Mining

Mine Site Rehabilitation in the Northern Territory

ECNT focus on one problem area for the Northern Territory mining industry- minesite rehabilitation.

Mine site rehabilitation- a mess in the Northern Territory.

It should be simple. A mining company finishes mining an ore-body. It then implements the rehabilitation plan. All environmental and safety hazards are removed from the site and the area is returned to a 'natural' state. Then the site is decommissioned and returned to the landholders. Why then has rehabilitation of mine sites been so unsuccessful in the Northern Territory?

Mine site rehabilitation in the Northern Territory – a very brief history

Since mining began in the Northern Territory with the 1870's gold rush, there has been little in the way of rehabilitation requirements. The small scale of early mining operations and the speed with which operators moved on to other areas led to the abandonment of many mine sites. Dangerous pits and shafts, waste rock dumps and poisonous tailings deposits can be found at many former mining sites in the Northern Territory.

In some areas there has been an effort to rehabilitate sites. For instance in the South Alligator Valley within Kakadu National Park the Federal Government is currently undertaking an expensive rehabilitation program to remove the hazards of abandoned uranium mines at El Sherana, South Alligator, Coronation Hill and other sites. These rehabilitation efforts have been publicly funded as many of the companies involved in mining efforts no longer exist and in some cases the Commonwealth was one of the proponents.

"The Rum Jungle Mine in the Northern Territory, for example, released 130 tonnes of copper, 100 tonnes of manganese, 40 tonnes of zinc and 13,000 tonnes of sulfate into the Finnis River in one year." (Australia, State of the Environment, 1996, Department of Environment, Sport and Territories, 4-22)

Rum Jungle uranium mine near Batchelor provided the impetus for public concern about the impacts of abandoned mines. Rum Jungle was mined between 1954 and 1971 by CRA (Rio Tinto's predecessor) and the Commonwealth. For much of the mine's life tailings were deposited directly into the Finnis River system. On completion of mining no rehabilitation efforts were conducted. CRA and RTZ (now Rio Tinto) consistently refused to contribute any funds towards rehabilitation of the Rum Jungle site.

An initial attempt to clean up Rum Jungle was made in 1977, which led to the setting up of a working group to examine more comprehensive rehabilitation. A $16.2 million Commonwealth-funded program got under way in 1983 to remove heavy metals and neutralise the tailings. A supplementary $1.8 million program to improve Rum Jungle Creek South waste dumps was undertaken in 1990.
http://www.sea-us.org.au/oldmines/rumjungle.html

Major environmental problems remain on site at Rum Jungle with serious acid drainage problems emerging. In 2001 the lease area is yet to be returned to traditional owners.

Rehabilitation bonds for mining were introduced in the early 70's in most Australian states and Territories to ensure that Governments had some security in the event that mining companies didn't meet their rehabilitation obligations.

An end to the bad old days?

Have rehabilitation bonds worked in the NT? Unfortunately not. NT mining legislation remains weak on the issue of rehabilitation, with rehabilitation standards being outlined in guidelines but not in binding legislation. Mining companies have shunned their responsibilities, particularly when in trouble financially. Worse still has been the tendency by NT Governments to promote minerals development at all costs, leading them to waive or greatly reduce the rehabilitation bonds paid by mining companies. A couple of examples demonstrate the need for stronger government regulation:

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Case Study 1 – Mt Todd gold mine

Economically the mine was always marginal. In an attempt to get the mine operating again the NT Government waived the new operator's rehabilitation bond. Nine months later an administrator was appointed and in August 2000 operations were shutdown. Rehabilitation costs of the site were estimated at around $20 million by the administrators.

The NT Government had required a start-up rehabilitation bond of only $900,000. This means that unless the Government can extract the money required from the company (which is now no longer trading) the public are forced to wear either the costs of rehabilitation ($19 million) or the environmental costs associated with abandoning the site.

ECNT followed this issue up with the previous NT Government. After several unacknowledged letters we were informed that the Government were looking for another company to take over the operation. These efforts were unsuccessful and the mine entered the decommissioning period this year. The future of the site is unclear, however major environmental problems are emerging on site as a result of acid drainage. It is highly likely that in the upcoming wet season there will be major pollution events at Mt Todd with contaminated run-off entering the Edith River.

Case Study 2 – Redbank mine (Sandy Flat mine)

The Redbank mine in the Gulf region (near the Northern Territory / Queensland border) ceased operations after 3 years mining in August 1996 due to falling copper prices. According to the Department of Mines and Energy website the mine is now on 'care and maintenance'. However photographs obtained recently suggest that contamination from the site is extending as far as 30 kilometres downstream of the mine and copper staining is occurring up to 15 km from the mine site.

In this case it seems that the NT Government again didn't want to decommission a mine and so left the door open to a future operator resuming mining. However the mine has been left to deteriorate over the past 5 years with copper poisoning spreading significantly downstream of the mine. ECNT is following up the issue with the new NT Government.

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A simple solution- industry being required to clean up its mess

Rehabilitation should be a no-brainer. The mining company should be required to lodge a bond with the Government of a size equal to the cost of rehabilitating the site at any stage of development. The larger the mine, the larger the payable rehabilitation bond. On completing rehabilitation of the mine site to an acceptable standard the bond would then be returned to the company. ECNT is calling on the new NT Government to amend legislation to ensure that rehabilitation bonds must be paid by all mining operations and to set in place a process that eliminates the ability of future governments to offer the industry massive subsidies by waiving rehabilitation bonds.

If you want to support our campaign, write to:

Your local member

and

Minister for Resource Development:
Paul Henderson
c/- Parliament House,
Darwin 0800
Northern Territory

Outline your support for mandatory rehabilitation bonds for all mining operations.

MORE INFORMATION

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