Stanley River Mine Lease invalid. Fri: Mistaken Green must revoke invalid lease …

• Tuesday; Minister Green doesn’t even know what lease he granted …

The Tarkine National Coalition has expressed disbelief at Minister Bryan’s comments in Budget Estimates yesterday, demonstrating he has confused the Venture Minerals Stanley River (Livingstone) Mine Lease with a yet to be received application for a separate mine lease 15km east at Riley Creek.

“Minister Green denied that the mining lease area granted was in the Meredith Ranges Regional Reserve, and went on to claim that the area was scheduled for logging next year. That’s going to be very difficult given that the Stanley River mine lease is a valley dominated by buttongrass and heath”, said Tarkine National Coalition spokesperson Scott Jordan.

“The fast-tracking the granting of the 362ha mine lease in the existing Meredith Ranges Regional Reserve to Venture Minerals clearly didn’t include taking the time to ensure the Minister understood which lease he was approving”.

“The Minister clearly confused the Stanley River proposal with the Riley Creek proposal, and if he doesn’t actually know where the mine lease is, he has failed to meet the requirements under the Mineral Resources Development Act. This lease is invalid”.

Section 75 of the Mineral Resources Development Act requires that:

(3) The Minister may only grant an application for a lease if satisfied that the applicant –
(a) has demonstrated that there is a sufficient quantity of minerals to justify mining; and
(b) intends to mine; and
(c) intends to comply with this Act; and
(d) has an appropriate mining plan; and
(e) is likely to have sufficient financial and technical resources to carry out the mining plan; and
(f) has provided the Director with sufficient information relating to the likely impact on the environment; and
(g) if the application is in respect of private land, has entered into a compensation agreement with the owner or occupier of the land; and
(h) has provided a security deposit.

The Minister cannot be satisfied of points (a),(d),(e) or (f) required if he doesn’t know where the mine lease actually is.

The Riley Creek proposal by Venture Minerals is outside the existing reserve, and part of the site is scheduled for logging, although subject to discussions in the Tasmanian Forest Agreement.

• Monday; Stanley River Mine Lease sabotages Tasmanian Forest Agreement …

The Tarkine National Coalition has reacted angrily to the Tasmanian Government’s sabotage of the Tasmanian Forest Agreement process through fast-tracking the granting of a mine lease in the existing Meredith Ranges Regional Reserve to Venture Minerals.

The 362ha lease is in the area of the Tarkine.

“By granting this lease, Minister Green has sabotaged the forest peace process, and has confirmed to all that Venture Minerals wish to fast-track development on it’s open cut iron ore mine will be dutifully facilitated by a Government that learned nothing from the Tamar Valley Pulp Mill debacle”, said Tarkine National Coalition spokesperson Scott Jordan.

“Neither the Commonwealth or State environmental assessments for this project have even commenced.

“This is both premature and clearly aimed at sabotaging any opportunity to realise the World Heritage recommendations from the West report”.

“Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke should require no further proof that the Tasmanian Government is not a fit body to conduct EPBC assessments for mines in the Tarkine”.

First published: 2012-05-28 05:10 AM

• TARKINE MINE LEASE EXPOSES TAXPAYERS TO COMPO CLAIM

The Tasmanian Greens today warned that the decision by the Minister for Resources to grant a mining lease in the Tarkine exposed the State to a possible compensation claim, if the current environmental heritage assessment process results in National Heritage Listing.

Greens Member for Braddon Paul O’Halloran MP said the area for the proposed Venture Minerals strip mine within the Meredith Range Regional Reserve had already been gazetted under the Regional Forests Agreement because of its wilderness values.

“The Minister has taken a big risk granting a mining lease in the Meredith Range Regional Reserve, while the area is under active assessment for possible heritage listing,” Mr O’Halloran said.

“This could potentially open the government up to compensation if the area is granted reserve status, in line with the recommendations of the recent Independent Verification Group report.”

“The Greens understand that the environmental assessments for this project still haven’t been completed, so it appears that the Minister has made a pre-emptive decision based on incomplete advice.”

“It is also curious as this is one of three mines by Venture Minerals in the immediate vicinity. The only reason for separating the approvals process is to make it easier to secure approval,” Mr O’Halloran said.

• Wednesday, Christine Milne: Minister Green needs to be pulled into line

The federal government needs to step in to stop the withdrawal of the Tarkine National Coalition from the Tasmanian forest agreement talks, Greens Leader Christine Milne said in Canberra today.

“Minister Bryan Green’s behaviour in approving mine leases in contentious areas while the talks are at a critical point is absolutely unacceptable and the federal environment minister needs to take this in hand,” Senator Milne said.

“I will be seeking an urgent meeting with Minister Burke about the TNC’s requests and will urge him to re-apply the emergency heritage listing of the Tarkine.

“A moratorium on new mining and exploration licences being granted while the talks are on is just common sense.

“Minister Green has demonstrated a complete lack of due diligence and responsibility by granting a lease for the Venture Minerals project without a completed environmental assessment. How provocative can this minister be?

“While the Greens have not been involved in the forests agreement process we support increased and permanent protection for our high conservation value forests and do not want to see this outcome compromised by Minister Bryan Green’s actions,” Senator Milne said.

• Wednesday: Tarkine National Coalition emergency meeting to consider ongoing involvement in the Tasmanian Forest Agreement process

The Tarkine National Coalition board will meet on Friday in an emergency session to discuss whether to suspend it’s continued support for the Tasmanian Forest Agreement process following continuing sabotage by the Tasmanian government.

