Massive Southwest WA bauxite mining expansion must not be approved by stealth: new Jarrah forest threat

The Wilderness Society WA Inc
Joint Media Release
14 April 2010

Environment groups today called on the EPA, the Environment Minister and the WA government to ensure that a massive bauxite mining expansion planned for the state’s Southwest did not avoid thorough environmental, social and economic impact assessment.

New resource company Bauxite Resources Limited (BRL) has announced plans to the Australian Stock Exchange for thousands of hectares of bauxite strip mining in the Southwest. The company has aggressively acquired mining and exploration leases over more than 23,000 square kilometers (2.3 million hectares) of land, including farmland, national parks and State forest.

Conservation Council Director Piers Verstegen said, “BLR has attempted to fly under the radar and avoid proper environmental impact assessment by submitting only a very small component of their expansion plans to the EPA.”

“The EPA must suspend the assessment of the project that has been referred and instead use its powers under the Environmental Protection Act to ensure that BRL’s full expansion plans are subject to the highest level of assessment.”

“Local, state and national environment groups, as well as several concerned residents groups have submitted appeals to the Minister for the Environment calling for a proper assessment of BRL’s plans.” the Wilderness Society State Director Peter Robertson said, “This current assessment appears to be an attempt by BLR to seek approval by stealth, as it does not take in the cumulative community, environmental, economic and social impacts of such a massive mining expansion.”

“The maps of the proposed expansion encompass farming areas, town sites, state forests and the last vestiges of our threatened Jarrah and Wandoo forests.

“As a new resources company, BRL has already created a poor community reputation for itself by commencing mining on ‘minerals to owner’ lands in Bindoon without the necessary local government approval.”

“We are confident that if BRL’s massive proposed mining expansion were to be assessed thoroughly and transparently then it would be found to be totally unacceptable on a range of environmental, social and economic grounds,” concluded Mr Verstegen.