Undermining The Tarkine

Take a look at the map above, which is essentially a chart of the southern Tarkine.

This entire region is dotted with titles. Names of the present, past or prospective mines sites, some which date back more than a century.

Given that the Mining industry in Tasmania has more political influence than the Forest industry, it is maps like this that indicate why the secure protection of the greater Tarkine region will not be a simple or quick process.

It’s not recent news that the Tarkine is recognised by the Mining Industry as a highly prospective region. Some sites such as the Savage River iron-ore mine have been extracting minerals for many decades.

But to whose benefit? – Certainly not Tasmanians!

The Savage River mine for example seemingly pays no royalties or payroll tax back to the state. The initial developers of the Savage mine site received free infrastructure such at the sealed access roads, bridges, and power transmission lines. Similar to other corporate industry power consumers, Western Tasmanian mine sites probably get their power costs less than the cost per unit.

Many of the identified minerals sites in the Tarkine are considered low-grade deposits. Although low-grade deposits make most mines economically unviable, that doesn’t mean they won’t be mined.

The recent Shree Minerals iron-ore mine at Nelson River attested that mining can occur despite the poor economic return to Tasmania, and even the investors themselves. This usually comes at a cost to speculative shareholders, and taxpayer subsidies.

A deliberate process to gain investor confidence … ?

The Nelson River mine was a conjecture in relation to the full extent of the ore deposit, and the amount of chemicals to be used on site.

Exaggeration of mining particulars may have been a deliberate process to gain investor confidence, and to procure political support for the approval of such mines. This procedure may be particular of small shareholder companies that need to attract speculative backers.

Often some companies heavily rely on a smaller mine to raise capital for a larger project. It seems that this was an imperative for the Venture Minerals Riley Creek ore-mine near Tullah to be highly lucrative in order for the company to undertake the Mt Lindsay tin and tungsten projects.

The current low commodity market prices seem destined to shelve most mining projects within the Tarkine into the foreseeable future, though that won’t prevent the government supporting and approving more mineral exploration licenses and leases.

In the end it is always the landscape, and the good old taxpayers that lose through external infrastructure, subsidies and environmental mop-ups. In the case of many of the big mines in Tasmania, the government consistently waive any responsibility of environment rehabilitation when these mines were transferred from one company to another.

The legacy of mining continues to remain with the visible scars across Western Tasmania. The huge Savage River Mine depression is a great gaping wound inflicted into the heart of the Tarkine. This mine imposed a similar impact on the wilderness values of the northwest to what the inundation of the Lake Pedder /Gordon scheme wreaked on Tasmania’s Southwest wilderness.

The grand extent of the Tarkine, being one of the finest representations of cool-temperate rainforest on earth, deserves a greater recognition than one of mere resource extraction. Amidst the scenic coastline, forest and wild rivers, tourism is gradually providing an economical boost to the northwest of the state, and potentially could be the saviour for the region as it was for other West Coast communities.

The economic and posterity benefits of the Tarkine becoming a World Heritage Area far outweigh the short-term view of our successive government’s besotted quest to find the island’s mythical El Dorado.

EARLIER on Tasmanian Times …

• STATE: Pushing a destructive dig it up – chop it down economic vision for Tasmania

EVEN EARLIER …

• Shree and The Tarkine: The Black Knight Always Triumphs … The Pictures tell the story …

Ted Mead articles here

• Nick McKim: Tarkine 4WD Track Reopening is Simply Vandalism

• Christine Milne: Greens say Hunt should rule on Tarkine debacle