General Discussions, page-9358

Whilst any asbestos fibers is not you want to see on your tenements, the main two types of asbestos that are very key health concerns are your amosite fibers (brown asbestos) and crocidolite fibers (blue asbestos). What RNU has reported is your white asbestos - your chrysotile fibers in the serpentine family of minerals, which are still problematic but not in the same sphere as your brown and blue asbestos types which are found in the amphibole family of minerals btw. Still you need to be careful but the key 'not great ones' are your brown and blue asbestos types to repeat. Witternoon, which many know about, was mining blue asbestos btw.

The point been encountering asbestos in mining is a possibility, and always is a possibility, and it is how you manage it that is the key. In the greenstone belts, which host your gold and base metals among others, in WA you actually encounter at times an asbestos bearing formation in your geological formation, as you also do in the iron ore Pilbara provinces (particularly the Hamersley Basin in the Pilbara). Anyway, it can be managed and it is not a unique problem in mining operations in Australia btw so it is how you manage and understand the formation and how you mine it that counts - Guidance about fibrous mineral hazards (dmp.wa.gov.au)

And just to make something clear asbestos here is not in the graphite itself, it seems to be in a serpentine formation, presumably some veins, holding asbestos, which from the drilling to date appears to be predominantly located underneath the graphite body itself that is to be mined. This paper is not to bad in understanding the layering and where white asbestos forms in the potential geological structure (just a guide where the serpentine rock forms and why - CHAP5.pdf (usgs.gov)

Prefer not to have any asbestos in RNU's geology, but it seems to be able to be managed is my point.

As a final point using this quote and noting amphibole, and not to be confused with serpentine, is why blue and brown asbestos is far more problematic than white asbestos - Serpentine Group - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics:

But as I said above, I would prefer no asbestos, but to repeat it is how it is mined and managed that counts here, noting it appears to be predominantly found below the graphite you are mining.


All IMO