Chalice extract from the articleLike a fresh clearing on a leafy...

Chalice extract from the article

Like a fresh clearing on a leafy track, a new pitchabout forest mining is coming into view on the business pages and in company prospectuses. Raiding the forest is being heralded as a way of saving the planet. It’s an argument Chalice Mining’s Dorsch adopts with ease and seeming conviction. “Conservation and biodiversity are important, but we believe that taking the metals from the ground and putting them in electric vehicles would be a net positive for the environment. If we’re serious about decarbonising, about producing enough electric vehicles, we’re going to need to scale up rare metals by a factor of six,” he adds, quoting the International Energy Agency. “Even the forests of Western Australia are vulnerable to climate change… We must have the metals produced from somewhere.”

With the blessing of the state government, Chalice’s exploration drills are poised to cross into Julimar’s 29,000ha, A-class conservation reserve. Chalice’s prospective find, if mined, would mean partial destruction of a remnant ancient wandoo forest that shelters several threatened species. “But we won’t be like the bauxite miners… What we have is a different proposition,” says Dorsch. “Bauxite strip mining has a very large footprint that clears thousands of hectares of forest. We’d be far smaller than a bauxite mine.” He says Chalice could “replace” forest loss by replanting nearby land cleared decades ago by farmers. “The best place to extract minerals is here,” Dorsch argues. “We’ve made huge leaps forward in terms of addressing biodiversity and environmental impact, and WA is viewed as the high benchmark.” Julimar’s fate was sealed by mining decisions made decades ago, he adds. “Part of Alcoa’s state agreement covers the southern part of Julimar state forest, so Alcoa could start strip mining if they so choose.”

Jarrah forests cleared for bauxite mining, southwest WA. Picture: Supplied

The quickening pace of exploration means compromise may be hard to find. Environment and climate action minister Reece Whitby says WA “is host to several export industries critical to the local and national economies, including those which are central to global decarbonisation efforts.” But he adds “it is a priority these industries co-exist harmoniously with the surrounding environment”. That may amount to putting more forest in conservation reserves and imposing strict boundaries so that strip mining “doesn’t creep up to our front doors”, as one pundit put it.

One obvious argument may have been lost: that native forests themselves are a weapon against climate change. Jess Beckerling from the WA Forests Alliance says WA’s forests are drawing down carbon in the atmosphere and storing it securely. “With so much damage already done across the southwest, what remains of our forests is absolutely vital for climate and biodiversity. We can’t mine our way out of the problems we’ve created for ourselves. We have to shift our consumption habits so we don’t mine everything in sight.”

The international drafting panel that Dixon sits on will soon launch a set of new global mining rehabilitation standards. “What it will do is provide Alcoa and South32 with a scorecard they can use,” he says. “But we’ve been very clear that you cannot invoke restoration as the reason for destroying whole ecosystems.” In other words, “we’ll grow it back” will no longer be a credible defence.

“We seem to be in a twilight zone in Western Australia,” Dixon says. “We know we can’t keep strip mining a biodiversity hotspot, so how do we begin the new narrative around leaving the forest?”

VICTORIA LAURIE

SENIOR REPORTER

VICTORIA LAURIE IS A SENIOR REPORTER AND FEATURE WRITER IN THE PERTH BUREAU OF THE AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPER. A FORMER TV AND RADIO JOURNALIST, SHE HAS ALSO BEEN A FREELANCE WRITER FOR THE BULLETIN, THE MONTHLY, HQ,... READ MORE