holloway announces a formal end to the clean-up

Perhaps we've all encountered those families where one sibling in the brood routinely bullies the rest, while pusillanimous parents fail to intervene to protect the victims in the name of not 'taking sides'?

I couldn't help but be reminded of this while reading SA mineral resource minister Paul Holloway's statement to parliament announcing the formal completion of Marathon Resources' clean up at Mount Gee in the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary.

The whole statement is appended below.

The section that called to mind those unhappy families was this one -

The Northern Flinders Ranges has high scenic, environmental and ecotourism values, but equally high prospectivity for copper, gold, uranium and other metals. The area is also now recognised for having high prospectivity for the development of geothermal energy. The challenge for Marathon Resources—in fact, for all explorers in this region—is to show how the mineral and energy resources can be extracted from this region in a manner that preserves the environmental and scenic values

'Equally high'? As the contemporary shibboleth much loved in managerial and political pronouncements goes 'are we comparing apples with apples here?'.

Answer - No.

Firstly, where the hell is the supposed 'dilemma'? Given that most of the other areas of the state that show similar high mineral or geothermal prospectivity don't have similar high scenic, environmental or ecotourism values then any non-daft person would likely conclude you should do the one set of excavatory things there and leave the really pretty bit for future generations to admire. Wouldn't they?

I am the last person to dismiss arid and semi-arid flatlands as 'featureless' and 'valueless' in themselves. But, surely, where such ecosystems are replicated on a broad scale across the state it makes more sense to target them (well away from key 'niche' areas such as existing reserves, rockholes, foredunes and claypans), rather than assaulting the unique and limited habitats of the northern Flinders Ranges?

I'm also no fan of uranium mining, but that is not the point here.


false equality


Am I the only one who finds all these 'what are we to do, we have two completing claims here that are of equal merit' claims to be irritating, and perhaps just a little dishonest?

For, like the dysfunctional family outlined above, the power distribution here between the sides is scarcely equal! The Arkaroola Sanctuary's owners do not want mineral exploration there, the Sanctuary's friends do not want mineral exploration there - and yet the explorers are there; simply because the mining industry is the domineering larger sibling of the state, while environment, heritage and tourism must take what scraps they can.

Marg and Doug Sprigg had every reason to believe that they had established an international-standard reserve and eco-tourism venture that they could be confident would be preserved for posterity.

Instead they have been subjected to several years of stress and anxiety because of the silly aspirations of the 'right to mine anywhere' lobby. Both the SA Chamber of Mines and Energy and the Department for Mineral Resources Development should hang their heads in shame! What a way to treat a South Australian icon!

And now Holloway is announcing a further prolonging of the agony! Sure, exploration drilling is still suspended pending legislative changes the necessity for which was specifically brought to light at Mount Gee. But will no-one in the industry camp do the decent thing and join Senator Minchin and Ian Plimer in stating unequivocally that there must be limits on where we can mine, and at the Arkaroola Sanctuary they have clearly been reached?

And an apology is the least that they owe the Spriggs.


'the challenge' is to ignore reality!


As for 'the challenge' Paul Holloway outlines - give me a break!

I thought Labor's hard-headed realists were supposed to accept the whole 'you-can't-have-your-cake-AND-eat-it' thing?

Either mining is introduced and systematically degrades the high-conservation value areas of the Flinders Ranges, or we sustain the high-conservation values themselves.

All other claims are mining industry spin that only looks more risible in the light of what has actually happened at Mount Gee. Holloway cannot hold two mutually-contradictory positions to be equally valid by refusing to accept this!

As for other prospectivity, the current geothermal blowout unfolding further north at Innamincka is exactly the kind of thing that should remind us that Arkaroola just ain't the spot for drillrigs, however beneficently they may cast themselves.

I've said before that it wouldn't matter if they were attempting to mine clotted cream or the Milk of Human Kindness in the Arkaroola Sanctuary - it simply isn't the place for it. It's not hard to grasp. No mines, no wind-farms, no free clinics dispensing much-needed anti-retrovirals, no global peace summit conference centre and day-spa for cancer victims, no lost-big-eyed-puppy shelters at Mount Gee!


and hey! - where's jay?


And where is environment minister Jay Weatherill in all this? While Paul Holloway is attempting to persuade us he's pulling off some Solomonic balancing act, where's the man who should be vigorously defending this unique region on behalf of us all? I must write to him and find out...


Paul Holloway's statement follows;

MARATHON RESOURCES

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Small Business) (15:27): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement in relation to Mount Gee in the Northern Flinders Ranges.

Leave granted.

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Primary Industries and Resources SA and the Environmental Protection Authority have recently finalised their assessment of rectification work following breaches of the licence conditions pertaining to Exploration Licence 3258, held by Bonanza Gold and operated by Marathon Resources. I table the Closure Report (Independent Verification of Rectification Works EL3258). This report is now available online from the PIRSA website.

PIRSA, in consultation with the EPA, is now satisfied that rectification works have been completed in accordance with the approved Rectification Plan and Formal Notification. All general waste recovered from Hodgkinson, Mount Gee West and Mount Gee East sites have been removed from the exploration lease, and radiation screening has indicated that all general waste was non-radioactive. Radiation surveys conducted prior to excavation and post-rectification works confirmed that radiation levels have not changed. All mineral samples, including the mildly radioactive samples, were safely removed from bags and drums and reburied under two metres of clean and compacted soil within the same or similar geological and soil formations.

Marathon's activities on this exploration lease brought to light some deficiencies in compliance and enforcement provisions of the Mining Act 1971 that need to be strengthened. In the coming months, I will be giving notice of proposed amendments to the Mining Act. As indicated to this council previously, the government will not contemplate any further ground disturbing activity by Marathon Resources on Exploration Licence 3258, at least until that legislation is in place.

The Northern Flinders Ranges has high scenic, environmental and ecotourism values, but equally high prospectivity for copper, gold, uranium and other metals. The area is also now recognised for having high prospectivity for the development of geothermal energy. The challenge for Marathon Resources-in fact, for all explorers in this region-is to show how the mineral and energy resources can be extracted from this region in a manner that preserves the environmental and scenic values

The Report can be found here:

http://minerals.pir.sa.gov.au/sa_mines/licence_suspension