Iron Ore Mine Gets the Go-Ahead After Legal Delay

The Riley Creek Iron Ore project in Tasmania has received the green light after a challenge by environmental group, Save the T arkine, was dismissed by the Federal Court last week.

The project owner, Venture Minerals, has been plagued by a trading halt since August last year, due to legal battles with the group, which has tried to block plans with the proposed iron ore project near Tullah in Tasmania.

According to Justice Richard Tracey, the case presented by Save the Tarkine was frivolous, declaring that the environmental group had failed to make good any of its grounds and should pay costs to the Commonwealth and Venture Minerals.

“Even though the Tarkine National Coalition has lost the case, they have still managed to delay the project and frustrate the company for months, at great cost,” said Terry Long, CEO of the Tasmanian Minerals and Energy Council. “The point is they’ve achieved their objective, delaying Venture’s project for many months and costing the company and its many contractors a great deal of money.”

“In addition, they have prevented the small and medium businesses which would have been working on the project since early last summer from doing so.”

“I note that costs have been awarded against the TNC and expect they will be substantial – in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

The iron ore mine in Tasmania will employ 60 people, inject $40 million a year into the state’s economy and provide capital to develop a bigger project at nearby Mt. Lindsay.

Any appeal to Justice Tracey’s decision would need to be lodged within 21 days.