Students from Trafalgar High School recently spent the day touring the operational Yallourn mine as part of their VCE environmental studies.
The 10 VCE students had the opportunity to see the operations of a working mine and talk to mine rehabilitation experts from the Yallourn mine and Mine Land Rehabilitation Authority (MLRA).
Part of the field trip was identifying the role that vegetation plays in stabilising soils and its longer-term suitability in a rehabilitated site.
The trip finished with a visit to Habitat Creations at Yarragon to learn about seed banking and plant selection for future use at mine sites.
All these elements will feed into the students' assessment tasks, an advantage to local students when studying this type of environmental topic.
The opportunity for the Trafalgar High School students to explore a working mine site was co-ordinated by the MLRA with Energy Australia.
MLRA chief executive officer Jen Brereton said it was great to see budding scientists learn first-hand about the process of mine planning, construction and rehabilitation from engineers, ecologists and geologists.
The Yallourn mine is owned and operated by Energy Australia.
The Mine Land Rehabilitation Authority is an independent authority working with community, industry, and government to facilitate the rehabilitation of declared mine sites to collaboratively work towards a safe, stable, and sustainable outcome for the beneficial use of future generations.