Exmouth Gulf - one of Western Australia's most
environmentally important areas - is under potential threat from
a plan to build one of the world's biggest salt mines.
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Exmouth Gulf is one of the richest marine environments
in Australia. It is a nursery for humpback whales, dugong
and turtles. The mangrove systems on the eastern margins are
areas of high primary productivity feeding and restocking
both the Gulf and the famed nearby Ningaloo Reef.
Its World Heritage values have already been identified. It
must be protected.
The proposed salt mine as per Straits original proposal
would cover 411 square kilometres - more than 70 kilometres
long, equivalent to the area from Rockingham to Quinns Rock,
and inland ten kilometres from the coast. Straits has since
amended its proposal to an initial first stage.
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| On its website, the company describes a "modified
proposal", but in fact it is simply a re-statement of
the first stage of its project.
From the outset, in its Environmental Review Management
Plan (ERMP), Straits stated that it was "planning to
develop a 10 million tonne per annum (Mtpa)" operation
"with start-up capacity of 2.5 to 3 Mtpa".
The ERMP remains the base documentation that the EPA is
evaluating. Straits' intention to ramp up the project to 10Mtpa
was also re-stated by the company at a stakeholder reference
group meeting held in June 2007.
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The Halt The Salt campaign believes the risks associated with this
massive project are too great and the project must be abandoned.
Widespread and deep concern among many organisations has led the
State's peak conservation groups to join forces for the first time
with peak commercial and recreational fishing interests in the Gulf
to stop the project.
Straits Resources has had to acknowledge in its own documentation
the environmental concerns associated with its proposed salt mine:
- Potential loss of mangroves and associated biota such as algal
mats in an area of recognised significance for these systems.
- Potential shipping and salt production impact on marine fauna
such as whales and dugongs and their supporting habitats.
- Potential impact on marine and terrestrial nutrient inputs
introduced by the presence of the salt field and the significance
of this to the Gulf’s wider ecosystem.
- Development in an area recommended to be set aside as a marine
conservation reserve.
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© Photographs courtesy
Wags and Kelly
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