Our mine approvals
Our Huntly and Willowdale bauxite mines in WA supply ore to our three local alumina refineries – Kwinana, Pinjarra and Wagerup. Combined, these operations employ about 4,300 people in WA and produce about 50 per cent of Australia’s alumina, the feedstock for aluminium, an increasingly important element in a world looking to further decarbonise. In 2022, we paid about $700 million in wages and benefits in WA and spent $1.7 billion with some 920 local businesses.
A robust statutory process for developing, reviewing and approving our annual rolling five-year plans for Huntly and Willowdale is set through the WA State Agreements that govern our operations. This process involves expert input by a host of government departments and agencies and approval by the Minister for State Development in consultation with other ministers.
The WA Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) is considering a third-party request that it conduct an environmental impact assessment of our current and next rolling five-year mine plans.
We are committed to transitioning to the EPA’s contemporary process as demonstrated by our referral in 2020 of our next major mine regions at our Huntly mine – Myara North and Holyoake – for environmental impact assessment. But there must be a reasonable transition period and during that time, we will continue to work collaboratively with various stakeholders and regulators to meet evolving requirements and expectations.