General Discussions, page-16584

The PEPR is not a government approval in the way many may think it is. It's a document that outlines how mining should be done in regards to the environment, rather than the approval to mine in the first place. That was approved with the Mining Lease.

here's an exact description from the DEM website:
A program for environment protection and rehabilitation (PEPR) is an operational document which describes how a miner will undertake mining operations in a practical and specific way. A PEPR approval is supported by a detailed, science-based assessment of its technical contents by South Australian government agencies including the Environment Protection Authority (EPA), the Department for Environment and Water (DEW) and the Department for Energy and Mining (DEM).