Rosebery Mine owner MMG Limited looks clear to resume preliminary works for a tailings storage project which has enraged environmentalists.
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MMG called a halt to road works connected to its proposed South Marionoak development in July following a legal letter from the environmentalist Bob Brown Foundation which the company said contained "unwarranted legal threats".
The foundation is now considering its options after the federal Environment Department this month agreed to a company request to exclude certain preliminary works from a wide-ranging assessment of the tailings project under federal law.
The company says a new tailings storage solution is needed by 2024 if the mine and its 500 jobs are to continue beyond then.
The foundation opposes the project on environmental grounds, with protests leading to a string of arrests.
It also opposes MMG's nominated alternative site, Natone Creek.
Resumption of the preliminary works would be expected to lead to further protests.
"Here we have confirmation that MMG were in breach of national environment laws," Bob Brown Foundation takayna/Tarkine campaigner Scott Jordan said.
"But instead of prosecuting MMG, the commonwealth is colluding with the company to step around inconvenient aspects of our environment laws.
"We will be back in the forests with the public to defend these national and world heritage value rainforests if MMG attempts to move machines back in."
The foundation said it was exploring legal advice.
MMG said: "We welcome the clarity on the status of the EPBC referral and continue to work with state and federal regulators to agree and confirm the necessary approvals process."
"We understand the heightened level of sensitivity and importance of this project to our employees and the community, and we will continue to dot the i's and cross the t's before resuming works."
Before MMG halted preliminary works, federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley decided the proposal would need full assessment under environmental laws.
MMG this month requested a variation of what would need to be assessed as part of that process.
Ms Ley's department agreed to the variation three days later.
Hong Kong-listed MMG asked that preliminary works and activities at the site needed for investigation and feasibility considerations be excluded from the full assessment under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
The company said they would need to be completed before it could finish development plans and environmental assessments required to prepare the environmental impact statement which the Tasmanian Environment Protection Authority and Ms Ley would need to assess the tailings development under the act.
"The variation is required so that information can be collected through preliminary investigations to develop the engineering design, such as refining the location and design of the tailings storage facility and required borrow pits," the company told the department.
"Information about the location and refined design parameters is also necessary to inform and progress the assessment of potential environmental impacts."
The variation the department agreed to meant MMG could proceed with:
- geotechnical drilling and sampling, including to assess the site's suitability for the proposed tailings storage;
- geochemical investigations;
- construction of tracks to provide access for preliminary works and activities;
- a targeted botanical survey for late summer orchids;
- extra natural values surveys and mapping; and
- consideration of suitable access roads for construction and operation and a survey of existing and proposed access road and pipeline routes.