This morning US company Alcoa announced the acquisition of South32’s alumina and aluminium assets including South32’s WA operations – the Boddington bauxite mine and its share in the Worsley alumina refinery – expanding Alcoa’s already massive clearing and lease area, and making Alcoa the third largest emitter in WA.
The fanfare from Woodside about supplying gas to Alcoa is a cynical move amid increasing and popular pressure for a federal gas reservation policy and increasing opposition to the North West Shelf facility and Browse gas export proposal.
Leading conservation groups have called for Alcoa not to be issued a new exemption order while its environmental impact is assessed, amid mounting community pressure to end forest mining.
Alcoa’s Environmental Protection (Darling Range Bauxite Mining Proposals) Exemption Order 2023 will be revoked by the WA Government and replaced by an updated order. The End Forest Mining campaign is calling on Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourn to use this as an opportunity to protect the jarrah forests and drinking water threatened by Alcoa’s mining.
On Monday 13 April, work stopped at Alcoa’s Huntly mine site for three hours as a result of direct action by a group of 16 concerned Western Australians. This was the first time direct action has stopped Alcoa’s mining activities since the 1970s.