Rio Tinto - Monitoring Report – Erythroxulum pusilium

Erythroxylum sp. Cholmondely Creek is a small, woody sub-shrub found primarily on Cape York Peninsula, QLD. A small, asexually reproducing population present on the Rio Tinto Gove Operations mining lease is the only known population of the species occurring in the Northern Territory. This species is listed as Endangered under the Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act (TPWC Act). As such, it is the focus of efforts by Gove Operations to monitor the condition of this natural population. 

Gove Operations is establishing new populations from nursery-grown material sourced from the natural population. These populations are being established in sites geologically and ecologically similar to the natural population, and away from potential disturbance by human traffic or planned future mining activities.