Conflicts between governments and mining giants over environmental protection and conservation are hardly new, and for Alcoa, it stretches back at least a decade.  The latest episode has unfolded in Western Australia, where the US-based miner (Alcoa) has clashed with the Australian Department of the Environment over bauxite extraction in the North Jarrah Forest, south of Perth.

The dispute has even culminated in Alcoa agreeing to pay USD 38.9 million (AUD 55 million) penalty to clear 2100 hectares of land between 2019 and 2025 in the North Jarrah forest, south of Perth. Environment Minister Murray Watt confirmed on Wednesday, February 18, that this penalty charged is part of a remediation deal and that the money will go into conservation initiatives such as strengthening invasive-species management and ecological offsets to preserve the remaining habitat in the area.

Of the total USD 38.9 million penalties, USD 28.14 million will be reportedly used to secure permanent ecological offsets to compensate for the habitat destruction. A further USD 3.52 million will go to the Australian Wildlife Conservancy for affected species, while USD 4.22 million will go to state government for invasive species control projects and USD 2.8 million to the University of Western Australia for research into invasive fauna control.

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Notably, Alcoa has agreed to the penalty while maintaining its operations in accordance with the EPBC Act, only on the ground that this fund is going to support the health of the Northern Jarrah Forest and to improve habitat for threatened species and control invasive of flora and fauna.

Alcoa also points to its long-standing rehabilitation record in Western Australia. The miner claims to have rehabilitated more than 75 per cent of the land cleared for bauxite mining since the 1960s, restoring self-sustaining Jarrah Forest ecosystems. By 2023, the company had handed back 1,355 hectares of land at the Jarrahdale mine, for which the company had even received Certificates of Acceptance from the State. Also, Alcoa further highlights that it was the first mining company to receive United Nations recognition for rehabilitation excellence, and that sustained R&D since the 1970s enabled a 100 per cent return of species richness by 2001.