Environmental groups ask whether government can ever adequately regulate the Macarthur River Mine, after reactive waste rock was dumped in wrong place

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The Northern Territory government’s claim that no report exists from an investigation into an accidental dumping of toxic mining waste demonstrates a lack of transparency and an inability to regulate a mine which has had repeated problems, environmental groups have said.

On Thursday Guardian Australia revealed the Glencore-owned McArthur River mine near Borroloola, about 700km south-east of Darwin, had accidentally dumped thousands of tonnes of reactive waste rock in the wrong place, where it combusted and began emitting sulphur dioxide.

On the same day, the independent monitor found waste rock continued to be a problem at the mine site and McArthur River Mining’s nearly $500m bond covered only a fraction of its predicted rehabilitation period.

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In 2016 the NT Department of Primary Industry and Resources contracted an independent investigator to look into the incident but the department says the investigator’s only finding was delivered verbally.

The head of the department, Armando Padovan, said the investigation concluded the dumping – which amounted to about 14,000 tonnes – was “in accordance with the operator’s mine management plan,” and that no final report was produced.

The claims were made during a series of contradictory interviews and statements by department executives.

Gavin Mudd, a senior lecturer in environmental engineering at RMIT and chairman of the Mineral Policy Institute, said the incident raised questions about whether the government could ever regulate the mine – and especially its eventual rehabilitation – to the standard the community reasonably expected.



“The saga shows the lack of rigorous regulation, assessment and enforcement which has dogged the MRM site for decades – a situation the department are commendably working to toughen, but the scale of environmental risks are getting exponentially bigger year by year,” Mudd said.

“It is a legitimate question to ask whether this growing risk is really worth the effort.”

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Shar Molloy, director of the Environment Centre NT said the fact no final report was produced demonstrated a lack of transparency by government about the controversial mine, which is seeking approval to expand its operations.

“How can the Borroloola community and the NT public trust the government and trust these departments to be able to monitor and hold these companies accountable?” she said. “This is not at all within the values of transparency and openness and trust.”

The chief executive of the Environmental Defenders Office NSW, David Morris, also a former principal legal officer for the NT branch, said it was another example of failure by the NT government and McArthur River Mining.

“Failure of the mine to actually responsibly operate that mine site and failure of the government to appropriately and adequately manage the site as the regulator,” Morris said. “The fact his investigation has not been put in writing and made public further erodes public confidence in the process.”

He said the dumping incident showed the “inability of [McArthur River Mining] to manage its waste rock. The further question then is how any responsible government could contemplate the approval of an expansion which would see the need for additional waste rock to be managed,” he said.

Glencore, which owns McArthur River Mining, declined to answer detailed questions prior to the story’s publication.

On Thursday a spokesman told the ABC: “MRM cooperated fully with the department throughout the investigation process and measures are in place to ensure this is not repeated.”

Padovan told media in Darwin on Thursday the department was happy with the way MRM acted after the accidental dumping.



“We looked into the matter when we became aware of it, and we worked with McArthur River Mining to identify what led to that waste rock being dropped ... We then worked with the miner to work out how to remediate what had happened,” he said.

Padovan said he did not think the investigation’s findings showed the mine management plan was substandard.

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He said there was no evidence of any damage to the water system, and that the main impact was the release of sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere.

Padovan said he did not know how long the sulphur dioxide was being emitted from the southern pile before it was stopped,adding that the risk of it happening again was “greatly reduced”.

He said the department regularly inspected the mine site.

Earlier on Thursday the independent monitor of MRM released its annual report, and among its findings was that the department had some failings in following up and monitoring any issues or breaches detected during its inspections.

“The independent monitor commended the department for continuing regular site inspections and developing comprehensive site inspection reports, however there were also areas where it noted the department could make improvements in regulatory practice, particularly in relation to tracking issues observed during site visits,” Padovan said in response to the report.

“We are committed to continuous improvement in our regulatory role and accept all recommendations made in the report.”



The independent monitor’s report also highlights that toxic waste – particularly reactive waste rock – remained a problem at the mine site and long term containment was a key concern.

It said the security bond of $476,094,542 was inadequate, and only covered the next 25 years rather than the several hundred the operator predicts will be required to rehabilitate the site if it is allowed to expand its operations.