Shoalwater sand mining dumped

By Bill Mason

BRISBANE -- In what the mining industry has described as its biggest setback since the banning of mining at Coronation Hill in the Northern Territory, a federal government inquiry has recommended against sand mining at Shoalwater Bay on the Queensland central coast.

The federal government now faces a campaign from the mining industry to overturn the inquiry's recommendations that the area remain a military training area.

The report also allows for commercial fishing, water rights for locals, limited tourism and an area to be given to local Aborigines.

“It's such a big win, I just can't get over it”, commented Queensland Conservation Council spokesperson Scott Johnston on June 1. “After the mining industry failed to win Coronation Hill we suspected that Shoalwater Bay would be handed over to miners.”

Cabinet now had a golden opportunity to preserve a big slice of country for the future, to make a reconciliation with Aborigines and to protect some of Australia's most important flora and fauna.

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