Yilgarn Operations - Windarling Range, Mt Jackson Range and Deception Deposit (s. 46)

The proponent, Cliffs Asia Pacific Iron Ore Pty Ltd (Cliffs), owns and operates iron ore mines at the Windarling Range, the Mt Jackson Range and the Deception Deposit (collectively known as the "Yilgarn Operations") within the Shire of Yilgarn and Shire of Menzies. The Yilgarn Operations are authorised under seven Ministerial Statements issued between 2003 and 2012 by the Western Australian Minister for Environment under section 45(5) of the EP Act. These are:

• Ministerial Statement 627 (June 2003) for the Koolyanobbing Iron Ore Expansion, including the Windarling Range Deposits (W1, W2, W3/5, and W4 West); the Mt Jackson Deposits (J2 and J3); and the haul road to Cliffs’ Koolyanobbing Range mine operations;
• Ministerial Statement 802 (August 2009) for the Windarling Range W2 Deposit mining below the groundwater table;
• Ministerial Statement 843 (October 2010) for the Mt Jackson J1 Deposit;
• Ministerial Statement 874 (September 2011) to delete condition 7 (related to the W1 deposit) from Statement 627 and insert condition 22 relating to Environmental Offsets;  
• Ministerial Statement 900 (June 2012) for the Deception Deposit;
• Ministerial Statement 907 (August 2012) for the Windarling Range W3/5 Deposit mining below the groundwater water table; and
• Ministerial Statement 909 (October 2012) for the Windarling Range W4 East Deposit.

These Ministerial Statements have undergone numerous post-assessment changes under section 45C (changes to proposal) and section 46 (changes to conditions) of the EP Act.

In May 2013 Cliffs wrote to the Minister for Environment requesting a consolidation of conditions across all its Ministerial Statements for the Yilgarn Operations. This Inquiry is the assessment and recommendations to the Minister for Environment on whether it is appropriate to consolidate the existing seven Ministerial Statements for Cliffs Yilgarn Operations by replacing Ministerial Statements 627, 802, 843, 847, 900, 907 and 909 with a new Ministerial Statement containing a contemporary condition set which addresses the key environmental factors of the original Statements.