South West bauxite plan in the Northern Jarrah Forest gets EPA green light, with conditions

An expansion of South32’s Boddington Mine to feed the Worsley refinery for 15 more years has been backed by the Environmental Protection Authority, with conditions.

The State’s second biggest alumina exporter has been wanting a green light to dig the new mines since at least 2017, to bring online more than 200 million tonnes of ore reserves.

But the plan to mine the Northern Jarrah Forest drew fire from conservationists amid concerns about the impact on endangered wildlife.

The EPA has recommended the project’s approval by Environment Minister Reece Whitby — although the endorsement is subject to appeal and came with conditions.

South32 will need to hit net zero emissions by 2050 and develop a 12,000 hectare offsets package to replace the mined land.

The EPA said South32 had scaled back native vegetation clearing plans by almost half since the proposal was first submitted, and the latest version would clear less than one per cent of the Northern Jarrah Forest when combined with existing approvals.

Rehabilitation requirements were also sharpened up, the EPA said. Exclusion zones would be implemented near rivers, streams and significant plants and animals.

South32 said the details of the EPA decision were still under review.

“The project is critical to enable access to the bauxite needed to sustain production at Worsley Alumina,” a spokesman said.

“(It) will support significant ongoing local employment and investment, including creation of approximately 150 new roles during the construction phase.”

The ASX-listed company said more than 2,400 workers and contractors were employed at its operations — mining bauxite and refining the ore into alumina.

That becomes aluminium, used in jet planes, drink cans and washing machines.

Western Australian Forest Alliance acting director Jess Boyce said the decision was “disgraceful” and the conditions had not gone far enough.

The forest includes habitat for endangered species including the Woylie and Western Ring Tail Possum.

“In the current drying climate and extinction crisis, we cannot afford to lose any more forest and woodland habitat,” she said.

“We know that Jarrah forests cannot be rehabilitated and the EPA notes this in their assessment ‘that with a drying climate, rehabilitation of forest to its former structure may not be possible’.

“The many species threatened with extinction that are impacted by South32’s mining may not survive long enough to see if their habitat can be restored.”

Conservation Council of WA program manager Rhiannon Hardwick labelled the decision “unacceptable’ because of the impact on endangered species habitats.

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

The EPA said the Worsley review ran for more than five years.

The green light for Boddington follows Alcoa’s decision to shutter the Kwinana alumina refinery in January, putting 1,100 jobs on the line.

Alcoa warned for months that the plant would be mothballed unless the company secured regulatory approval for a major mining expansion in the South West.

But less than a week after announcing the closure, the US-controlled business said the red tape battle had not been a contributing factor.

The West Australian revealed in April that Alcoa’s national rehabilitation bill was expected to pass $1.1 billion.