Bulldozers should be removed from tailings dam site, the Greens say
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The state government needs to ensure a mining company is removing its road-building machines from the rainforest near Rosebery now Canberra has ruled its new waste dump proposal needs stronger environmental scrutiny, the Greens say.
On Monday, Environment Minister Sussan Ley deemed MMG’s tailings dam proposal a controlled action meaning it will need EPBC Act approval before works can proceed.
Protesters at the site on Tuesday said they were ready to “usher” the company’s machines out.
Greens MP Rosalie Woodruff said the Tasmanian government now needed to ensure the miner’s bulldozers were stood down.
“It appears the company is continuing works today on road expansion, which was specifically included as a controlled action in the Minister’s referral decision,” she said on Tuesday.
“The government needs to step in urgently and direct MMG to halt all work in this forest and comply with the Federal Environment Department’s determination.”
But Braddon MP Felix Ellis said it was MMG itself that initiated a referral to the Commonwealth to ascertain if their proposed tailings storage facility should be assessed under the EPBC Act.
“This is not unexpected and will now allow the proposal to be assessed under the normal planning and environmental approvals processes – as it should be,” Mr Ellis said.
“MMG will now prepare the information it needs for this assessment to proceed while continuing to operate on site in accordance with its lease conditions and current approvals.
“Rosalie Woodruff should apologise and let the process take its course - or if she doesn’t, she should drive up to Rosebery and tell these workers to their face why she wants to put their families in the unemployment queue. “
MMG says it needs to have a new waste dump built on its Rosebery mining lease by 2024 or production at the 85-year-old mine will need to stop.
More than 60 campaigners have been arrested over the past eight weeks as they have tied themselves to machinery and blocked access as the mining company makes a road through to the site of the proposed dam to start geotechnical drilling.
If approved, the company expects to clear up to 285ha to build its new tailings dam. Acting general manager Steve Scott said the South Marionoak dam site was identified back in 2008 as the best potential site for it.
The Bob Brown Foundation said MMG will be “thumbing its nose” at the Morrison government if it did not remove its machines.
“It would spark a national environmental showdown if MMG defied the Minister by continuing to build its access road to build the tailings dam,”
BBF’s campaign manager Jenny Weber said.
Canberra steps into Rosebery tailings dam construction
A MINING company’s plan to build a new tailings dam to hold mine waste on its lease at Rosebery has been complicated by a ruling from Canberra.
The ruling from the Department of Environment came as the protest against MMG’s plans to build the dam entered its eighth week.
The department has deemed the proposal to construct and operate the tailings dam and associated roads, pipeline and pipeline bridge about one kilometre from Rosebery is a controlled actiom.
That means the project will require assessment and approval under the EPBC Act before it can proceed.
So far 64 protesters have been arrested including two on Monday.
Jill Pierce and Craig Brown were arrested for sitting on the access road and Jane Wilson is attached to an excavator that is building new roads.
“We want takayna declared a World Heritage Area and a National Park for future generations. MMG has alternative sites for tailings, and technologies available to better manage mining waste,” Ms Pierce said.
On Friday, musician Shane Howard played his new song about the protest on site saying the latest campaign was building to be the “Franklin” campaign of this generation.
“What is clear to me from my visit today, is that this is only just the beginning. I saw the young and old passionate people there today it gave me hope – this campaign will be the ‘Franklin’ of this generation,” the former Goanna frontman said.
The Bob Brown Foundation said state and federal governments had the power to end this controversy, halt the excessive spending of taxpayer dollars on police resources and immediately remove bulldozers out of the takayna/Tarkine rainforests.
“MMG’s heavy machinery should never have been allowed into such a magnificent rainforest and wildlife area.” said Bob Brown.
“We contend that it was not lawful and today’s decision by the Minister for the Environment confirms that opinion.”
