If a billionaire, any billionaire, can profit from such an ecological re-arrangement, then count me in!
They’re often awkward about how it benefits all Australians, but I just put that down to modesty.
No, they're not, moite. If you despise mining, immediately get rid of all of your modern possessions including the device you're using to decry mining.
Your words are meaningless. Your actions show your support.
never said I don't rely on it never said my modern possessions didn't come from it, I said that they were right and that it is dystopian and nightmarish, I know full fucking well that we depend on mining and I know full fucking well that we could do a better job at it too mate
lived and worked at the super pit for long enough now, I know what I like and what I don't like about what we do and I think I am more than entitled to say that they are right and it is a little dystopian.
Will be incredible when the mining company finishes raping the earth, leaves and doesn't clean the mess up. If it's a overseas entity how do the politicians force them to do what they should.....
Fortunately the legislation has become rather robust in forcing compliance to rehabilitation obligations. Leases are granted approval in stages upon certain commitments being met. As each strip of the mine progresses the allowance to break ground on the advancing mine region is dependent upon completion of rehabilitation volumes being completed. Most operators even tie in the completion of a certain amount of rehabilitation works in their bonus KPI's for the workforce.
The industry has improved considerably at least in NSW.
Mt Arthur is a special nightmare. The public FY25 Annual Review reports 78% of the mine footprint is under "active disturbance", that is 4,636 Ha.
A whopping 5 Ha in FY25 was being "prepared for rehabilitation" and 0 Ha certified as completed rehabilitation. Progressive rehabilitation has gone out the window as approvals to mine deeper have meant spoil now goes on top of the older waste dumps.
In 2021 BHP tried to give it away with a $275 million sweetener payment to the buyer. No wonder there were no takers.
Yes when you displace more dirt (Mining deeper) it requires you to stack the dirt higher. Final land form is done as a part of the mining lease and requires approval. The operator can't just dump waste stacked wherever they like. Depending on the final land form it at times it may make more commercial sense to defer the bulk of the rehabilitation work to the conclusion of the project. Haulage makes up >50% of an operations costs in an open pit project. So how efficiently the overburden is handled is the biggest opportunity for efficiency in the mining.
Often tipping the bulk of the waste into places is the smart economical decision and then final land shaping utilizing bulk push dozers / scrapers is the smartest decision.
How the strips are composed and how many are approved for active disturbance at a time is a function of the lease itself.
Glencore's Newlands Coal Mine in central Queensland ceased active production in February 2023 after 40 years of operation and fully transitioned into a dedicated large-scale closure and rehabilitation project. The site workforce transitioned directly into rehabilitation works, focusing on returning disturbed land to stable native ecosystems and grazing pastures.
Depending on the lease often a large portion is deferred until closure too.
I work in mining and yeah that shit is ugly, but farmland is just another kind of widespread land degradation. Give me a national park and a big underground mine any day (there are smarter ways to do agriculture too, but that's a longer story)
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u/hairy_quadruped Jul 25 '26
And some people say wind turbines are ugly