A long-awaited report reveals that the area of unrehabilitated mined land in Queensland has grown even larger, even after laws were passed to supposedly improve the situation.
The Queensland Mine Rehabilitation Commission’s report, released last week, shows the situation was getting worse, not better. It concludes that “there has been consistent growth in the industry’s overall liability of rehabilitation yet to be carried out across the mining sector” (p16).
The report reveals that:
- The area of unrehabilitated land from “large-scale mining operations” has increased by 23,825 hectares since new rehabilitation laws were passed (p17).
- As a result, the total area of unrehabilitated land has reached a total of 215,555 hectares (p17)
- Just 27% of the area of all large mines and 22% of all coal mines have been rehabilitated (p18)
Environmental Advocacy in Central Queensland Director, Dr Coral Rowston said:
“The commissioner’s report shows mining companies are still wrecking more land than they’re fixing since the introduction of compulsory Progressive Rehabilitation and Closure Plans for new mines back in 2019.
“The report looks at the rehabilitation status of 207 mines which were proposed or amended since 2019 and hence subject to rehabilitation plans. The real disturbed and unrehabilitated area is so much greater than the report indicates.
“It is Queensland communities who pay the price, in the form of polluted water and damaged land, as well as missed economic and job opportunities in rehabilitation.
“Unless companies are made to put significant funds into the rehabilitation financial provisioning scheme, as well as undertaking progressive rehabilitation, much of this work will eventually fall to Queensland taxpayers in the future.
“We applaud the Commissioner for exposing this problem and are now calling for an urgent crack down on mine rehabilitation compliance so that Queenslanders don’t end up footing the bill for mining neglect” said Dr Rowston.
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