The Greens share the concerns of environmental organisations and community members about news the holder of a mining lease in Takayna has been charged with illegal operations in Western Australia.
In 2024 we raised concerns of the Gold Valley company’s desires to acquire the Riley Creek site, with then-Minister Abetz. This included raising the company’s chequered financial past, history of phoenixing and ongoing ASIC investigations.
Despite our warnings, apparently the government saw the company fit and proper to hold a lease in Tasmania, and the transfer of the site was completed.
In the rapidly evolving global mining scene, Tasmanians should not be exposed to renegade operators. Any mining operations and operators should be of a global best practise.
Making sure we have a rigorously managed mining industry is just not possible when Tasmania has a 30 year old Act in desperate need of a full and open review. That’s something the Greens have also been warning Ministers about – for years.
We call on the Minister to crack down on mining phoenixing and other dodgy practices. The Liberals should apply thorough ‘fit and proper’ operator checks with the same force they are applying them to the building industry.
Again, we call on the Government to conduct a full review of the aged Mineral Resources Act, and to cancel the leases over the Riley Creek site in Takayna. At long last the priority must be to restore the site to be part of the special landscape that surrounds it.
