South32 Worsley Alumina plan to expand their existing bauxite mining in the Mt Saddleback-Marradong-Boddington area. See recent EPA notice. The clearing of forest for the expansion of strip-mining would be expected to have at least local impacts on the Bibbulmun Track a few kilometres north of Mt Wells Campsite and just northwest of Boddington Gold’s large residue disposal pit. A 1.2 km section of the Track lies within the proposed expansion area (see map image), suggesting increased visual and noise impacts are inevitable, and a future track re-alignment would become necessary. The seven-day public comment period allowed by the EPA closes 9 July. Depending on public responses, the proposal may be assessed via a Public Environmental Review to ensure appropriate broader community consultation and transparency.
See also HikeWest Facebook post and “Bauxite mining“.
(Originally posted 8 July 2019.)
UPDATE (August 2022): Following the initial public feedback in 2019 , the EPA announced that the mining expansion proposal was now to be assessed via a Public Environmental Review (PER) which was the preferred option expressed by over 90% of the initial 122 respondents, including HikeWest. The extended period for public submissions to the EPA on South32 Worsley Alumina’s Environmental Review Document (‘ERD’) now closes 29 August 2022. HikeWest has made a submission and we encourage others to also submit your comments about the ERD to the EPA here. If you would like help with your submission see short guide courtesy of WA Forest Alliance.
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