Wild rivers laws sink bauxite mine
19.10.2010
By: Tony Koch
A BAUXITE mine that would have provided more than 1300 jobs mostly for unemployed indigenous people in Cape York has been scuttled by the Queensland government's controversial wild rivers legislation.
Mining company Cape Alumina advised the ASX yesterday that its proposed mine at Pisolite Hills near Weipa on western Cape York was unviable because of Queensland Natural Resources Minister Stephen Robertson's determination to set a 500m buffer from waterways in the lease.
This provision cut area available to be mined by 45 per cent, while a 300m exclusion zone -- recommended by departmental officers -- would have cut off only 7 per cent of the resource.
Cape Alumina managing director Paul Messenger said Mr Robertson's arbitrary decision to impose a 500m buffer was a principal reason for the decision to abandon the project. Dr Messenger said the minister rejected advice from his department and environmental experts that a 300m buffer from the Wenlock River basin was sufficient.
``Mr Robertson rejected a large body of robust scientific evidence that supports Cape Alumina's position and has instead relied on the myths and fairytales spun by opponents of the project in pursuit of their commercial and ideological agendas,'' Dr Messenger said.
He said that if the government had not imposed the 500m buffer, the bauxite produced each year would have meant $1.2 billion for the Queensland Treasury and created 1700 jobs over the mine's 15-year life.
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said it was no coincidence that Cape Alumina had released the statement on the day Tony Abbott planned to introduce a private member's bill into parliament that sought to overturn much of the wild rivers legislation.
``A mining approval is not a right,'' Ms Bligh said. ``For any mining company, you have to satisfy the environmental requirements. You cannot mine in the Great Barrier Reef or in a national park and you cannot mine in wild rivers-declared areas in the high conservation zones.''
The federal Opposition Leader yesterday said he would put off the bill to consult more widely with Aboriginal leaders.
Wilderness Society spokesman Glenn Walker said the Queensland government should be applauded for putting the protection of the Wenlock River region ahead of ``short-term destructive mining interests''.
