Northern Star Resources is facing opposition from traditional owners over plans to discharge water from its Hemi gold project into an ephemeral Pilbara river.
Northern Star Resources is facing opposition from traditional owners over plans to discharge water from its Hemi gold project into an ephemeral Pilbara river.
The Environmental Protection Authority in June recommended the Hemi gold project south-west of Port Hedland be approved.
A final decision rests with Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourn.
The Super Pit owner bought Hemi from De Grey Resources for $5 billion in May this year.
Kariyarra Aboriginal Corporation has lodged an appeal to the decision over what is understood to be concerns about plans to discharge up to 10 gigalitres of water per year down the Turner River.
That amount would decrease over time.
The EPA found this would likely alter the river system temporarily, but said it could be mitigated via abstraction limits, building of mounds, and monitoring.
During the sale process Kariyarra Aboriginal Corporation chief executive James Gibson told Business News the Kariyarra people would not accept any level of water runoff from the Hemi project into the Turner or Yule rivers.
“The way industry and government utilises water has a significant impact,” he said in February.
“The Kariyarra paleochannel is an important resource that needs to be protected and managed in a sustainable way and could provide benefit to Kariyarra people and industry in the Pilbara if it was managed appropriately.
“[We have a] particular focus at the moment, because of industry and government activity, on the Yule and Turner rivers.
“Kariyarra people have stated repeatedly, and will continue to state repeatedly, that they will not support discharge of industrial water into the Yule or Turner rivers, or reinjection of industrial water into the Kariyarra paleochannel.”
KAC is also opposed to water reinjection into the Kariyarra paleochannel.
Kariyarra is working with dewatering firm Vysarn on a culturally sound water business opportunity in the area.
Business News understands the Vysarn-Kariyarra joint venture has also lodged an appeal.
In response to submissions to the Hemi mine plan in April prior to the sale, De Grey said it was engaging in good faith with traditional owners.
“Water management is complex and De Grey’s consultation with stakeholders on this topic is ongoing, including KAC,” it wrote.
“De Grey [will] continue to explore options that respect the Kariyarra people’s concerns while also addressing the operational needs of the project.”
Northern Star Resources chief executive Stuart Tonkin and chairman Michael Chaney have both spent time in Port Hedland in recent months to speak with the Kariyarra people about their concerns.
The EPA has recommended Northern Star’s plan to abstract up to 30 gigalitres of water per year over the first four years (decreasing after that period) of operation be approved.
It would add to the 1,500GL of water already approved for abstraction each year from Pilbara aquifers.
Some 600GL of that allocation was abstracted in 2023.
Water has fast become a major flashpoint between miners, the state government, and Aboriginal groups in the Pilbara in the past year.
Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation and Robe River Kuruma Aboriginal Corporation have publicly criticised water abstraction from the Millstream aquifer and Bungaroo borefield.
Rio Tinto in response is building a desalination plant at Dampier to reduce its reliance on groundwater for dust suppression.
The state government has flagged construction of a desal plant for scheme water by the end of the decade too.
Miners exporting from Port Hedland have not yet made any commitments to wean themselves off groundwater for dust suppression.
Hemi has been touted as a $1.3bn project which would eventually churn out 553,000 ounces of gold per year via a 10mpta processing plant.
The Super Pit’s 2024 gold production was 437,000 ounces. Northern Star is working to more than double that by the end of the decade.
- The journalist is a Northern Star Resources shareholder.
