[ATTACH] For $53m they backfill the pit with mine waste. This...

For $53m they backfill the pit with mine waste. This will still result in a 7-8m deep depression which would become a lake. To completely backfill would cost significantly more than the $53m to the point where in Cores own words "the project is unlikely to be considered financially viable".

EPA preference is for complete backfill to prevent a dangeous and potentially costly in the future (to NT govt) lake from forming. Pretty significant hurdle to overcome IMO.

Important to keep in mind that the EPA only supported the proposal if Core adopted all of the EPA reccomendations. Be interesting to see how Core addresses this.