An unlikely alliance of conservation and fishing groups has vowed to oppose plans by mining company Straits Resources for a giant salt project on the eastern shore of Exmouth Gulf.
Straits Resources released an environmental review and management plan this week for its Yannarie salt project, which it said would provide a long-term sustainable industry for the region with up to 190 full-time jobs.
At full capacity, the project would produce 10 million tonnes of salt worth about $200 million per year, doubling Western Australia’s salt output.
It involved the pumping of seawater into large, shallow ponds, where the water would evaporate to produce salt, which would be transported on barges to bulk carriers anchored in the gulf.
Straits operations manager Iain Scott said the project would break new ground in the environmental management of solar salt projects.
In particular, Straits goal was to develop a project with zero discharge of bitterns, which was the residual brine in the salt ponds.
The company’s assurances have done little to appease the Conservation Council, seafood producer MG Kailis Group and recreational fishing group Recfishwest, which are concerned about the impact of the project on the gulf’s ecosystem.
MG Kailis manager Stephen Hood said the eastern side of the gulf acted as a nursery for the region’s prawn fishery.
He was concerned about the impact of the salt project, which would require a large amount of sea water to be pumped out of the gulf, and may also affect the periodic freshwater run-off into the gulf.
Mr Hood said there was also concern about the impact on Kailis’ pearl oyster hatchery on the western side of the gulf.
The prawning and pearl oyster industries are collectively worth about $30 million per year.
Mr Scott said the project was designed to have minimal impact on water flows and its footprint was much smaller than the area where Kailis conducted its prawn trawling.
