The state government has been told on at least three occasions that asbestos fibres will leach further into the Pilbara landscape if Wittenoom’s tailings are not remediated.
For six decades about three million tonnes of tailings dumped mostly by CSR Limited in the gorges around Wittenoom between 1948 and 1966 have sat uncontained and at risk of dispersal by wind and rain.
It is a sensitive topic for the state government – in 10 years of reporting about it, this journalist has rarely received a straight answer from departments or ministers on both sides of politics.
That secrecy goes as far as not admitting to having costs and preferred strategies when undeniable evidence is presented to them that they do indeed have this information.
More than 40 years’ worth of documents obtained by Business News – some of which have been hidden from public view until now – reveal the options presented to the state government to remediate the tailings, who should be responsible, and how much it would cost.
Key dates and decisions have been laid out by Business News in an easy-to-read timeline at the end of this story.
This timeline paints a picture of repeated warnings from experts, committees and parliamentarians that the problem would get worse the longer the state government failed to act.
That warning has come to fruition.
In 2008 a 47,000-hectare contamination zone was declared around Wittenoom, an area equivalent to one bound by the ocean, the Perth hills, Balcatta to the north, and Canning Vale to the south.
Thirteen years later it was confirmed to the state government that asbestos from Wittenoom’s tailings piles had spread out beyond the contamination zone and into the Fortescue River.
The Fortescue River feeds into the Millstream aquifer, which is a municipal water source for the north-west’s largest city – Karratha.
Of more pressing concern is the risk to the Yindjibarndi and Robe River Kuruma people, who use areas linked to the Fortescue River for cultural practices.
And that isn’t to forget the Banjima people, who already feel the heavy weight of asbestos-related deaths from the tailings on their Country.
This impact on the Banjima people has been noted in several reports.
Over the past four decades both sides of politics – Liberal and Labor – have rejected recommendations and decided the cost to remediate Wittenoom is too high.
In contrast to public commentary by government ministers over the years, several options have been presented to remediate the tailings.
The earliest of these came in 1992, when a parliamentary committee concluded the tailings should be vacuumed back into the underground asbestos mining pits from which they came.
Sluicing – or watering – the tailings piles into a slurry would mitigate the risk of asbestos-laden dust billowing into the atmosphere as this work took place.
“We have a duty to prevent the further spread of asbestos tailings to reduce the risk of mesothelioma to residents, current visitors and future generations,” report author former MP Mark Nevill said at the time.
“We also need to remove the visual pollution of tailings which are becoming more and more unacceptable to society at large.
“Therefore, a complete clean-up of the tailings at the town and mines is required.”
It never happened.
In 2015 GHD found two locations in Wittenoom Gorge suitable to excavate. The tailings would be placed into these excavations then covered.
These options came with a rider that it is unlikely the gorges will ever be safe for humans again, but they did confirm the spread of tailings into the broader landscape could be limited.
Under the options presented in 2015, the work would have been completed next year.
Again, it never happened, and the departments responsible now say the work is too old to be reliable.
Instead, the state government is now on the cusp of being taken to court to remediate and compensate, should it decide against working with the Banjima people to clean the mess up.
Curiously, according to a 2023 state government document, the Wittenoom mines have never been declared as abandoned, which means they do not qualify for the Mining Rehabilitation Fund.
The warnings of Wittenoom – a timeline
- 1985 – Hawthorne & Associates report costs cleanup of Wittenoom at $22 to $35m.
- September 1992 – WA Parliamentary inquiry recommends pilot program to sluice and pump tailings back into the mine shafts, diversion of creeks, and revegetation. Court Government rejects report.
- August 1994 – WA Parliamentary committee identifies tailings became property of the state government when leases were transferred to the Crown. Recommends CSR and Hancock Prospecting be pursued to remediate the tailings and that govt take action to clean up Yampire Gorge.
- November 2006 – GHD/Parsons Brinckerhoff report notes asbestos will leach into Fortescue River for “hundreds of years” if left unchecked. Stabilising Colonial Mine site should be a priority. Recommended capping tailings and revegetating to improve stability, and diverting creeks away from piles
- 2008 – WA government declares 46,480-hectare Wittenoom Asbestos Management Area. Notes remediation is required.
- 2013 – GHD advises remediation of asbestos tailings at Colonial Mine, Wittenoom Mine and Eastern Gorge sites via encapsulation. Other options were to build tailings storage outside of the gorges, or build armoured levees around two consolidated tailings piles.
- October 2015 – GHD recommends two sites to excavate gorge walls, in which asbestos tailings would be placed and encapsulated with excavated material
- December 2015 – GHD costs two options to achieve the above. $145m for state govt to directly control and direct the work for 10 years. $153m to contract it out over eight years. Option two preferred.
- 2016 – Briefing note from Dept of Lands to lands minister suggests lands minister gives up on remediation due to prohibitive costs, recommends measures to stop human access to area.
- 2019 – Lands Minister Ben Wyatt says companies responsible should pay to remediate Wittenoom.
- 2021 – Department of Water and Environmental Regulation note mentions asbestos fibres have been found in stream channels beyond the Wittenoom contamination zone.
- 2022 – WA government evicts final Wittenoom residents, demolishes remaining structures.
- August 2023 – Dept of Planning, Lands and Heritage says it knows asbestos tailings have spread outside contaminated area, recommends further investigation to understand extent. Finds all previous documents and studies are now out-of-date.
- October 2023 –Banjima Native Title Aboriginal Corporation board votes to pursue legal action to clean up Wittenoom.
- October 2025 – BNTAC gives state government one month to decide on mediating to remediate Wittenoom or face them in court.
