PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Western Australian government has warned that it will withhold environmental bonds from mining tenement holders that it deems to be at high risk of failing their obligations under the state government’s new Mining Rehabilitation Fund (MRF).

Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Marmion said overnight that under the new MRF, the focus would be on avoiding the sort of environmental legacies left by abandoned projects such as Elverdton copper mine, at Ravensthorpe.

The mine, established in 1901 and forfeited in 1992, has a massive uncontained tailings dump, which Marmion said was eroding into a local river catchment.

“In time, interest raised from the new fund will go towards rehabilitating abandoned mines - and the Elverdton site could be one of those considered for future priority rehabilitation.”

The new yearly MRF levy would be calculated on the amount and type of ground disturbed by an individual tenement holder’s activities; however, tenement holders deemed high-risk would be required to pay, or maintain, their environmental bonds. These risks could include being under administration, breaching environmental obligations and reporting requirements or not making royalty payments.

The Minister said the MRF would see compliant tenement holders across the State eligible to have their environmental bonds retired when they joined the new levy system, which will be mandatory from July 1.

“The old bonds system still has A$978-million of tenement holders’ funds tied up.  Once they begin contributing to the new fund, these historic bonds will be returned to them, freeing up cash for investment and ongoing rehabilitation,” he said.

The new bonds policy will come into effect on July 1, to coincide with the MRF becoming mandatory. The Minister said almost 70% of tenement holders had already registered for the fund, resulting in the Department of Mines and Petroleum retiring more than A$290-million worth of bonds.

“Tenement holders need to register for the MRF and submit their disturbance data by June 30, 2014 to avoid a A$4 000 fine,” Marmion said.