Mining activity jumps 500pc in Kimberley - The West Australian

Mining activity jumps 500pc in Kimberley - The West Australian:

Onshore oil and gas activity in the Canning Basin has increased, along with interest in uranium, bauxite at Mitchell Plateau and copper at the Horizontal Falls.

Pew project manager Rupert Quinlan said proposed mines now threatened almost eight in 10 rivers, wetlands and floodplains in the Kimberley and about a quarter of its conservation areas had mining or exploration permits over them.

"If you look at the southern part of the map where the Fitzroy River is, mining exploration basically covers hundreds of kilometres of that river system," he said. "Across the Kimberley, either current mining or proposed mining impacts on 76 per cent of rivers and wetlands and floodplains - there are very real risks, particularly with some of the open cut types of mines, on groundwater and water quality."