“While having the utmost confidence in the ENGO negotiators, and in the goodwill of the Forest Industry representatives at the table, the actions of the Tasmanian Government seriously compromise the capacity of those negotiators to reach an agreement that can give a lasting solution to the issues in the Tarkine,” said Campaign Coordinator, Scott Jordan.

“Tarkine National Coalition has been one of the strongest supporters of the Tasmanian Forest Agreement, but it is becoming increasingly clear that the Tasmanian Government is not affording due respect to the process and is working to undermine the outcomes possible for the Tarkine, and that the Federal Government is turning a blind eye to the increasing attacks on the integrity of the process”.

To restore confidence in the process, the TNC calls on the Tasmanian Government to:

• Implement a moratorium on granting of new mine leases and minerals exploration licences,

• Revoke the invalid mine lease awarded to Venture Minerals at Stanley River, and

• Commit to facilitating good faith discussions between representatives of the mining industry and conservation groups regarding tenure issues in the Tarkine (as an adjunct to the Tasmanian Forest Agreement .

And the federal government to:

• Ensure that the integrity of the Tarkine is maintained during the above process through the immediate application of an Emergency National Heritage Listing.

• Friday:Minister Green admits he was mistaken over the location of the Stanley Creek mine lease.
Now he must revoke the invalid lease.

The Tarkine National Coalition has welcomed Minister Bryan Green’s admission in Wednesday’s Estimates Committee (Legislative Council) that he was mistaken regarding key detail of the Stanley River mine lease granted on Monday.

On Monday the Minister granted the mining lease in the Meredith Ranges Regional Reserve, and then told Estimates that the lease was not in the reserve, and that it was scheduled for logging, despite it in fact being a buttongrass and heath site. The Minister also stated that it was a one metre deep strip mine not the actually planned 150m deep open cut mine, clearly demonstrating that he had confused the Stanley River proposal with a yet to be sought mine lease 15km away at Riley Creek.

Minister Green has admitted in Wednesday’s Estimates that the site is now in the Meredith Ranges Regional Reserve, but has failed to correct his other factual misrepresentations.

“Given the admission that the Minister clearly did not know the location of the mine lease, it is impossible for critical requirements of the Mineral Resources Development Act to have been met and so this mine lease is invalid. Minister Green must immediately revoke this lease,” said Campaign Coordinator, Scott Jordan.

The Tarkine National Coalition board meets today to consider it’s continued support for the forest peace process following the granting of this lease in an area subject to heritage negotiations under the Tasmanian Forest Agreement.

In Estimates the Director of Mines indicated that they were close to granting a mining lease on the Shree Minerals’ Nelson Bay River proposed mine in the Arthur Pieman Conservation Area also under consideration for World Heritage Listing within the Tasmanian Forests Agreement.

“Tarkine National Coalition is extremely alarmed that the Tasmanian Government is deliberately sabotaging and pre-empting the outcomes of the Tasmanian Forests Agreement negotiations. Despite incredible goodwill from signatories of both sides, Bryan Green is compromising these discussions from the outside, and the Federal Government must act now to protect the integrity of the process”.

“Bryan Green is making a fool of Tony Burke”.

• NEW MINING LEASES IN TARKINE MUST BE PUT ON HOLD

The Tasmanian Greens today called for the contentious Stanley River mine lease, issued on Monday, be revoked following the Mining Minister, Bryan Green’s, admission during Upper House Budget Estimates hearings that he was mistaken about its location.

Greens Member for Braddon and Mining spokesperson, Paul O’Halloran MP, said that while the heritage values of the Tarkine region are being assessed, all new mining leases applications should be put on hold to ensure the federal assessment can proceed uncompromised.

“When I raised during Budget Estimates hearing the fact that Venture Minerals Stanley River mine lease is in the Meredith ranges Regional Reserve, Minister Green refuted that fact,” Mr O’Halloran said.

“The Greens are demanding that Federal Minister Burke intervenes and requires that any new mining lease application within the Tarkine region is put on hold until the completion of the national heritage assessment.”

“While I acknowledge the Minister’s correction in a subsequent Committee, it appears that the granting of this controversial lease was done in such unseemly haste that the Minister can even be confused about its location and the status of the land it will cover.”

“This haste is why many in the community are suspicious that there is a deliberate rush on mining applications in an attempt to subvert the long-overdue national heritage values assessment of the Tarkine.”

“The heritage assessment must be completed without extractive industries, such as this planned 150 m deep open cut mine, being deliberately allowed to compromise the very values currently being examined. Otherwise Minister Green and Minister Burke have to accept responsibility for the fact that the community views their granting of leases as a deliberately provocative, divisive act, designed to undermine heritage and conservation value assessments,” Mr O’Halloran said.

Hansard Excerpt:M.b< Minister Green – “It does give me an opportunity to correct the record a little bit because Mr O'Halloran asked me a question in the other place about the Venture Project and it being in the Meredith Range Reserve. I indicated to him at that time I didn't think that it was. I was wrong. It is in the Meredith Range Reserve, but interestingly looking at the reserve and what it is reserved for, at the top of the profile of the reserve is the maintenance of mining activity as part of the reserve system. I just wanted to put that in context for anyone who might be reading the Hansard in the future. I will apologise to Mr O'Halloran when I see him.” Legislative Council Budget Estimates Committee Hearings, Wednesday 30 May 012 - Estimates Committee A (Green) - Part 2 • Senator Christine Milne, Greens Leader: Minister Burke must heritage list the Tarkine