Record $2.9m penalty for mine's unlicensed water take to fund rehab of heritage-listed swamp
The Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR)
The watchdog found the mine drained up to 5 megalitres of water a day, the equivalent of two Olympic swimming pools, between 2018 and 2023 without a licence.
At the time the EU was agreed, it dwarfed the previous largest agreement obtained by the watchdog, which was approximately $360,000.
NRAR confirmed that as part of the deal, Illawarra Coal Holdings would fund a three-year program to restore 340 hectares of Wingecarribee Swamp in the NSW Southern Highlands.
Wingecarribee Swamp is a unique montane peatland rich in flora and home to the endangered giant dragonfly.
Wingecarribee Swamp is a remnant of a late glacial swamp overlying prehistoric sandstone.
(
Supplied
)
NRAR director of investigations and enforcement Lisa Stockley said the swamp was an important area in the Sydney drinking water catchment.
"While they did have groundwater licences, they didn't actually have surface water licences," she said.
"
[Wingecarribee Swamp] was chosen because water was taken from the Sydney water drinking catchment and it plays a very important part in the water quality.
"
Lisa Stockley says funding the rehabilitation project at Wingecarribee Swamp is a great outcome.
(
Supplied
)
Improved surface water monitoring
Established in 2002, Dendrobium Mine is an underground mining operation at Kembla Heights that primarily produces metallurgical coal.
It is a supplier to Australia's biggest steelmaker, Bluescope Steel, at nearby Port Kembla.
Illawarra Coal Holdings Pty Ltd was owned by South32 at the time of the breach, before it was sold to mining consortium GM3 in August 2024.
Dendrobium Mine at Kembla Heights, south of Sydney, is now owned by company GM3.
(
ABC Illawarra: Kelly Fuller
)
Ms Stockley said GM3, as the mine's current owner, had responsibility for managing "the expenditure of the funds".
"[Illawarra Coal Holdings Pty Ltd] was required to pay a sum of money to NRAR in regard to the investigation costs and monitoring costs of this EU," she said.
"They are looking at a whole range of compliance agreements and are looking at better ways of monitoring surface water take."
Historical damage to stay
According to NRAR, Wingecarribee Swamp has a long history of environmental disturbance, including peat mining in the 1960s, the creation of a reservoir in 1974 that flooded 50 per cent of the original swamp, and a huge structural collapse of the peat beds in 1998.
Ms Stockley said the rehabilitation project, involving the Illawarra Local Aboriginal Land Council and landholder Water NSW, would not be able to fix some of these significant historical issues.
The endangered giant dragonfly is found in Wingecarribee Swamp.
(
Supplied
)
"We acknowledge it's not a restoration project. It can't be restored, but the area can certainly be improved,"
she said.
The restitution works are expected to facilitate training and employment opportunities and will include vegetation surveys and weed removal, as well as the identification of threatened species like the critically endangered Wingecarribee gentian and endangered leek orchid.
Ms Stockley said the project was a great example of "restorative justice", delivering direct benefits to the community and the environment.
"It's a good outcome," she said.
Calls for environmental rehab fund
Ms Stockley said EU's were "really effective enforcement tool" that could help avoid lengthy court processes.
"But if the undertakings aren't abided by, NRAR would take the matter back to court," she said.
Georgina Woods is head of research and investigations at the Lock The Gate Alliance.
(
Supplied
)
Georgina Woods, from national grassroots organisation Lock The Gate Alliance, echoed this sentiment but said there should be more ways to hold mines accountable and for rehabilitation works to occur.
"NSW doesn't have in place a fund to ensure there is money in the future for long-term rehabilitation from coal mining," she said.
"This outcome … draws attention to the need to put in a place a fund so that we can keep on funding project like this."
The rehabilitation is expected to be complete by mid-2027.
