Blair Athol

image of Blair Athol

Rio Tinto made hundreds of millions of dollars during the 30 years it ran the Blair Athol coal mine in Central Queensland.

Now, when it comes time to rehabilitate and clean up the mess they made, they’re trying to cut and run. They want to flog the mine off for $1 – yes, that’s right, $1!

Now a mining minnow, TerraCom wants to purchase Blair Athol. TerraCom is financially distressed owing over $140 million and has no technical or financial ability to rehabilitate Blair Athol.

Write to Queensland Mines Minister Anthony Lynham demanding he blocks the $1 sale and forces Rio Tinto to rehabilitate Blair Athol, instead of flogging it off.

Rio Tinto made hundreds of millions of dollars during the 30 years it ran the Blair Athol coal mine in Central Queensland.

Now, when it comes time to rehabilitate and clean up the mess they made, they’re trying to cut and run. They want to flog the mine off for $1 – yes, that’s right, $1!

Now a mining minnow, TerraCom wants to purchase Blair Athol. TerraCom is financially distressed owing over $140 million and has no technical or financial ability to rehabilitate Blair Athol.

Write to Queensland Mines Minister Anthony Lynham demanding he blocks the $1 sale and forces Rio Tinto to rehabilitate Blair Athol, instead of flogging it off.

Make Rio Tinto Clean Up Their Mess

Write to Queensland Mines Minister Anthony Lynham demanding he blocks the fire sale of the Blair Athol coal mine for $1 and instead makes Rio Tinto rehabilitate the site. The Minister and his department have the final say - and a decision is likely very soon.

Please change the subject line to use your own words, and add an extra sentence or two at the start to personalise the email. It makes a big difference!!

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I am writing to you in regards to the proposed sale of the Blair Athol Mine to TerraCom Ltd.

As a financially distressed junior miner, we believe that TerraCom’s fragile and unstable financial position poses too great a risk to the Queensland taxpayer and the Government should block this sale. In addition the $80 million financial assurance is inadequate to cover the full cost of rehabilitating Blair Athol in the event TerraCom goes bankrupt.

Terracom has no experience in regards to closing a large open cut mine. The magnitude of the task and the technical difficulty involved in rehabilitating Blair Athol will be well beyond TerraCom’s capacity and ability.

It should be remembered that TerraCom only announced its transition from a junior mineral exploration concern to a mining company in November 2015.

Closing Blair Athol will be complex and risky given the technical and cost unknowns associated with all mine closures.

This is particularly true in Blair Athol’s case where many of the necessary engineering and environmental studies and the rehabilitation plan have not been completed.

In closing we believe the best option for the Queensland taxpayer and the local community of Clermont is to ensure Rio Tinto closes and rehabilitates this mine. Rio Tinto is clearly one of the few mining companies which has the financial resources - $US8.4bn in closure provisions as of FY 2015 – the expertise and the management capacity to deliver a best practice outcome at Blair Athol.

In order to protect the environment and taxpayers the Government should; 
•	Block this current and all future attempts by Rio Tinto to offload its rehabilitation liability for the Blair Athol Mine
•	Require Rio Tinto to commence a full closure and rehabilitation of Blair Athol by Q1 2017, and
•	Establish a Community Consultative Community to ensure the rehabilitation of Blair Athol meets “world’s best practice” standards and satisfies community expectations thus setting a new benchmark for future coal mine closures in Queensland.

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