|
|
|
|
National Tree Day Planet Ark Home
|
|
|
||
|
Australia State Reverses Opposition to Rio Mine |
||
|
Mail this story to a friend | Printer friendly version
|
||
| AUSTRALIA: September 18, 2007 | ||
|
SYDNEY - An Australian environmental body on Monday reversed a decision to halt a multi-billion dollar iron ore mine development by Rio Tinto Ltd/Plc to protect an endangered spider-like animal.
|
||
|
Western Australia's Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) in March had originally rejected a proposal by the mining giant to develop the mine near Pannawonica in the Pilbara region, after the company unearthed troglobites, which measure just 4 millimetres (0.16 in) in length. Troglobites live in the dark parts of caves and have adapted to life in total darkness, using feelers to explore their way through the dark. The EPA report in March found there were 11 unique species of troglobites at the proposed mine site and said mining could extinguish at least five of them. However, the agency said in its latest report that Rio Tinto's Robe River unit had agreed to increase the size of a mining exclusion zone to ensure that suitable habitat would remain for all known species of troglobites. Robe River had also offered evidence that troglobites had persisted after mining at two similar sites in the Pilbara. "It is the EPA's judgement that the proposal is now capable of meeting its environmental objective with regard to subterraneum fauna," the agency said. Robe River mines iron ore in nearby areas in the Robe River Valley. It currently produces 32 million tonnes of ore per annum, but the existing deposit will be exhausted by 2010. The new iron ore mine, with an expected 10-year life, is planned as a replacement and is forecast to produce 220 million tonnes.
|
||
|
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
|
||
|