GM3 and South32 declined to comment.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Advertiser
3 days ago
- The Advertiser
Swedish church to be moved 5km to make way for mine
Sweden's iconic Kiruna Church will begin a two-day trip to a new home, inching five kilometres down an Arctic road to save its wooden walls from the expansion of the world's largest underground iron ore mine. Workers have already jacked up the 600-tonne, 113-year-old church from its foundations and hefted it onto a specially built trailer. It is part of a 30-year project to relocate thousands of people and buildings from the Lapland city. Mine operator LKAB has spent the last year widening the road for the journey, which will take the red-painted church, one of Sweden's largest wooden structures, often voted its most beautiful, down a winding route to a brand new Kiruna city centre. The journey will save the church, but take it from the site where it has stood for more than a century. "The church is Kiruna's soul in some way, and in some way it's a safe place," Lena Tjarnberg, the vicar of Kiruna, said. "For me, it's like a day of joy. But I think people also feel sad because we have to leave this place." For many of the region's indigenous Sami community, which has herded reindeer there for thousands of years, the move is a reminder of much wider changes brought on by the expansion of mining. "This area is traditional Sami land," Lars-Marcus Kuhmunen, chair of the local Gabna Sami community, said. "This area was grazing land and also a land where the calves of the reindeer were born." If plans for another nearby mine go ahead after the move, that would cut the path from the reindeer's summer and winter pastures, making herding "impossible" in the future, he said. "Fifty years ago, my great-grandfather said that the mine was going to eat up our way of life, our reindeer herding. And he was right." The church is just one small part of the relocation project. LKAB says around 3000 homes and around 6000 people need to move. A number of public and commercial buildings are being torn down, while some, like the church, are being moved in one piece. Other buildings are being dismantled and rebuilt around the new city centre. Hundreds of new homes, shops and a new city hall have also been constructed. The state-owned firm has brought up around two billion tonnes of ore since the 1890s, mainly from the Kiruna mine. Mineral resources are estimated at another six billion tonnes in Kiruna and nearby Svappavaara and Malmberget. LKAB is now planning the new mine next to the existing Kiruna site. As well as iron ore, the proposed Per Geijer mine contains significant deposits of rare earth elements, a group of 17 metals critical to products from lasers to iPhones and green technology key to meeting Europe's climate goals. Europe, and much of the rest of the world, is currently almost completely dependent on China for the supply and processing of rare earths. In March this year, the EU designated Per Geijer as a strategic project which could help speed up the process of getting the new mine into production. Down the road, Kiruna's new city centre is also taking shape. "The church is ... a statement or a symbol for this city transformation," Mayor Mats Taaveniku told Reuters. "We have 10 years left to move the rest of the city." Sweden's iconic Kiruna Church will begin a two-day trip to a new home, inching five kilometres down an Arctic road to save its wooden walls from the expansion of the world's largest underground iron ore mine. Workers have already jacked up the 600-tonne, 113-year-old church from its foundations and hefted it onto a specially built trailer. It is part of a 30-year project to relocate thousands of people and buildings from the Lapland city. Mine operator LKAB has spent the last year widening the road for the journey, which will take the red-painted church, one of Sweden's largest wooden structures, often voted its most beautiful, down a winding route to a brand new Kiruna city centre. The journey will save the church, but take it from the site where it has stood for more than a century. "The church is Kiruna's soul in some way, and in some way it's a safe place," Lena Tjarnberg, the vicar of Kiruna, said. "For me, it's like a day of joy. But I think people also feel sad because we have to leave this place." For many of the region's indigenous Sami community, which has herded reindeer there for thousands of years, the move is a reminder of much wider changes brought on by the expansion of mining. "This area is traditional Sami land," Lars-Marcus Kuhmunen, chair of the local Gabna Sami community, said. "This area was grazing land and also a land where the calves of the reindeer were born." If plans for another nearby mine go ahead after the move, that would cut the path from the reindeer's summer and winter pastures, making herding "impossible" in the future, he said. "Fifty years ago, my great-grandfather said that the mine was going to eat up our way of life, our reindeer herding. And he was right." The church is just one small part of the relocation project. LKAB says around 3000 homes and around 6000 people need to move. A number of public and commercial buildings are being torn down, while some, like the church, are being moved in one piece. Other buildings are being dismantled and rebuilt around the new city centre. Hundreds of new homes, shops and a new city hall have also been constructed. The state-owned firm has brought up around two billion tonnes of ore since the 1890s, mainly from the Kiruna mine. Mineral resources are estimated at another six billion tonnes in Kiruna and nearby Svappavaara and Malmberget. LKAB is now planning the new mine next to the existing Kiruna site. As well as iron ore, the proposed Per Geijer mine contains significant deposits of rare earth elements, a group of 17 metals critical to products from lasers to iPhones and green technology key to meeting Europe's climate goals. Europe, and much of the rest of the world, is currently almost completely dependent on China for the supply and processing of rare earths. In March this year, the EU designated Per Geijer as a strategic project which could help speed up the process of getting the new mine into production. Down the road, Kiruna's new city centre is also taking shape. "The church is ... a statement or a symbol for this city transformation," Mayor