Pilbara Iron Ore State Agreements and Mine Closure Regulation

This article discusses mine closure regulation under the Western Australian State agreement regime; specifically, Pilbara iron ore mines authorised by State agreements. Not all Pilbara agreement mines are subject to Western Australia’s legislative mine closure requirements. Pilbara agreement mines are only subject to mine closure planning requirements in three situations: if the Environment Minister has imposed an implementation condition following an environmental impact assessment under Part IV of the Environmental Protection Act 1986 (WA); the Mining Act 1978 (WA) applies to the mine; or an agreement term imposes an obligation to do so. Some Pilbara mines slip through these regulatory gaps because of the unique interaction of State agreements with other legislation. While the focus of this article is on the Pilbara agreement mines, the same propositions apply to all mines authorised by State agreements in Western Australia.