Mine-Free Glenaladale is a member of the Alliance for Responsible Mining Regulation Inc. (ARMR) The Alliance is seeking an overhaul of mining regulations in Victoria to get better outcomes for the community and environment. To keep up to date with ARMR’s activities go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/armrvic.
ARMR has representation from groups experiencing, or threatened by, the apparent unwillingness or inability of Earth Resources Regulation to properly regulate mining in Victoria. ARMR has presented many Victorian politicians with a copy of its 10 point plan for improving mining regulation. It has also been developing responses to a number of government consultations including the Federal Government’s Critical Minerals Strategy and the Victorian Government’s Trailing Liabilities (Rehab) Consultation.
ARMR has developed a 10 point plan outlining the bare minimum required to bring Victoria’s mining regulations up to an acceptable standard.
ARMR – Review of the Australian Critical Minerals Prospectus – 2022 (posted 3 February 2023)
Greenwashing is alive and well in the mining industry as so many companies are trying to influence or capitalise on the Federal Government’s support for the tranisiton to renewable energy. The Government recently ran a series of workshops and a public consultation on its ‘Critical Minerals Strategy’.
ARMR’s response identified a number of problems with the strategy. These include the dubious information being promoted about actual resource availability. In fact the authors of the Australia’s Critical Minerals Prospectus present incomplete, and at times incorrect, data that gives a misleading picture of the true state of Australia’s potential for successfully and economically mining critical minerals, and indeed for competing on a world stage.The Prospectus reads like an advertising brochure rather than a technical document to be taken seriously. All information comes directly from hopeful explorers and miners and there appears to have been no attempt to validate any of it. In fact, it appears that Geoscience Australia has not even checked credible and readily available global information such as that from Statista or the United States Geological Service.
Click on the image below to open the submission or download it from this link
Trailing Liabilities Submission by The Alliance for Responsible Mining Regulation (ARMR)
Rehabilitation bonds in Victoria are an absolute disgrace and currently leave taxpayers exposed to many hundreds of millions of dollars as ERR have consistently refused to apply realistic bonds on mining companies. The Department appears to have made little genuine attempts to redress this situation despite the damning 2020 VAGO Report.
Recent and upcoming closures of Victoria’s coal mines illustrate just how stark the problem is, and although there have been some increases to rehabilitation for the Latrobe Valley Coal Mines they are nowhere near adequate to cover the liability.
Earth Resources recently “sought feedback to help shape a trailing liabilities scheme for Victoria’s coal mines as the state transitions away from coal-fired energy and prepares for the rehabilitation of the Latrobe Valley sites. The proposed trailing liability provisions will strengthen the requirements for operators to deliver their rehabilitation obligations. It is intended that the provisions will apply to Victoria’s declared mines, which are the three Latrobe Valley coal mines. The proposed changes will ensure Victoria has a fit-for-purpose legislative framework, allowing the Victorian Government to respond to the challenges of rehabilitating former mine sites. This is a significant time in Victoria’s coal mining industry, where current market conditions are placing financial and strategic pressures on large organisations that own, direct or influence business operations. The trailing liability provisions will ensure mine sites are rehabilitated for a sustainable future.”
Click on the photo below to open ARMR’s submission or on the link below to download it.