Mats Taaveniku told Reuters. "We have 10 years left to move the rest of the city." Sweden's iconic Kiruna Church will begin a two-day trip to a new home, inching five kilometres down an Arctic road to save its wooden walls from the expansion of the world's largest underground iron ore mine. Workers have already jacked up the 600-tonne, 113-year-old church from its foundations and hefted it onto a specially built trailer. It is part of a 30-year project to relocate thousands of people and buildings from the Lapland city. Mine operator LKAB has spent the last year widening the road for the journey, which will take the red-painted church, one of Sweden's largest wooden structures, often voted its most beautiful, down a winding route to a brand new Kiruna city centre. The journey will save the church, but take it from the site where it has stood for more than a century. "The church is Kiruna's soul in some way, and in some way it's a safe place," Lena Tjarnberg, the vicar of Kiruna, said. "For me, it's like a day of joy. But I think people also feel sad because we have to leave this place." For many of the region's indigenous Sami community, which has herded reindeer there for thousands of years, the move is a reminder of much wider changes brought on by the expansion of mining. "This area is traditional Sami land," Lars-Marcus Kuhmunen, chair of the local Gabna Sami community, said. "This area was grazing land and also a land where the calves of the reindeer were born." If plans for another nearby mine go ahead after the move, that would cut the path from the reindeer's summer and winter pastures, making herding "impossible" in the future, he said. "Fifty years ago, my great-grandfather said that the mine was going to eat up our way of life, our reindeer herding. And he was right." The church is just one small part of the relocation project. LKAB says around 3000 homes and around 6000 people need to move. A number of public and commercial buildings are being torn down, while some, like the church, are being moved in one piece. Other buildings are being dismantled and rebuilt around the new city centre. Hundreds of new homes, shops and a new city hall have also been constructed. The state-owned firm has brought up around two billion tonnes of ore since the 1890s, mainly from the Kiruna mine. Mineral resources are estimated at another six billion tonnes in Kiruna and nearby Svappavaara and Malmberget. LKAB is now planning the new mine next to the existing Kiruna site. As well as iron ore, the proposed Per Geijer mine contains significant deposits of rare earth elements, a group of 17 metals critical to products from lasers to iPhones and green technology key to meeting Europe's climate goals. Europe, and much of the rest of the world, is currently almost completely dependent on China for the supply and processing of rare earths. In March this year, the EU designated Per Geijer as a strategic project which could help speed up the process of getting the new mine into production. Down the road, Kiruna's new city centre is also taking shape. "The church is ... a statement or a symbol for this city transformation," Mayor Mats Taaveniku told Reuters. "We have 10 years left to move the rest of the city." Sweden's iconic Kiruna Church will begin a two-day trip to a new home, inching five kilometres down an Arctic road to save its wooden walls from the expansion of the world's largest underground iron ore mine. Workers have already jacked up the 600-tonne, 113-year-old church from its foundations and hefted it onto a specially built trailer. It is part of a 30-year project to relocate thousands of people and buildings from the Lapland city. Mine operator LKAB has spent the last year widening the road for the journey, which will take the red-painted church, one of Sweden's largest wooden structures, often voted its most beautiful, down a winding route to a brand new Kiruna city centre. The journey will save the church, but take it from the site where it has stood for more than a century. "The church is Kiruna's soul in some way, and in some way it's a safe place," Lena Tjarnberg, the vicar of Kiruna, said. "For me, it's like a day of joy. But I think people also feel sad because we have to leave this place." For many of the region's indigenous Sami community, which has herded reindeer there for thousands of years, the move is a reminder of much wider changes brought on by the expansion of mining. "This area is traditional Sami land," Lars-Marcus Kuhmunen, chair of the local Gabna Sami community, said. "This area was grazing land and also a land where the calves of the reindeer were born." If plans for another nearby mine go ahead after the move, that would cut the path from the reindeer's summer and winter pastures, making herding "impossible" in the future, he said. "Fifty years ago, my great-grandfather said that the mine was going to eat up our way of life, our reindeer herding. And he was right." The church is just one small part of the relocation project. LKAB says around 3000 homes and around 6000 people need to move. A number of public and commercial buildings are being torn down, while some, like the church, are being moved in one piece. Other buildings are being dismantled and rebuilt around the new city centre. Hundreds of new homes, shops and a new city hall have also been constructed. The state-owned firm has brought up around two billion tonnes of ore since the 1890s, mainly from the Kiruna mine. Mineral resources are estimated at another six billion tonnes in Kiruna and nearby Svappavaara and Malmberget. LKAB is now planning the new mine next to the existing Kiruna site. As well as iron ore, the proposed Per Geijer mine contains significant deposits of rare earth elements, a group of 17 metals critical to products from lasers to iPhones and green technology key to meeting Europe's climate goals. Europe, and much of the rest of the world, is currently almost completely dependent on China for the supply and processing of rare earths. In March this year, the EU designated Per Geijer as a strategic project which could help speed up the process of getting the new mine into production. Down the road, Kiruna's new city centre is also taking shape. "The church is ... a statement or a symbol for this city transformation," Mayor Mats Taaveniku told Reuters. "We have 10 years left to move the rest of the city."
