A mine that can't be closed? The McArthur River Mine and regulatory failure in the Northern Territory

摘要

On 10 August 2018, the Northern Territory Environment Protection Authority (NTEPA) released its report1 assessing the environmental impacts of Glencore-owned McArthur River Mine's (MRM) proposed Overburden Management Project (OMP) - a project designed to rectify the prior erroneous classification of the mine's waste rock. The NTEPA recommended it proceed on the basis that it could be managed to avoid unacceptable environmental impacts and risks. The NTEPA's assessment of the OMP is the fifth public environmental impact assessment (EIA) in the mine's 24-year operating history, sitting at the midpoint of the mine's operating life. The assessment has given the public a rare snapshot of a raft of confounding and perhaps insoluble mine management issues, particularly relating to mine closure.