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Queensland resource companies will be required to financially contribute to rehabilitate abandoned mines in Queensland, under new legislation passed in State Parliament.
Instead of a site-by-site approach, companies will be forced to contribute an amount into a pool of money to rehabilitate future abandoned sites if the owner goes bust.
Therefore if a new mine fails, the funds will be used to cover the cost to rehabilitate the site, removing liability from taxpayers.
Future high-risk projects have to give a surety to the Government to cover their rehabilitation costs.
The interest from the billion-dollar fund will be used to make a modest contribution to the overall cost of rehabilitating existing abandoned mines, and towards some research and development.
It is understood will take up to a decade for the interest to accumulate before it can be used for existing mines.
The bill for current site rehabilitation in Queensland is estimated to run into the billions of dollars, with the state responsible for maintaining about 120 abandoned or legacy mines.
The laws would require new mines to pay for areas such as voids and waste ponds to be rehabilitated, but existing mines won't face the same requirements.
All mining companies will now require progressive closure and rehabilitation plans for all projects.
Deputy Premier Jackie Trad described the new laws as "ground-breaking".
"These reforms strike the right balance for the environment and the resource sector, while ensuring resource companies, not Queensland taxpayers, foot the bill for the rehabilitation of failed mines or stranded assets," Ms Trad said.
"The reforms ensure that mine rehabilitation actually happens in Queensland and we don't leave a legacy of abandoned mines for future generations, or mines that are in care and maintenance for many decades.
Ms Trad said the Government would not amend approvals given to companies under previous policy frameworks.
This includes existing mines with "non-use management areas", which can include pit voids and waste rock which are not required to be rehabilitated.
But in the future, non-use management areas will only be approved in very restricted circumstances, where it is found to be in the public interest, as per an independent evaluation.
Lock The Gate campaigner Rick Humphries said as a result, communities will be left with "vast unfilled coal pits and polluted water after mining".
"The mining industry already plans to leave 218 coal pits un-rehabilitated, many of which will drain groundwater permanently and will leave vast, deep scars on the landscape," he said.
"We pushed the Government hard to phase in similar laws that have been in place in the US since the 1970s requiring all pits to be backfilled."
Crisis talks to avoid any retrospective elements
Head of Queensland Resources Council (QRC) Ian Macfarlane said the industry took comfort in the fact the legislation was not going to be retrospective.
"Those mines operating under the current environmental approvals wouldn't have retrospective conditions apply to them," he said.
Daily crisis talks between the QRC and the Government over some proposed amendments were facilitated by former Labor minister Stephen Robertson last week.
"It was just a case of making sure that the words of the legislation reflected that [no retrospective conditions] … and getting that outcome," Mr Macfarlane said.
Lock the Gate has accused the Government of being "strong armed" by the mining lobby, but the Government maintains the laws were never going to be retrospective.
Mr Macfarlane said each company's contributions to the fund would be made public.
"The amount that a company pays is calculated based on their credit risk and what their credit ratings are, and the size of the rehabilitation bill," Mr Macfarlane said.
'Industry will be left off the hook'
Greens MP Michael Berkman said the laws should have applied retrospectively.
"What the Government's proposed will let every single existing mine in Queensland off the hook effectively," Mr Berkman said.
"Not requiring any of the more than 200 final voids across the state to be dealt with by industry.
"Industry estimates that's about $20 billion worth of work, which means Queenslanders are going to be left to foot the bill for all that work and industry will be let off the hook."
Topics: mining-rural, rural, mining-environmental-issues, environment, activism-and-lobbying, government-and-politics, states-and-territories, regulation, qld, brisbane-4000, australia
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