Mining in Yumbarra Conservation Park

Yumbarra Conservation Park in the state's west is one of South Australia's most unspoilt parks and, positioned on important biogeographical transition zones, it has high conservation value. It is home to a range of significant flora and fauna including the rare Pungent Honey-Myrtle and Spiny Templetonia, the endangered Mallee Fowl, and the vulnerable Pink Cockatoo, Painted Button Quail, Rufous Tree Creeper and Purple Gaped Honeyeater.

Despite a long campaign to save this last strictly protected area of Yellabinna mallee wilderness, in November 1999 the government re-proclaimed Yumbarra Conservation Park to allow mining inside the Park. The former Minister of Mines and Energy, Wayne Matthew, declared that Yumbarra would be a test case of how mining could be conducted in a national park. If this is so, then The Wilderness Society believes it has failed.

	Thorny devil

In July 2002 The Wilderness Society and the Conservation Council of South Australia presented a paper to a major conference of miners and academics (the 16th Australian Geological Convention) analysing the impact of mining exploration in Yumbarra and showing why mining should be banned from national parks and areas of high conservation value.The "Access Denied?" paper (full copy available here) was based on existing research, documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, and the company's own documents. The paper argued that adequate environmental monitoring was not put in place and pointed to evidence that mining had lead to the introduction of feral animals (cats and foxes) and weeds. However, this was not the result of poor environmental standards, but rather was the inevitable result of mining in wilderness areas.

At the last election Labor pledged to restore Yumbarra as a singly proclaimed conservation park (ie. to ban mining) "if current exploration lease prove fruitless and expires."

Now they appear to be playing with words and saying the promise is not triggered because the exploration lease did not prove fruitless. Wrong! The fact that the lease which existed at the time of the election was allowed to expire in February this year means that by definition the lease proved fruitless: no further mining operation flowed from that lease. The policy does not say single proclamation would be restored if there was no prospectivity or if "exploration proved fruitless", it says if the "current exploration lease proves fruitless and expires".

More importantly though, the protection of wilderness should not come down to word games. Yumbarra should be fully protected because it is a high quality wilderness area in a region where none of the Yellabinna mallee is fully protected.

Claypan and flower photos: Bill Doyle (See his UnknownSA website)
Thorny Devil Photo: Ben Waining