A Pilbara native title body says the state government favours miners and urged Northern Star Resources to come back to the negotiating table over its wastewater plan.
A Pilbara native title body has accused the state government of blindly backing mining and urged Northern Star Resources to come back to the negotiating table over plans to dump wastewater down an important cultural site.
Kariyarra Aboriginal Corporation on Monday was one of at least two parties to appeal the Environmental Protection Authority’s recommendation to approve the $1.3 billion Hemi gold project south of Port Hedland.
The other is understood to be Vysarn Asset Management, to which KAC is a partner.
Central to the appeals is a dewatering plan which would allow Northern Star to dump wastewater down the Turner River and/or reinject it into the Kariyarra Paleochannel.
KAC has long opposed this: it was a significant strain on relations between the native title body and Hemi’s former owner, De Grey Resources.
The body has now warned Northern Star and the state government it will use “any and all means” necessary to fight the project should its appeal be quashed.
Kariyarra Aboriginal Corporation chief executive James Gibson said it was disappointing to see the state government cast traditional owner concerns aside.
“Companies like Northern Star should really take note of what is going on here and look to develop a more aligned approach when it comes to their projects,” he said.
“Not just simply look at their own interests and operate in a way that's detrimental to the people of Western Australia, traditional owners and other stakeholders in the region.
“The water in the paleochannel has the ability to provide reliable water in a short period of time across the Pilbara, including into the state strategic industrial area proposed at Boodarie.
“If that gets contaminated, it's all over.”
Kariyarra is pursuing a business opportunity with water abstraction firm Vysarn to use water from the paleochannel for Port Hedland industrial and domestic use.
Among core concerns with the water discharge plan is the potential impact to Moorambine Pool, which the EPA noted was not visited during cultural surveys for its assessment.
“That is an incredible admission, and it really does signal to me that the state is willing to back mining projects over reasonable protections for heritage sites and environment,” Mr Gibson said.
“They have thrown caution to the wind.”
Limits would be placed on where water above a certain contamination threshold can be reinjected, under the EPA recommendations.
Mr Gibson said discussions with Northern Star had been much more promising than those held with De Grey.
The Super Pit owner’s most senior executives – chief executive Stuart Tonkin and chairman Michael Chaney – have sat down with traditional owners in Port Hedland to hear their concerns.
“I would now call on Northern Star to follow through with those early conversations and look for alternatives to what has been listed in the EPA report,” Mr Gibson said.
“We need to get into a room together and negotiate reasonable alternatives to discharging water or rejecting water.
“It is in everybody's best interest to work with traditional owners on acceptable outcomes to make sure everybody's projects move forward, and cultural and heritage sites, as well as the environment itself, are protected.”
Kariyarra’s opposition has emerged as a headache for Northern Star’s prized new asset, the largest undeveloped goldmine in Australia.
Northern Star bought the Hemi project from De Grey in April for about $5bn.
KAC has been clear about its objection to any wastewater discharge down the Turner or Yule rivers, or reinjection into the paleochannel, for years.
The Turner and Yule rivers are the lifeblood of Kariyarra ngurra. Both contain several heritage sites and are linked to the paleochannel.
KAC does support development of Hemi subject to a satisfactory water management outcome.
Alleged environmental damage to other Pilbara waterways such as Weeli Wolli Creek by BHP on Nyiyaparli ngurra, and the Bungaroo borefields and Millstream aquifer by Rio Tinto and the state government on Yindjibarndi and Robe River Kuruma ngurra, has fueled Kariyarra’s concern.
“Kariyarra are incredibly mindful given what has happened with other waterways in the Pilbara, and are determined to not see that happen again,” Mr Gibson said.
“Here is an opportunity to prevent it before it happens, rather than try and remedy or rectify a shockingly patent outcome for everybody.
In picking a fight over water, Mr Gibson said the Kariyarra people were mindful of what was to come.
“The Hemi gold project as it sites today has a notable footprint on Kariyarra country,” he said.
“But with all the additional tenure applications and ancillary pieces of land that De Grey Mining, now Northern Star Resources, have applications in for… it is going to be a major undertaking and take up a very large footprint on Kariyarra country,” he said.
Kariyarra is in the process of re-registering heritage sites in the area removed from the register in 2011 in what Mr Gibson described as an “autocratic process”.
Northern Star Resources and the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation declined to comment.
- The journalist is a Northern Star Resources shareholder.
