Chief Minister chose illegal assesment process

[Note: this statement relies on court documents which are in the public domain but only through viewing the affidavits in the Supreme Court]

 The Supreme Court ruling on Monday 30th April was a win for the Traditional Owners and all who had worked to protect the McArthur River. The decision confirms the view long held by the Environment Centre NT that the Government, in seeking to placate the mining company MRM  (Xstrata), had acted illegally.

Charles Roche, Rivers Campaigner for the Environment Centre, said “Justice Angel’s decision confirms the illegality of the NT Government’s actions in one respect, but the list of improprieties does not stop there.”

 It was revealed in court during the Supreme Court hearing that Chief Minister Clare Martin personally intervened following the rejection of the original proposal by the Minister for Environment and the Minister for Mines.

In a letter to the Chief Minister on the 22nd March, two days after the proposal was rejected, Mr Hearne of MRM suggested that the process that the NT Government wanted to use to reassess the mining proposal was flawed:

 “The suggestion of an altered process under clause 14A [Administrative Procedures Act] is artificial as it does not reflect the factual situation and would more likely attract adverse comment and potential legal challenge from a third party.”

Despite this advice, in her letter to Mr Hearne, on the 23rd March, Chief Minister Martin rejected the alternatives and chose the legally dubious process, using clause 14A, by which the mine could be approved in 84 days or less. In her letter the Chief Minister made it clear that the new assessment would only require a Public Environment Review rather than the more stringent Environmental Impact Statement, and that her Minister [Minister for Environment, Marion Scrymgour] “…will use her best endeavours to shorten the timeframes within her control.”

 In selecting to use 14A of the administrative procedures and approving the mining expansion via the Mine Management Plan rather than a change in authorisation the NT Government made a critical error.

The Chief Minister’s intervention was the beginning of the end. In an effort to placate MRM/Xstrata, the Chief Minister selected a process that was designed to fast-track approval, and it is that process that has been found unlawful.

Even MRM agree, the NT Government’s process was artificial and would more likely lead to a legal challenge. 

This was not a technical breach, it was an deliberate abuse of due process.
 

Statement From The Minister For Mines

From our Minister for mines…

	Chris Natt MINISTER FOR MINES & ENERGY

“The Supreme Court of the Northern Territory today handed down its decision in the case Lansen & Ors v NT Minister for Mines and Energy & Ors.

 “The Government will now carefully review the reasons for the Supreme Court’s decision and examine all available legal avenues before making any further comment.”

 Contact: Gemma Buxton 0401 110 064

Xstrata wants to damn more rivers

It seems that the Northern Territory is not the only place dealing with the rapacious Xstrata…story from Santiago Times

Plans are currently in place to build at least five massive hydroelectric dams in Chile’s Region XI, an area of northern Patagonia that’s also known as Aysén. A Swiss mining company called Xstrata is looking to dam the Cuervo River, while a company called HidroAysén – a joint entity created by Spanish electricity giant Endesa and a Chilean utility called Colbún – plans to build several dams on the Baker and Pascua Rivers.

Backers of the projects, which together would produce some 3,000 MW of electricity, insist their plans are both necessary and sound. To start with, the dams promise to free Chile from its vulnerability vis-à-vis ongoing shortages of Argentine natural gas. Patagonia’s rivers, furthermore, represent a clean and renewable source of energy, they argue.

The projects nevertheless, have generated local, national and more recently, international opposition. The dams would be environmentally devastating for the pristine region, say opponents. In addition to flooding large tracts of land, the projects call for building a 2,000-kilometer transmission line – the world’s longest – that would literally cut through acres upon acres of both protected and unprotected wilderness area. Also, large-scale hydroelectric projects are by no means the country’s only option, they argue.

“We’re convinced that there are alternatives, starting with energy efficiency,” said Juan Pablo Orrego of the Santiago-based environmental group Ecosistemas. “In Chile, so far absolutely nothing has been done in that respect. And Chile is a country that’s particularly rich in terms of non-conventional, renewable energy sources.”

full story here from Santiago Times…..

By Benjamin Witte (benwitte@santiagotimes.cl)

Expansion work at NT zinc project halted

An international mining giant has been forced to stop the expansion of its zinc project in the Northern Territory after a court found the process the territory government used to approve it was invalid.

The legal victory by Aboriginal traditional owners in the NT Supreme Court has also thrown into doubt the future of up to 400 employers and contractors working on the development.

Swiss company Xstrata, owner of McArthur River Mine, late last year gained NT government approval to transform its operation from an underground to open-cut mine by diverting a Gulf of Carpentaria river by 5.5 kilometres.

But Justice David Angel on Monday upheld a challenge by the Northern Land Council (NLC), which had argued the NT mines minister failed to follow proper procedures under the Mines Management Act.

It was a decision hailed by opponents as a win for both traditional owners and the environment.

But it meant the company, which has already completed up to 15 per cent of work on the controversial expansion, had to suspend its operations.

“I believe that at seven o’clock last night they shut down or discontinued the mining operations on the area for new development and the diversion associated with the river,” a McArthur River Mining (MRM) spokesman confirmed.

He said MRM was still producing at its underground mine, but was not able to confirm whether the company was pursuing legal avenues.

NT Minister for Mines Chris Natt on Tuesday said the government was receiving detailed legal advice on the court’s findings.

“This decision is based on a technical issue surrounding the initial application form lodged for the McArthur River Mine site in 2002,” he said in a statement.

He said the court had made no findings on the environmental assessment process or consultation with traditional owners or the general community.

Opposition Mines spokeswoman Fay Miller said the government’s error “looks like incompetence”.

“The question is how did this mistake get through an entire department?” she said, adding that 1,700 direct and indirect jobs had now been put at risk and some $13 billion worth of economic benefits over the next 25 years jeopardised.

McArthur River Mining (MRM) first applied in March last year to expand the mine - which contains three per cent of the world’s zinc deposits - claiming an underground mine was no longer viable.

It argued an open-cut mine was the only way to secure the future of the operation, and would extend its life by 25 years.

When the NT government originally rejected its first proposal, MRM threatened to close the mine, prompting regional businesses to launch an advertising blitz to try to change the government’s mind.

Prime Minister John Howard also threw his support behind the expansion, saying it would contribute to the overall wealth of Australia.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Expansion-work-at-NT-zinc-project-halted/2007/05/01/1177788130581.html

McArthur River mine workers owed explanation says NT opposition

The Northern Territory Opposition says thousands of workers at the McArthur River mine are owed an explanation from the Government as to why their jobs are now in jeopardy.

In October last year, Territory Mines Minister Chris Natt approved Xstrata’s plan to turn the McArthur River Mine, near Borroloola, into an open cut mine. But a group of traditional owners has successfully argued that approval of the mine expansion failed to follow proper procedures under the Mines Management Act.

 Opposition spokeswoman Fay Miller says it is inexcusable for the Government to put so many livelihoods at risk. “The unfortunate thing is that the expansion work at the mine now has to cease operation,” she said. “We must realise that it’s the third biggest zinc producer in the world and it really is going to make a huge difference to the world markets of zinc. Ms Miller says the expansion of uranium mining is just around the corner and the decision sends an alarming message to the rest of the world.

“The Government needs to clarify this, the Minister for Mines certainly needs to get some clarification on what administrative error was made here to ascertain that this never happens again,” she said.

Mr Natt says his reading of the decision is that mining will not be interrupted. “The processes are all there, the strict environmental processes that go through, they’re all undertaken, so again, it’s been a technical issue,” he said. “About my decision, we’re working through those to organise a response and we’ll examine the judgement before we make any further comment.”

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200705/s1910936.htm