ABC News
07-08-2025
- ABC News
Toorale National Park water flows halted to address reporting concerns
The NSW natural water regulator has issued a stop-work order at Toorale National Park to halt environmental water flows, citing a lack of reporting. Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR) chief regulatory officer Greg Barnes said it had been investigating the 91,000 hectare park, 80 kilometres south-west of Bourke, for the past 12 months over concerns it was not following water licence rules. "We've done an exhaustive evaluation of Toorale — been out on site on a number of occasions, sought evidence by a number of parties, and have evaluated that evidence — to now be confident in our position that water must be accounted for against the water access licence in order to ensure that it meets the public's expectations," he said. Mr Barnes said it appeared the water flows were not recorded because it was not stipulated as necessary in an operational maintenance plan. For that to be rectified, the park's operator, the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW), must comply with the NRAR's stop-work order. Toorale National Park, which is located at the junction of the Darling and Warrego rivers, was purchased by the Australian and NSW governments in 2008 for $24 million. Prior to that, it had been a sheep and cropping station. According to landholders downstream of Toorale National Park, its conversion to a national park was intended to help return water to the Murray-Darling river system. But in 2020 the NSW government built a three-gate Boera Dam regulator to release water into the Western flood plain from the Warrego River. A spokesperson for DCCEEW said it was fully co-operating with the NRAR's investigation and welcomed any recommendation to further improve the transparency and effectiveness of its operations. Despite issuing the stop-work order, the regulator said it did not believe Toorale National Park had exceeded its water entitlement of 17 gigalitres per year. Mr Barnes said hydraulic models had been used to determine that about 3,000 megalitres of water had been diverted to the Western flood plain over the past two and a half years. The models show the park has been doing the right thing, and the stop-work order relates solely to its reporting obligations. "The stop-work order places additional obligations on how the water that is recorded is then reported publicly in a timely manner," Mr Barnes said. The report follows calls for an Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) inquiry into the management of Toorale National Park from state MP for Barwon Roy Butler. However, Mr Barnes said the stop-work order at Toorale had nothing to do with Mr Butler's referral to ICAC. "While acknowledging it's (the referral) been done, [it] has had no bearing on our investigations, nor the decision that I took yesterday [to issue stop-work order]," he said. Australian Floodplain Association president Justin McClure from Kallara Station, downstream of Toorale National Park, said the stop-work order was a "step in the right direction". "For those communities that live on the river, we need to go back to the intent of the purchase [of Toorale] and that was to return the water to the river, and that river being the Darling," he said. "And to stop prioritising man-made environmental assets upstream." An independent water researcher said the NRAR was holding the government to a higher standard than irrigators. Maryanne Slattery said by the regulator's own reporting, only 43 per cent of licensed water holders in the Barwon, Darling and West area were meeting metering rules. "NRAR should be explaining, in detail, how the treatment of environmental watering is consistent with the treatment of irrigators that have failed to comply with the non-urban metering requirements," she said. A bill introduced by NSW Water Minister Rose Jackson is currently before state parliament to give the NRAR stronger powers. The Water Management Legislation Amendment (Stronger Enforcement and Penalties) Bill 2025 is intended to introduce civil breaches and increase penalties for water theft and other breaches. But Greens MP and water spokesperson Cate Faehrmann is urging the government not to reduce criminal penalties. "The Greens don't support the reduction of any criminal offence to a civil penalty. We do support introducing measures to improve the likelihood of successful prosecutions, but not where this will remove the disincentive of criminal prosecution," she said. "If this bill was a genuine attempt to disincentivise breaches of the law, why hasn't it addressed the unworkable regulatory framework for water in Northern NSW?"
