Fears Queenslanders could be forced to pay for mine cleanup as LNP reviews environmental ‘red tape’ | Queensland

Queenslanders are being warned they could have to pay the cost of cleaning up abandoned mines if rehabilitation laws are weakened after the state government unveiled a proposal to cut environmental “red tape” for resource companies.

The state’s treasurer David Janetzki and mining minister Dale Last this week announced a review of a plan that would require resource companies to provide bail-in to cover remediation and rehabilitation costs when mines are closed.

Last said the review would ensure the plan, introduced in 2019, remained “fit for purpose” and supported “responsible resource development across Queensland without constraining investment”.

“The financial supply plan is one of the top three issues that small mining companies and explorers continue to raise with me,” Last said.

“Queensland has a tremendous opportunity to become a global leader in critical minerals and the Crisafulli government is committed to cutting red tape to pave the way for the next wave of investment.”

Janetzki said the review would ensure the balance between “the highest environmental standards for rehabilitation and recovery” and “the right investment environments for young miners and explorers who will contribute to mining activities.”

But Lock the Gate Alliance’s central Queensland co-ordinator Claire Gronow said junior miners were most at risk of “walking away and leaving a mine site that has not been rehabilitated”.

Gronow said environmental campaigners and primary producers already had “major concerns” about the trend of “selling off” by larger miners not by closing and rehabilitating their coal mines but by handing them over to smaller companies.

These companies, which generally had a portfolio consisting only of coal mines and sometimes had foreign capital, were particularly exposed to fluctuations and volatilities in the sector.

“You won’t be able to get the money back from them after they’re gone,” Gronow said.

“They can put a mine through maintenance and repair and then the company disappears in a cloud of smoke.”

Gronow said the rehabilitation bond could be a “delay” for junior miners. But if a company can’t provide the financial security to cover these costs, “should it really be involved?”

Without an adequate rehabilitation bond, mining companies could “take the profits and disappear,” Gronow said.

“In this case, we ordinary Queenslanders carry that legacy,” he said. “And that legacy isn’t just a scar on the ground. It’s releasing pollutants into our waterways, our Great Barrier Reef and those kinds of things that will persist for generations.”

Gronow is calling on the government not to water down the financial provision plan, while others are demanding that miners increase their obligations to neighboring landowners.

Trish Goodwin is a cattle farmer near the small town of Bluff in central Queensland. This town’s land includes most of the 1,100-hectare open-cut Bluff coal mine.

Bluff, which was created before current mine rehabilitation regulations came into force, was shelved in late 2023 when its owner went into receivership.

On Wednesday, Goodwin was still wondering who was responsible for the list of unmet liabilities related to the destruction of his land and assets, including road access and communication lines to his home.

“So in my case, who will pay for this?” he said. “This mine goes to the buyer more times than I eat bacon and eggs for breakfast.”

Queensland Resources Council chief executive Janette Hewson said the mining industry looked forward to working with the government on the review.

“ [QRC] “We welcome the Queensland government’s review of the fiscal provisioning plan, which in its current form is a barrier to new investment in the resources sector.”

The amount of unrehabilitated mined land in Queensland increased by 12% from 2019 to 2024 and now covers more than 223,6841 hectares.