The proposal is for Alcoa’s bauxite mining activities on the Darling Range in the southwest of Western Australia spanning the years 2022 to 2026. These activities occur within Alcoa’s Mineral Lease 1SA (ML1SA) and are documented in annual rolling five-year Mining and Management Programs (MMPs) required under a State Agreement Act framework.
The 2022-26 MMP was approved, subject to exclusions, through the State Agreement Act framework in September 2022, and the proposal is currently being implemented. The proposal includes mining at Huntly and Willowdale mines, located approximately 70 km and 110 km south of Perth respectively. The proposal includes, but is not limited to:
- Clearing of native vegetation
- Establishment of haul roads and other infrastructure and use of existing infrastructure
- Operations associated with the mining, crushing and screening of bauxite ore
- Transport of ore including by conveyor
- Exploration activities
- Rehabilitation activities
For clarity, the proposal does not include processing of bauxite ore to alumina which occurs at the Pinjarra, Wagerup and Kwinana refineries subject to separate regulatory instruments approved under the Environmental Protection Act 1986 (EP Act).
Section 38B of the EP Act provides that a proposal cannot be referred to the EPA more than once. In considering this referral, The EPA has undertaken investigations and enquiries to identify whether the proposal has been previously referred to the EPA, and notes that the proposal constitutes areas and activities that have been found to be not previously referred
The EPA determined to assess the valid referred portion of the proposal. Further information including a description of the valid referred portion can be found in the EPA’s Public Advice published under “2. Decision on whether to assess this proposal”.
Note: In March 2025, Alcoa submitted a request (as amended) under section 43A of the EP Act to combine assessments 2384 and 2385.
The EPA published its decision to accept the amendments to the proposals under assessment because of the duplicative nature of the proposals, the overlap of disturbance areas and that the amendment would likely reduce impacts to several key environmental factors. Please refer to Bauxite mining on the Darling Range in the southwest of WA for the years 2023 to 2027 (Assessment 2385) under 3 ‘Change to proposal during assessment under s. 43A’ for further information.
As a result of the incorporation of impacts of this assessment into Assessment 2385 and as requested by Alcoa, on 14 May 2025 the EPA published its Notice of decision to terminate this assessment under section 40A of the EP Act.
