The NT EPA has recommended the approval of a new gold mine at Pine Creek.
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But the approval may have come too late for Kirkland Lake Gold which announced a suspension of much of its mining activities with the loss of 250 jobs in March.
At the time, widespread claims circulated on social media that government red tape was responsible for the closure.
NT Primary Industries Minister Paul Kirby said it was instead a commercial decision made by the company, and not the result of delays.
The Union Reefs North underground mine met with a second environment assessment because of fears about the impact of mining in old shafts now occupied by vulnerable ghost bats.
The EPA now says the risks to the bats can be worked around.
The EPA today said it had completed its environmental impact assessment of Northern Territory Mining Operations' Union Reefs North Underground Mine.
It concluded mining could proceed in an environmentally acceptable manner providing its recommendations are implemented.
The report has been provided to the Northern Territory Minister for Environment and Natural Resources who will provide it to the Minister for Primary Industry and Resources for consideration in developing conditions and approvals under the Mining Management Act 2001.
Northern Territory Mining Operations, an offshoot of Canadian miner Kirkland Lake Gold, proposed to conduct underground mining and on-site processing of gold ore over a period of two to three years.
The miner wanted to return to previous worked diggings in the Pine Creek area which have been flooded.
The ore reserve is said to be 276,089 tonnes containing 39,232 ounces of gold.
Experts found the ghost bat has been disappearing from the wild and has chosen the old mine workings and tunnels of Pine Creek for a handy home.
The re-opening and blasting of the old shafts was likely to disturb those colonies, earlier reports found.
The activity is located within the Union Reefs Project Area, an existing mine site and processing facility about 175 km south-east of Darwin, a highly modified site subject to gold mining since 1873.
NT EPA chairman, Dr Paul Vogel, said the NT EPA identified potential impacts and risks to:
- local and regional ghost bat populations;
- surface water and groundwater quality due to contamination from mining wastes;
- hydrological regimes of both surface and groundwater from tailings storage and dewatering and;
- downstream aquatic ecosystems of the McKinlay River as a result of surface water and groundwater contamination and groundwater drawdown.
"The NT EPA has considered the proposal by Northern Territory Mining Operations to develop the Union Reefs North Underground Mine and made seven comprehensive recommendations to avoid or mitigate the impacts and risks associated with the proposal" Dr Vogel said.
"The NT EPA considers that, subject to the implementation of the seven recommendations in the Assessment Report and the commitments and safeguards listed by the Proponent in the EIS, the proposal can be implemented and managed in a manner that is likely to meet the NT EPA's objectives and avoid significant or unacceptable environmental impacts and risks."
"The NT EPA has recommended that the Pine Creek regional population of ghost bats should be protected from the mine's impacts; preservation or improvement of the health of the McKinlay River; and public reporting of plans and reports relating to protection of ghost bats, water management and protection of downstream ecosystems."
To obtain a copy of the assessment report visit ntepa.nt.gov.au/environmental-assessments/projects-completed
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