Western Australia’s EPA approves new Mount Gibson mine

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Western Australian iron-ore miner Mount Gibson has received the green light from the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to build a new iron-ore mine, about 270 km from Geraldton.

The EPA on Monday recommended that the Environment Minister approve Mount Gibson’s proposal to mine the Iron Hill and Iron Hill South deposits, but chairperson Dr Tom Hatton points out that strict conditions will have to be adhered to.

Hatton stresses that the Mt Gibson Range comprises a series of banded iron formation (BIF) ridges, which provide specialised habitats for plants, animals and ecological communities. The EPA’s independent board has also included advice in its report that ridges in the southern portion of Mt Gibson Range should be protected in a formal conservation estate.

“In carefully examining this proposal, the EPA considered that given the rare flora species and the biodiversity values of the Mt Gibson range, particularly in the southern portion of the range known as Mount Gibson, Gibson Hill and Mount Gibson South, this area should be protected as a class A nature reserve,” Hatton says.

“This formal protection will ensure there is a comprehensive, adequate and secure representation of scarce or endangered habitats within the Mt Gibson range.”

Hatton says the proposal for a new mine was assessed as a public environmental review and examined the potential environmental impacts of three key factors – flora and vegetation, rehabilitation and decommissioning and offsets.

The EPA recommends seven conditions including ensuring no adverse impacts on significant flora and vegetation outside the development envelope and a condition for an appropriate offsets plan.

The EPA’s report to the Minister for Environment is open for a two-week public appeal period, closing August 1, after which the Minister will make a decision on the proposal.