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It's not often you hear environmentalists and farmers asking government to help out a mining company — but that's what's happening in central Queensland as a resources project hangs in the balance.
Ian Scott lives downstream from the old Mount Morgan gold mine, near the Dee River at Wowan.
He swam in the river as a child and ate fish from it, and still to this day, his 82-year-old mother irrigates water from the river for her small herd of cattle.
Waste has been trickling out of the mine into the Dee River in controlled amounts for years, but in 2013 after ex-tropical Cyclone Oswald, the mine's acidic dams overflowed for the first time in their history.
Mr Scott remembers the eerie effect on the Dee River.
"It was pale green, nearly luminescent," he said.
"The fish all died. It smelled. We obviously knew the water was toxic."
New mining proposal 'our best chance for a clean-up'
The old mine is officially a ward of the State Government and it spends $3 million a year managing and maintaining the site, which is also a popular tourist attraction.
Since 2013, earthworks at the mine have reduced the chances of another uncontrolled overflow, a Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy spokesman said.
More than 1,100 megalitres of toxic pit water has also been treated since 2013, they added.
Yet no government has ever costed a full rehabilitation of the site, with estimates for a partial rehabilitation starting at $450 million.
While driven by profit, Carbine Resources claims its project would bring jobs to the struggling region, while also improving the old mine's acid mine drainage problem.
For Mr Scott, that is a better offer than what is happening now.
"While it's being pushed to the side, there's nothing getting done, there's no improvements, no infrastructure getting done," he said.
The company has most of its regulatory approvals but last month, it announced via the ASX that it has significant doubts about its project's financial viability, due to changes in exchange rates and expected mineral yield.
"It's extremely marginal," Carbine Resources managing director Tony James told the ABC.
The project is classified as a mining project, and Carbine Resources would therefore be expected to pay the state royalties on the tailings it pulls from the site.
Mr James said in order for the project to get private backing, the company needed $25 million from the state, either in the form of grants or a royalties reduction.
Mr Scott is backing the company's calls, as is a local farmer and environmentalist.
Farmer Neal Johansen, chairman of the Wowan/Dululu Landcare Group, said the proposal was "probably the best chance we've got for a clean-up at the Mount Morgan mine site."
Carbine Resources is at least the third company to consider pulling tailings from the site, and Mr Johansen is worried if the company baulks now, no others will come after it.
"The Queensland Government could definitely forgo the royalties on this project altogether," Mr Johansen said.
"They're getting a massive favour done.
"I know the government doesn't want to set a precedent with dealing with mining companies, but they really have an opportunity here to set a precedent with cleaning up abandoned mines."
The devil is in the detail
Australian expert in legacy mines, Corinne Unger, said the devil was in the detail when it came to the extent of the environmental benefits of Carbine Resources' proposal.
She described the company's calls for help as a "very significant opportunity" for the government, given the abandoned mine's $450 million liability to the state.
"If we don't want taxpayers to foot that money, then offsetting it with gaining value from the site makes a lot of sense," Ms Unger said.
"We'll find further value not only in reducing environmental impacts but through employment and development of the local economy."
Ms Unger said the case highlighted how difficult it can be for added value to be found in the 50,000 abandoned mines now strewn across Australia.
"It's clear from Carbine's website that they've found this a fairly torturous path," she said.
"And that's likely because the legislation is not clearly articulated about how a company would re-process mining waste."
Queensland Mines Minister, Anthony Lynham, said the government was continuing to work with Carbine Resources on its proposal.
"The Palaszczuk Government continues to work closely with Carbine Resources to help realise its ambition to reprocess tailings at the site of the former Mount Morgan Mine," he said.
Topics: mining-industry, water-pollution, qld
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