Greens party criticises Mulga Rock mine approval

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Australian Greens party has lashed out at federal Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg’s approval of the Mulga Rock uranium mine, in Western Australia.

ASX-listed Vimy Resources this week announced that Freydenberg approved the proposed mine, subject to certain conditions, noting that the Ministerial approval was the final approval required before work on the project could start.

“This approval has been more than three years in the making and has involved considerable effort on the part of all those involved,” said Vimy chairperson Cheryl Edwardes.

With an expected mine life of 16 years, the Mulga Rock project will mine up to 4.5-million tonnes a year of ore from four deposits to produce up to 1 360 t/y of uranium oxide concentrate. Located about 240 km east-northeast of Kalgoorlie, the project, which will also extract copper, zinc, nickel and cobalt, will transport the concentrate by road to Port Adelaide in sealed steel drums within a secure shipping container.

Greens co-deputy leader Scott Ludlam said the decision to approve the Mulga Rock mine was a departure from the norm, with virtually no conditions for the environment, mine closure and rehabilitation or management of radioactive mine waste.

“The Mulga Rock uranium project is in a pristine environment, a Priority Ecological Community and home to many rare and endangered species. The project would use 15-million litres of water a day in one of Australia’s most arid regions and turn that water into radioactive waste. The threat of radioactive mine waste in the environment will remain for thousands of years,” Ludlam said.

He noted that with the uranium price at A$25/lb, half of the amount needed for the project to break even, there was no certainty of the immediate prospects for the mine to start development.

“This fast-tracked approval seems to be driven by the politics of the Western Australian state election, rather than evidence and good process,” he added.