Chinese-backed Karara Mining (KML) is under pressure to relinquish a mining tenement in Western Australia, which the state’s environmental watchdog says is stalling long-held plans for a nature reserve in the mid-west.

Environmental Protection Authority chairman Paul Vogel called on the government to “move to rapidly im­plement" a 2009 decision to create an A-Class nature reserve on the ­Mungada Ridge in the state’s mid-west. WA’s Environment Minister, Albert Jacob , said this cannot be done until the required tenement is relinquished.