Agree - its all about keeping water on site, and water storage...

Agree - its all about keeping water on site, and water storage and containment. The baseline studies would also be important to demonstrate that the previouis mining operations in the 1970s and 1980s have left a signature background Cu level in nearby soils and streams so that the regulators couldn't ping future operations with effects from the previous operations, which were obviously in different times and different standards.

Drainage around the mine site all flows north and west into the Palmer River which itself flows west into the Gulf and not eastwards, so there would be almost zero downstream effects, if the drainage went the other way into the Daintree area there would be every Nimby, hippy and knitting nanna camped on the mine site already.