As the debate over rare earth mining in our district intensifies, concerns have been raised about the state government’s commitment to conducting an independent investigation into the potential risks of the operation.

Independent member for MacKillop, Nick McBride, put a spotlight on the issue during the March sitting of the House of Assembly, pressing Energy and Mining minister Tom Koutsantonis to outline his plan.

“Will the minister commit to conducting an independent investigation into the potential risks associated with rare earth mining operations on the Limestone Coast?” Mr McBride asked.

He said the state government had released results of its research aimed at understanding the attitudes of locals concerned about the impacts from mining activities.

“However, locals would like to see science-based research conducted,” the MP told parliament.

Responding to Mr McBride, the minister said the member for MacKillop was “a pretty fierce advocate for his local community”.

“It’s no surprise that he is asking questions of the government in the parliament about the Limestone Coast and about protecting local communities, but I want to assure him we are no different,” Mr Koutsantonis said.

He said the government wanted to make sure that the Limestone Coast was protected.

“We want to make sure that any associated risk with any type of mining activity is entirely dependent on proposed mining techniques, processing methods, location, environment, existing land uses and groundwater conditions,” the minister said.

He outlined that the onus was on a project proponent to propose a project through the Mining Act via a mining lease application that considered all the above factors.

“It’s not a matter for us to tell the mining company how to safely mine. What we ask them to do is to prove to us that they can safely mine, taking into account all those factors, and that we independently verify those through scientific methods,” he said.

“If you are proposing to mine in a particular way, we will ask you to provide evidence to back up the proposition about how it is mined, and then we will independently verify it.”

To date, the minister said the government had not received any proposal as such from a mining company.

“I suppose what the member and the community are asking us is that the community are proposing that mining be conducted this way. Therefore, prove to us this way is safe,” Mr Koutsantonis said.

“The assurance I can give the local community is we will not approve any mining method unless the proponent can prove to us it will not have an adverse impact on the environment, on the local community, and that it can coexist with other forms of industry that are in the area.

Mr Koutsantonis said legislation voted for in the February sitting of the parliament was the regulatory framework which would be used to assess the mine.

“The mine framework that we use in the Mining Act is something we have inherited from the previous government, and the previous government before that made changes,” he said.

“It is continually improved by each and every parliament. There may even be considerations in this parliament, even as we are getting close to the end of it, for further changes. It is constantly evolving and changing.”

He said his main message to the people of the Limestone Coast was that this was not a political decision.

“…this is a scientific assessment, an analysis of what the proponents are proposing,” Mr Koutsantonis said.

“So, as well as commissioning an independent investigation into every possible potential design of a project, which could be over a large geographical area, for us to then assume what they are doing and then attempt to give the community a scientific response to a proposal or what we receive, is not feasible.”

Mr Koutsantonis said this bit needed to be checked, as there was a misunderstanding about the way the Mining Act operated.

“We receive a proposal, and we assess it. We don’t assess ideas; we don’t assess the potential mining technique; we assess the actual mining technique,” he said.

“I hope that goes some way to answering the member for MacKillop’s questions, but I am more than happy to be available for his community to answer any questions personally as well.”

This article appeared in The Naracoorte News, 9 April 2025.