PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Environmental groups have lashed out at the Queensland government’s decision to reduce the fees that resource companies have to pay to guarantee that mines were rehabilitated.

The Department of Environment and Heritage Protection has announced that miners would no longer have to pay a 10% goods and services tax on rehabilitation bonds lodged with the state government. Companies that have already paid this tax could request a refund.

The change will take effect on October 3.

The Australian Greens party accused the state government of placing mining companies above regional communities.

“Queensland Labor is letting big mining companies get away without cleaning up their own mess and leaving regional communities to deal with it instead,” Greens senator Larissa Waters said.

“The Palaszczuk government is letting big mining companies, especially thermal coal companies, get away with packing up and leaving workers, taxpayers and the environment in the lurch.”

Waters has called on the Queensland government to increase rehabilitation bonds to cover the cost of clean-up and to secure the thousands of rehabilitation jobs if the mining companies abandon their liabilities.

“Queensland’s failure to secure thousands of rehabilitation jobs by holding vastly adequate rehabilitation jobs is a disastrous failure of regulation,” Waters said.

Environmental group Lock the Gate Alliance called the decision “outrageous”, with president Drew Hutton saying the state government was putting enormous faith in mining companies to do the right thing.

“Mining companies have proven countless times in Queensland that they can’t be trusted to properly rehabilitate mine sites and state governments over the decades have allowed them to get away with that,” he said.

“The government should be substantially increasing the amounts paid in financial assurances by mining companies to cover the costs of rehabilitation, not decreasing them.

“The government should also be closing off loopholes that allow miners to escape their environmental and financial responsibilities.”

Meanwhile, the Queensland government has also appointed its first Resources Investment Commissioner to match-make international investors and finance-hungry miners and explorers.

State Development and Natural Resources and Mines Minister Dr Anthony Lynham said the new commissioner would be dedicated to winning investment capital for the state’s miners, explorers and mining technology companies.

“This will be Queensland’s first dedicated Resources Investment Commissioner, focused on identifying and driving opportunities for our resources sector.”

The commissioner would be responsible for securing new business opportunities, partnerships and alliances, and to lead government delegations at domestic and international forums, as well as to provide strategic leadership and advice on promoting the state’s multibillion-dollar industry.

He would also be expected to contribute to government policy development, particularly where processes or regulation might hinder new investment and develop strategies to identify, prioritise and market opportunities.

The senior executive position would be advertised nationally and a candidate was expected to be in place, based in Brisbane, by early next year.