Mount Peake - EIS Delay

Today I received an email reply on behalf of Lauren Moss, NT Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources.

It looks like we are waiting on the mine management plan from TNG!

*** Start of email reply  ***

Thank you for writing to the Hon Lauren Moss, Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources (the Minister). The Minister asked me to respond to you on her behalf.

The environmental assessment of the Mt Peake Project was conducted by the Northern Territory Environment Protection Authority (NT EPA). The NT EPA’s Assessment Report 85 (the Report) was provided to the Minister in January 2018 and made publicly available on 2 February 2018. This concluded the assessment of the Project under the Environmental Assessment Act (EA Act).

As required under the EA Act, the Minister provided the Report to the Minister for Primary Industry and Resources (the responsible Minister). The responsible Minister will decide whether to approve the Proposal by issuing a mining authorisation under the Mining Management Act. Following the completion of the environmental assessment, it is expected that TNG Ltd would conduct further work to develop management plans prior to applying to the responsible Minister for a mining authorisation. It is expected that TNG Ltd will need to work with the Department of Primary Industry and Resources to ensure plans and approvals meet the necessary standards for environmental protection as discussed in the Report.

The Report was also provided to the Australian Government Minister for Environment and Energy to take into consideration when making a decision on an approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), under an accredited assessment process. When a decision is made, it will be a public notice under the EPBC Act, under referral number 2013/7027, available at http://epbcnotices.environment.gov.au/referralslist/.

Kind regards

Lisa Bradley | Director Environmental Assessment
Environment Division | Department of Environment and Natural Resources

Providing services for the
Northern Territory Environment Protection Authority

Level 1, Arnhemica House, 16 Parap Road, Parap NT 0820
GPO Box 3675, Darwin NT 0801

*** End of email reply  ***

As previously posted on 03 April 2018, I received this snail mail response on behalf of Josh Frydenberg, Federal Minister for the Environment and Energy.

This letter indicated that we are waiting on the NT Govt.