Fears Queenslanders could be forced to pay for mine cleanup as LNP reviews environmental ‘red tape’

The open-cut Bluff coalmine. The amount of un-rehabilitated mined land in Queensland grew 12% from 2019 to 2024, and now covers more than 223,6841ha. Photograph: Sylvia Liber/The Guardian View image in fullscreen The open-cut Bluff coalmine. The amount of un-rehabilitated mined land in Queensland grew 12% from 2019 to 2024, and now covers more than 223,6841ha. Photograph: Sylvia Liber/The Guardian Fears Queenslanders could be forced to pay for mine cleanup as LNP reviews environmental ‘red tape’ Mining minister Dale Last says the state has an ‘enormous opportunity’ to become a global leader in critical minerals Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Queenslanders are being warned they could be left to pay for the clean up of abandoned mines if rehabilitation laws are weakened, after the state government announced a bid to cut environmental “red tape” for resources companies. The state’s treasurer, David Janetzki, and the mining minister, Dale Last, this week announced a review of a scheme that requires resources companies to provide surety to cover remediation and rehabilitation costs when mines close. Last said the review would ensure the scheme, introduced in 2019, remained “fit for purpose” and supported “responsible resources development across Queensland without constraining investment”. “The financial provisioning scheme has been one of the top three issues smaller mining companies and explorers continue to raise with me,” Last said. “Queensland has an enormous opportunity to become a global leader in critical minerals and the Crisafulli government is committed to cutting red tape to unlock the next wave of investment.” Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email Janetzki said the review would “get the balance right between the highest environmental standards for rehabilitation and remediation” and “the right investment settings for junior miners and explorers to make a contribution to mining activity”. But the Lock the Gate Alliance’s central Queensland coordinator, Claire Gronow, said smaller miners were those most at risk of “walking away and leaving an un-rehabilitated mine site”. Gronow said environmental campaigners and primary producers already had “big concerns” about a trend of “selling down”, in which larger miners were exiting coalmines – not by closing and rehabilitating them but offloading them to smaller companies. These companies, often holding a portfolio of just coalmines and which are sometimes foreign owned, were particularly exposed to fluctuations and volatilities in the industry. “You are not going to be able to get the money out of them after they walk away,” Gronow said. “They can put a mine into care and maintenance and then the company just disappears into a puff of smoke”. Gronow said a rehabilitation bond might be “off putting” for smaller miners. But she said that, if a company could not provide financial security to cover those costs