Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek will meet stakeholders on West Coast

Ms Plibersek did offer a "short amount" of time for a meeting with Aboriginal Land Council chairman Michael Mansell.

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Mr Mansell said he would give the minister a general view of concerns rather than a focus on a specific project.

He will be looking for "broad protection of Aboriginal heritage".

"It's irreplaceable," he said.

"Our main interest is ensuring the Commonwealth protects the Aboriginal heritage down on the West Coast,"

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He said he would be asking the Commonwealth to work with the state to make sure Aboriginal heritage is protected, "including the environment that sustains that heritage".

"There is no one specific project that is the only problem, it's a number of projects that can be a problem," he said.

He said he was concerned with the longstanding threat of "very sensitive" areas of the West Coast being opened up to destruction from 4WDs.

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He said through proper consultation with Aboriginal people projects can be considered, but that is not the current structural arrangement.

"The Commonwealth can offer the protection of the Aboriginal heritage that we are desperately looking for," Mr Mansell said.

Environmental stakeholders have been invited to a group meeting.

Dr Bob Brown said the meeting held an hour offsite was an attempt at a "routine exclusion of proper environmental consultation".

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He said he was concerned that a group of four-to-five people in a meeting would not be heard, and that the rest of the minister's time would be given to the mining company.

"It would be extraordinary if the minister for resources came to Tasmania and spent nearly all the time with the environmentalists," he said.

He was also concerned with the lack of transparency and believes both meetings should be open to the media.

A spokesperson for Ms Plibersek said that she would visit the MMG site, the Tarkine rainforest and would "meet with a range of stakeholders".

They clarified there were no plans to meet with Braddon MHR Gavin Pearce.

MMG said Ms Plibersek's office requested the visit as part of an assessment of MMG's application to conduct preliminary site investigations for a new tailings storage facility.

Rosebery Mine general manager Steve Scott said MMG respected and understood the time Ms Plibersek is taking to weigh up all aspects of the application.

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