Thirty-one months after the Supreme Court found that Shree Minerals was operating on an unlawfully amended permit, the company has still to lodge DPEMP documents required for a revised approval assessment. This is over twice the time taken for the entire original assessment process of thirteen months, and four and a half times the actual working life of the mine which operated for only seven months before entering financial difficulties. An review of public financial statements fail to show any expenditure on the development of necessary reports and documentation in the past two financial years.
Additionally, the remediation bond held by the Director of Mines is insufficient to cover the costs of either remediating the site or restoring the mothballed project to compliance with permit conditions as required by the Court.
“Shree Minerals is taking the Tasmanian Government for a ride, and the Tasmanian Government is going to be left paying for the ticket,” said Save the Tarkine Campaign Coordinator Scott Jordan.
“What we have in the failed Shree Minerals mine is Tasmania’s slowest train wreck, with a Minister in Guy Barnett who is content to stand by and watch”.
“The Minister has the power under the Mineral Resources Development Act 1995 to increase the remediation bond at his discretion. The Minister must act to ensure that taxpayers are not left exposed, that funds are available to remediate the significant current environmental impacts, and we are able to prevent the likely impacts should the mine be abandoned”.
Shree Minerals has a rapidly diminishing cash balance which currently sits at $1.5million. Save the Tarkine believes that this figure is unlikely to cover the full costs of rehabilitation.
Scott Jordan, Save The Tarkine Campaign Coordinator
