Coal miner hits delay before warden’s court

Kimberley traditional owner Dr Anne Poelina said a court decision last week to postpone ruling on a proposed coal mining lease near Derby delivered objectors much-needed extra time.

In a rare move on January 31, Perth’s Mining Warden’s Court agreed to hear late objections by the Nyikina woman and the Environmental Defenders’ Office to the grant of a mining lease for Rey Resources Ltd’s proposed Duchess Paradise thermal coal project.

“One of the issues is that there is a public environmental review being called on this mining proposal – it is a bit premature to be issuing the licence now,” Dr Poelina said.

But she said it was increasingly likely the matter would go to a hearing before the environmental assessment process was completed and was likely to set a precedent for what would be the Kimberley’s first coal mine.

“At the moment they’re talking about only starting at the Duchess Paradise area but the fact of the matter is that they do have an 8000 square kilometre coal mining province.”

Dr Poelina said there were several registered Aboriginal sacred sites at the area and mining posed a serious pollution risk to groundwater in the pristine Fitzroy River catchment area.

“There is a whole lot of information that needs to come to the fray… hydrological, environmental, geological – before we can make a sound decision about mining this place.”

Rey Resources managing director Kevin Wilson said the court orders for further information had not caused a problematic delay for the company, which has been in formal negotiations with the Nyikina Mangala traditional owners since June 2011.

“Applications for mining leases are tenure related and not the point in the process of approving a prospective mining operation from an environmental perspective,” Mr Wilson said.

He said the proposed project would not directly impact on any environmental or known heritage protection areas.

Rey Resources plans to operate slot mining at a pastoral station 175km south east of Derby.

The company has recently completed a feasibility study for an up to 2.5 million tonne per annum operation over a 20-year period with production proposed to start at the end 2013, subject to required approvals.