WA jarrah forest clearing given green light for Worsley bauxite mining

WA’s environmental watchdog’s approval for South32 to clear 39 square kilometres of jarrah forest near Boddington has been slammed as disgraceful by environmental groups, amid concerns a drying climate may make full forest rehabilitation impossible.

South32 plans to mine 3855 hectares of native vegetation and 1678 hectares of cleared land, including farms, to continue supplying bauxite to its Worsley alumina refinery near Collie for another 15 years.

South32’s Worsley Alumina refinery near Collie receives bauxite from Boddington via a 60km-long conveyor.Credit: Bunbury Mail

The Environmental Protection Authority’s recommendation released on Monday follows a five-year process and includes a long list of conditions to be imposed on the Perth-based miner.

During the assessment, South32 cut its planned clearing of native vegetation by almost half. A South32 spokesman said it was reviewing the recommended conditions.

Worsley provided South32 $2 billion of revenue last financial year, employs about 2400 staff and contractors, and spends about $700 million a year in WA.

WA Forest Alliance director Jess Boyce slammed the Authority’s position as disgraceful, saying no more forest habitat should be lost in the current drying climate and extinction crisis.

The EPA report said climate change meant it may be impossible to rehabilitate the forest to its former structure.

“Thousands of hectares of high-value habitat for threatened flora and fauna species will still be cleared, including that of the critically endangered Woylie and Western Ringtail Possums,” Boyce said.

The area supports eight threatened fauna species, including the numbat, quokka and Carnaby’s black cockatoo.

The northern jarrah forest where South32 operates is also mined by Australia’s bigger bauxite miner Alcoa and Newmont’s Boddington gold mine.

The EPA recommended South32 improve its rehabilitation rate. It has cleared 8895 hectares of forest but had started rehabilitating only 43 per cent of it.

The Authority wants 12,000 hectares of threatened fauna habitat restored and protected by South32 to offset the damage caused by its mine expansion.

Rhiannon Hardwick, manager of the Conservation Council of WA’s nature program, said the measures fell short.

“Offsets should never be seen as a solution to the destruction of our remnant native ecosystems,” she said.

“The long-term impacts of bauxite mining on biodiversity, water and soil quality, and carbon sequestration are too significant to ignore.”

The EPA report said its assessment was hampered by “significant knowledge gaps” in the state government’s knowledge of the northern jarrah forest. It called for a whole-of-government approach to understanding pressures on the ecosystem to support its long-term management.

The Worsley operation will also have to cut its greenhouse gas emissions roughly in a straight line to zero by 2050, a position in line with other assessments of large WA polluters in recent years.

Numerous appeals against the decision are likely before the July 29 deadline. The Appeals Convenor then prepares a report in a process can be lengthy.

The environment minister then considers the EPA and Convenor’s report and makes a decision that allows for the economy as well as the environment.