A Northern Territory court has ruled the amount of money mining giant Glencore gave to the state government as a security bond for its McArthur River mine must be revealed, after a lengthy court battle brought by traditional owners.
The NT civil administrations tribunal has ruled in favour of Borroloola resident Jacky Green, who had long questioned whether Glencore had provided enough to fully rehabilitate the controversial lead and zinc mine.
David Morris, the principal lawyer at the Environmental Defenders Office, representing Green, said that kind of information should be publicly available.
“Simply what our client wanted was the figure that the minister decided was adequate to protect the public for future rehabilitation costs which might end up being borne by the taxpayer and, as history shows, often are.”
Despite the court’s ruling, the amount remains unpublished, pending Glencore deciding to appeal to the NT supreme court.
If Glencore does not appeal the amount can be revealed in September, but otherwise will remain suppressed throughout an expected lengthy appeal process.
The Northern Territory government told the court in October it would not be fighting the application by Green and the EDO.
In 2015 Glencore agreed to increase its bond – then known to be $111m – after the then Country Liberal party government threatened to shut it down.
The new amount was not published, but previous estimates have said as much as $1bn could be required to properly clean up the site after Glencore left.
Over recent years the company has been accused of acting improperly with Indigenous groups in the area who have no legal say over the mine. Indigenous people rely on the river but have major concerns about contamination findings.
In 2013 a suburb-sized waste rock pile combusted and sent plumes of toxic smoke across the region for more than a year.
Last month it also faced questions over a deal it struck with other traditional owners as part of its plan to expand operations for another 20 years.
The bond is calculated in reference to the level of disturbance at the site, but the complex process means it is not clear whether the expansion plans – to double the waste rock pile and nearly triple the pit depth – would automatically require a larger bond.
“However it’s clear from the proposal that there will be a far greater level of disturbance if the expansion is approved,” said Morris.
Glencore has been contacted for comment.