West Australian
02-08-2025
- West Australian
Innovation Generation 2025: Youth of Australia's agricultural sector descend on Fremantle for three day forum
Young people from around the country flocked to the three-day Innovation Generation 2025 conference in Fremantle to absorb knowledge and advice from key agricultural industry figures. Innovation Generation kicked off on July 22 with tours to Quaker Oats, Little Creatures Brewery, InterGrain, and the CBH Metro Grain Centre. Young people from around Australia aged 18-35 had the opportunity to gain insight around resilience and adaptability from Olympic cycling champion Anna Meares OAM, and rowing Olympian Laura Gourley who hails from a cropping farm in Narrabri, New South Wales. Sophie Forde, 19, from Darling Downs, Queensland, said the main highlight of the conference was the farm safety talk from Stevi Howdle and Helen Fitzroy. 'I found that the farm safety talk was really, really broad and emotional,' she said. 'I was nearly crying because it was hitting really close to home that if I have kids this is definitely priority number one.' Ms Fitzroy told the conference of the death of her husband, Steve, in an underground mining accident in Norseman, 1991, and how she coped with his sudden death through writing. The death of her husband left Ms Fitzroy a widow with three young children, and led to her founding the Miners' Promise in 2010 — not-for-profit organisation that provides emotional and practical support to families and members during a crisis event. Farm safety was also sticking point for 21-year-old Ellie Cook, originally from South Australia and now working on a broad-acre crop and sheep farm in Williams. 'Everyone who spoke had their own way of captivating us,' she said. 'With farm safety, or safety in any occupation, it always sort of gets overlooked and people are just like; 'it would never happen to me, it doesn't matter'. 'It was a raw and confrontational sort of conversation but it was good to hear the statistics and learn about it, because it is a real thing that happens.' A panel consisting of GrainGrowers director, Julia Hausler, Bruce Rock grower Judith Foss, Cunderdin grower Frank O'Hare, and Esperance grower Brett South, provided insights and reflections on what advice each of the panellists would give their 20-year-old selves. Ms Foss urged listeners to stay educated and keep learning while also taking care of themselves, saying a journey in agriculture is an 'ongoing learning journey'. 'It's really important to educate yourself, surround yourself with people that you value and that you trust,' she said. 'Keep up with technology, and also really make sure that you look after yourselves physically and mentally, and have good community connections with family and friends — and it's also really important to take breaks.' Sophie Longmire, 25, from Esperance, took the conference as an opportunity to meet other young people in the field and absorb information from the panels and presentations. 'Listen, take people's advice on board, which is what I think the whole day is about — just taking it all in,' she said. 'These people are professionals and they've got all of these nuggets of knowledge and you may as well take it all in. 'Agriculture is a tight community, and it's so nice to be around young people in the field — everyone just knows everyone.' Ms Forde said she found the conference and speakers highly engaging, taking as much information in as possible. 'I really liked listening to when they were talking about young farmers setting up businesses in agriculture, I thought that was really interesting,' she said. 'I was trying to take away a lot of key notes for that, so I've got a bit of wisdom in my pocket — my book is full.' University of New England agriculture and business student Grace Reynolds, 22, from Dalwallinu said the conference had been a good place to meet people throughout the industry and interstate to compare seasonal and operational differences and similarities. 'Everything from the farm safety talk was really prominent for me, after working in the industry for quite a while, all the way to the real science behind it — that's been quite interesting as well,' she said. 'It's good to have a balance of it all and just talk to a lot of people, there's so many connections — you have people out everywhere. 'If you don't talk to people you get really used to just the WA landscape — talking to other people you really get to see what their problems are and the broader world of agriculture.' Innovation Generation is Australia's biggest grains conference for people aged 18-35, and was held in Fremantle for the first time since 2016 from July 22-24.
