Rosebery Mine: Australian protests over MMG waste storage plan Environmental News

Rosebery, Australia – On June 17, Anthony Houston was arrested after trying to block all industrial traffic on the island of Tasmania, in the southern Australian state of the rainforest.

A local businessman and farmer put up a chair in the middle of an entrance path to protest the clearing of a large part of a 439,000-acre (1,085,000-acre) old forest tree. , Known as Tarkine or Takanya.

Tarkine, remote and sparsely populated, is home to many endangered species and has rugged coastal heaths, grassy forests and diverse landscapes that make up Gondwana-era vegetation, helping to form Australia’s largest tropical rainforest. It also includes a mine owned by the China Minerals and Metals Group, which aims to clean up a 285-hectare (704-hectare) area – roughly the equivalent of about 350 football pitches – for a new mining waste storage facility, also known as a tailings mine.

Conservationists say the construction at the planned TSF site threatens not only endangered animal and bird species, but also 500-year-old myrtle trees. [Courtesy of Bob Brown Foundation]

Houston is one of dozens of protesters affiliated with the Bob Brown Foundation (BBF), a Tasmanian conservation group, to a site near the town of Rosebery, which is organizing daily protests against the MMG plan.

“The message they want to give to all Australians is that it is very important to come and live what they are losing,” Houston said after his release.

“I couldn’t believe the old trees that were being torn down. They’re knocking on more than one day I could plant in a year. It’s like the Lord of the Rings, we shouldn’t miss places like that. “

500 jobs online

The MMG mine has operated continuously for 85 years, mainly producing zinc, copper, lead and gold. The company said the new waste storage facility (TSF) is essential for mining operations as it stores rock, water and mud generated by mining process products.

With mining operations and roof storage “unrelated,” MMG said 500 jobs could be lost in Rosebery if the planned TSF does not go ahead.

“The proposed site is the only viable option for MMG today, but we are actively exploring all possible options to extend the life of the mine,” the spokesperson said. “This includes researching an alternative site, but we don’t have a viable alternative at this time.”

Although MMG does not have permission to begin its plan – which involves building pipelines to get toxic materials over the nearby Pieman River – the company is clearing vegetation to build roads and “doing engineering and environmental basics and assessment to support a new sewer storage site.”

Since MMG unveiled the TSF proposal in May, BBF-affiliated activists have largely halted MMG’s movements. [Courtesy of Bob Brown Foundation]

However, MMG is finding strong resistance against BBF, saying construction on the site threatens not only endangered animal and bird species but also 500-year-old myrtle trees.

The BBF’s sponsor is Dr. Bob Brown, the initial head of the Australian Greens in the federal parliament. Since MMG presented its TSF proposal in May, activists associated with the foundation have largely halted MMG’s movements.

Until their methods were tied to heavy machinery for walking on the road in the woods, they changed from setting up a tree seat in the forest canopy. Some protesters retained the tree seat for two weeks despite freezing winter temperatures.

At least 50 protesters have been arrested since the campaign began on May 18.

“Tasmania is a natural gem in an environmentally devastated world, and the Tarkine region is a place of wild and scenic beauty,” Brown told Al Jazeera. “It is culturally and environmentally prized, and is the last bastion of the iconic Tasmanian devil, the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world.”

‘Significant importance of heritage’

Brown said the BBF is not trying to exploit the Rosebery mine, but is asking for an alternative site for TSF.

“MMG, a Chinese state-owned company, wants to enter and level an area of ​​a rainforest the size of 350 football fields, not to drill resources, but to dump their mining waste,” Brown said.

“MMG has stated several times that there are options for such an indoor facility. There are alternatives south of the Piedmont River, and MMG needs to look for one that does not cause the destruction of the Tarkine rainforest.”

Although its boundaries have never been formally discussed, Tarkine was assessed by the Australian Heritage Council in 2013 and found to have “significant national heritage significance” for both its ecological values ​​and its cultural history. The diversity and density of Aboriginal sites in Tarkine (especially the shells or piles of refuse that confirm the ancient connection with land and sea) place them “among the archaeological sites of the world”.

However, the Australian government has listed only 4 per cent of the region’s recommended protection for national heritage.

Sussan Ley is now examining whether the TSF, which is being proposed by the federal environment minister, needs to move forward. The decision was due to be announced in early June, but the government’s Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment said in a statement that the deadline had been extended to July 23.

BBF protests have sparked national interest in the lawsuit, with nearly two-thirds of Australians surveyed in the last two polls saying Ley will use its power to stop rainforest clearing and urge MMG to find an alternative site for its TSF.

‘Dangerous’

In Tasmania, where the mining sector was valued at $ 1.82 million in 2016 and 2017, there is significant support for the construction of a new TSF for the Rosebery mine.

Tasmanian Prime Minister Peter Gutewin of the Conservative Liberal Party has backed the project and lashed out at protesters, calling them “radicals” for carrying out “dangerous and illegal activities” in an attempt to destroy “Tasmanian jobs that support the operation of the Rosebery mine. 80 years”.

Julie Crawford, the mine’s environmental and community director, said Al Jazeera MMG is committed to finding “the most balanced solution that will ensure the future of Rosebery Mine”.

“We still want to conduct preliminary research to select the best location for future link storage,” he said. “We are now working to make decisions based on the facts and allow the decision to issue the necessary environmental permits and permits.”

The BBF pledged to continue with its campaign and Brown said the foundation is finally looking for Tarkine in the area of ​​the present-day Tasmanian Desert World Heritage Site, which borders on the south.

“It has already been identified that Tarkine has values ​​that can protect World Heritage,” he said.

“This area should be recognized in this way to ensure that it will be preserved forever and to maintain the link that traditional owners have with the land. It is very precious to lose, and MMG needs to know that we will not give up this fight.”