Campaign Manager Jenny Weber said activists will be on site tomorrow morning but will stand aside for MMG’s bulldozers if they are reversing out of the site
“The Minister should have cleared the air properly and made a definitive decision that this tailings dam does not belong in the rainforests of takayna / Tarkine when there are several options for MMG nearer the mine and outside this priceless area,” she said.
Standin’ on sacred ground: Goanna frontman joins Tarkine fight
AN Australian rock legend — known for his songs supporting Aboriginal rights and wilderness values — has joined the Bob Brown Foundation’s protest in the Tarkine rainforest to launch his new song supporting the action.
The campaign, to try to stop mining company MMG’s plans to construct a tailings dam to hold waste from its Rosebery mine, has been running for six weeks.
On Friday, former Goanna frontman Shane Howard joined 50 protesters for a concert on the contentious Helilog road.
Howard played live while blocking the access road to the rainforest.
“Shane Howard will premiere his new song about takayna today and we look forward to this song being our anthem toward protection of takayna / Tarkine, like “Let the Franklin Flow” did for the iconic campaign to protect the Franklin River,” Bob Brown Foundation Campaign Manager Jenny Weber said.
Tassie mine’s uphill battle on two fronts
July 5, 2021:
PROTESTERS have warned a mining company – which is losing time, money and patience as it tries to test the viability of a proposed new waste dump near Rosebery – that they are growing more committed by the day.
The Bob Brown Foundation-led protest is heading into its 50th day.
So far, almost 60 people have been arrested and protesters on Monday again chained themselves to machinery to stop MMG clearing more trees to gain access to the proposed waste dump site.
Among those arrested are a high profile lettuce farmer, former footballers and a former French horn player with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.
On Monday, retired doctor John Barrenger, 65, and Animal Liberation Tasmania president Kristy Algar locked themselves to an excavator on site.
Both urged the government and the company to think beyond their own commercial interests.
“This is important for our children and grandchildren,” Mr Barrenger said.
Ms Algar said she was there in defence of the free-living animals of takayna/Tarkine and for the individuals and communities that rely on the forests for life itself.
So what is it that MMG is proposing that has people so up in arms?
MMG, the owner of the Rosebery zinc, copper and lead mine that employs about 500 staff and contractors says a new tailings dam is needed to extend the life of the 85-year-old operation.
If approved, the company expects to clear up to 285ha to build its new tailings dam which will hold waste rock. A 3km pipeline will also need to be built from the mine to the dam.
Acting general manager Steve Scott said the South Marionoak dam site was identified as the best potential site for a new tailings dam in 2008.
Mr Scott said MMG had one other potential back up plan if geotechnical drilling proves South Marionoak was not suitable.
“We have workers in building access to the site from Monday to Friday. We are losing half a day of work time every day dealing with protesters,’ Mr Scott said.
“So it is costing us in delay and financial losses and there are also the safety concerns.
“The new tailings dam needs to be built by 2024 otherwise the current dams will be full and the only option will be to stop operations at the mine.
“The patience of workers is wearing out.”
Bob Brown said the seven-week protest showed the passion everyday people held for protecting Tasmania’s wild places.
Campaigner Scott Jordan warned MMG the protesters were not wearing out, but instead, were growing stronger and more committed by the day.
West Coast Mayor Deputy Mayor Shane Pitt told The Mercury last month that most of the people who lived and worked in his mining-dependant region were not against the mining company’s proposal.
Mr Pitt said residents understood miners needed to build the infrastructure they needed to continue and expand.
“People here are tired of the protest against MMG’s plans,” Cr Pitt said.
“Mining is the bloodline of the West Coast and Tasmania as a whole. The proposed tailings facility is not ‘in the Tarkine’ as the protesters claim but just outside the town of Rosebery on MMG’s mining lease.”
Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley is due to hand down her decision on whether the proposal tailings dam will need extra conditions attached before it is approved on July 23.
Ms Ley flew into Tasmania last week and met with both the mining company and the campaigners.
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