"EPA’s warning to Pilbara miners BHP, RIO, Fortescue over environmental standards", 7 October 2025

Western Australia’s environmental watchdog has put iron ore giants BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue on notice that they need to start showing they can rehabilitate huge tracts of land post-mining or find it harder to gain approvals for new projects.

The Environmental Protection Authority included the warning in its assessment of BHP’s plans to extend the Jimblebar mining hub...

The EPA said miners had not demonstrated they could return land and waterways to anything like their original state after 60 years of mining in the Pilbara region of WA.

the EPA looks forward to receiving evidence that progress is being made towards demonstrating that successful rehabilitation at relevant rates and mine scales can be achieved post-mining, and the increasing gap between cleared and rehabilitated areas is progressively being narrowed.

BHP is seeking approval for the second major extension of its Jimblebar mining hub since it opened in 1989, while Rio on Tuesday announced it would spend $US733m ($1.1bn) alongside Japanese partners Mitsui and Nippon Steel to maintain production at its West Angelas hub.

Both companies are managing ageing mines in the Pilbara and looking to tap into new deposits, bringing closure and rehabilitation costs into play...

The EPA pushed for miners to include traditional owners in all stages of rehabilitation work, including “the design of waste landforms, seed collection, revegetation and re-establishment of natural water flows”.