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Traditional Owners, Custodians and Indigenous Communities

We are committed to building and maintaining respectful and meaningful working relationships with Traditional Owners, Custodians and Indigenous communities who maintain connection to the lands on which we operate. In working with Indigenous stakeholders, we also understand and deliver upon our obligations under relevant State and Territory cultural heritage and other legislation.

Through its exploration agreements with the Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation (Samphire), the various Bininj Traditional Owner groups (Alligator Rivers) and the Yandruwandha Yawarrawarrka Traditional Land Owners Corporation (Big Lake), Alligator engages and works alongside our Indigenous stakeholders to identify and manage cultural heritage and environmental values, while focussing on employment, training and business opportunities.

These agreements and our way of working has translated into direct and ongoing employment opportunities, with over 40 Indigenous employees engaged on drilling and exploration programs over the last 10 years.

In a first for the Company, the Exploration Agreement negotiated and signed over the Nabarlek North project in early 2020 allows for a one-off option for the relevant Traditional Owners within the Bininj community to acquire a 25% direct ownership in an economic uranium resource (if found). Both parties then share the ongoing commitments for funding project development.

Landowners and Communities

We strive to build and maintain positive relationships with the landholders and communities in which we operate.  At its core and in the context of the Company’s progression, this occurs at several levels including:

• Informing and educating local communities about our plans and the industry more broadly,
• Sourcing goods and services locally,
• Providing employment and training opportunities, and
• Working together to improve the ecological condition on the land on which we operate, maintaining roads, fences, weed and feral animal control and erosion.

While Alligator Energy commenced initial engagement at Samphire with key stakeholders from 2020 (timing of project acquisition), this has significantly increased during the 2022/2023 financial year. Two public meetings and drop-in information sessions were held in Whyalla and were attended by approximately 60 people, comprising members of the public and other stakeholders.

Other community engagement activities have included more than 150 meetings and related correspondence with stakeholders including local and adjacent landholders, BDAC, Federal and State local Members of Parliament, Whyalla City Council and peak body and community representatives.

In August 2023, we hosted Elected Members of the Whyalla City Council on a site tour of the Samphire Project, providing a key opportunity to further outline our plans for the proposed Field Recovery Trial (FRT), along with demonstrating the Company’s environmental management practices and outcomes being achieved.

 

 

CEO & Managing Director, Greg Hall, outlining Samphire Project exploration activities to Whyalla City Council Elected Members

 

 

 

 

We are committed to sourcing goods and services locally for the Samphire Project, with over $1.2M spent to 30 June 2023 (since project inception in late 2021) in the Whyalla community across more than 30 local businesses, including $876,000 during the 2022/2023 financial year.

Looking forward, Alligator Energy intends to undertake further community and stakeholder engagement activities in the lead up to and during the proposed Field Recovery Trial (FRT).

Employees

As we grow from an explorer to a project developer, we remain heavily focused upon developing and implementing our employee and contractor work health, safety and quality (WHSEQ) systems and processes.  This has included the implementation of the ‘Donesafe’ software platform as a key tool supporting Alligators evolving WHSEQ integrated management system and managing potential work health and safety risks across our projects.

Our Team is rapidly growing in line with our needs and in addition to our health and safety focus, we are building a culture where our employees feel valued, enjoy their work and the challenges it provides, but above all else, they have the tools, processes and systems to safely and effectively deliver their roles.

We have been focused on recruiting the necessary ISR experience in our permanent Samphire team to undertake detailed resource and planning, support to Scoping Study engineering firm and a future Feasibility Study team, detailed planning for operational design, and commissioning and production of uranium from ISR operations.  Fortunately, many resource industry professionals have worked in similar ISR projects in South Australia and we have been able to attract a high calibre of candidates. Along with this we have recruited a core group to work flexibly at our ongoing exploration at Alligator Rivers and Big Lake Uranium. In Sept 2021 our total team was 5 part-time within the Company  at 30 June 2023 – it is now 27 people working the equivalent of 16 FTE’s (a number of part time).

The Company operates an Employee Share Option Plan for relevant employees and dedicated contractors to ensure alignment with the strategic aims of the Company, as well as with shareholders.  A Short-Term Incentive program is operated each year, with conversion of options to shares based on performance against KPI’s set at the start of the 12 month period.  A Long-Term incentive scheme is also in place, whereby a portion of Employee share options are issued each year for a three year period.  Again conversion of options to shares is dependent on 4 to 5 long term resource growth, value-add, share performance and other targets.  The latest Long-Term KPI’s will be brought forward to the AGM for shareholders to vote on for the LTI portion of CEO’s remuneration package.

Environment, Health & Safety and Community Relations Policies