 1 Report to determine applicability of data and strategies
to current Mining Companies situation determined in Step 1. Note that the Stage 1 Report
covers extensive research and study of an industry-wide approach to end of life tyre strategies
Step 3 –
• Determine in consultation with Mining Companies the most appropriate scale of a first Project
and its mine site location(s). This would involve consideration of the extent of new equipment
and facilities and the suitability of existing recycling and downstream products manufacturing
facilities to speed up the Project.
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27. Steps going forward
Step 4 –
• Prepare a detailed design and feasibility study for the agreed Project.
Step 5 –
• Determine in consultation with Mining Companies the benefits of proceeding with
more extensive Projects.
Step 6 –
• Prepare all necessary designs, specifications, Development Applications, tendering and
contract documents leading to formal agreements for building and infrastructure works
and all plant and equipment.
Step 7 –
• Provide complete Project Management and Supervision services to oversee the
delivery of the project to start-up stage.
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28. Conclusions
• This is an OPEX cost that has been deferred by many operations by stockpiling the
end of life tyres
• Domestic sector practice is coming to the attention of legislators
• Perceived changes in regulations will require compliance
• Recycling is the only sustainable option going forward, its just a question of when
• Green Rubber presents an opportunity to transform an OPEX cost and a
significant environmental problem into an exploitable resource
• The reuse of rubber products from used tires has the potential to make a
substantial contribution to reducing carbon emissions
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29. Thankyou for your time
Africa Zanella M.Comm africa.zanella@gmail.com
Phillip Isaacs OAM BE FIEAust FRSA phillip.isaacs@greenrubber.com.au
Simon Michaux Bach App Sc. PhD simonpetermichaux@gmail.com
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