Alcoa to keep mining as WA government overhauls regulations

Western Australia’s government has moved to revoke the exemption order that allows bauxite miner Alcoa to continue mining while the state’s Environmental Protection Authority conducts an independent assessment of its mining proposals.

However, Alcoa will still be able to continue its operations while an updated exemption order that aligns with its revised mining management program comes into effect.

Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourn said updating the regulatory arrangements would lead to better environmental protections and align the conditions with the rolling five-year mining management program that governs Alcoa’s operations.

“What happened this morning was a gazette of a notice that we will be ending the current section 6 exemption order under the Environmental Protection Act for Alcoa on the basis that we will be replacing that with a new section 6 exemption order,” he said.

“It will provide greater protections, but at this stage we are in discussions with Alcoa over how that will precisely look.

“So it was a bit preemptive to actually say what exactly will happen, but the goal here is for better environmental protection and to have much closer conditions on the section 6, as well as the time management plan.”

However, WA Greens environment spokesperson Jess Beckerling said the government should not be even considering issuing a new exemption order for the miner.

“Alcoa is continuing to clear ancient jarrah forests, push black cockatoos to the brink of extinction and threaten our drinking water all while under EPA assessment, making an absolute mockery of our nature laws,” she said.

“While the EPA assesses Alcoa’s impacts on our Jarrah forests, there should be zero clearing yet the Cook Labor Government continues to bend over backwards to exempt their mining and clearing operations while they wait for approval.

“This whole process has confirmed what we already knew: that the Cook Labor Government prioritises Alcoa’s interests over the community’s. This must change and I have no doubt that Alcoa’s social licence is nearing its expiry date.”

An Alcoa spokesperson said the company acknowledged the government’s intention to issue a new exemption order to reflect conditions associated with its proposed 2025-2029 mining and management program.

They said the company was committed to rapidly modernising to a “more contemporary approvals framework” for its mining operations and “operating in line with stakeholder and community expectations”.

“Over the past two years we have increased annual rates of new rehabilitation work from around 500 hectares in 2023 to 793 in 2025 and remain on track to achieve 1000 hectares by 2027,” they said.

“In addition, we have honoured commitments to move operations further away from drinking water reservoirs and protect important cockatoo habitat.”

But Conservation Council of WA executive director Matt Roberts said enough was enough.

“There should be no new exemption order granted, or at the very least, much stronger outcomes-based conditions to protect habitat trees and exclude clearing within the reservoir protection zones,” he said.

WA Forest Alliance director Jess Boyce called the conditions of the current exemption “woefully inadequate”.

“There should be no circumstance in which Alcoa is allowed to continue clearing forests whilst under assessment, especially within the reservoir protection zones that protect Perth’s drinking water,” she said.