Originally Posted by
wally
Steve, no-one is going to shut down existing mining operations. I understand what you're saying. I lived in Cooktown and I worked in Hopevale. I've been to the Cape Flattery silica mine - toured all around it in fact. I too have camped on the McIvor, and no, from there I wouldn't have known that there was a mine a short distance up the coast. But just because you can't see or hear it from there doesn't mean it's not having an impact. Mines always have an environmental impact, but the impact is variable depending on the nature and scale of the operation and where it is situated. Even a small operation in a sensitive area can have a devastating and irreversible impact that you might not notice from your beach camp 100km away. I would argue that mining, not World Heritage listing, is throwing away the future. Those mineral resources are non-renewable. Tourism needs to be well managed, but it's sustainable. People leave rubbish, contribute to erosion, crap everywhere, light fires and facilitate the spread of weeds (I know, I dealt with it on a daily basis for ten years) but they usually don't leave massive scars on the landscape or cause irrevocable damage to entire catchments. Not allowing mines that don't already exist is not taking away anyone's future. In any event it's unlikely that the entire peninsula will become a World Heritage area. It's more likely that, if it happens at all, there'll be an assessment to determine which areas comply with the requirements for World Heritage listing, and a boundary will be created to include those areas. Those areas are then afforded a level of protection that national parks can't give them. Other areas will probably still be available for mining. I'm trying to reasonable here. By saying that I'm advocating protection of the place because it's "pretty" is to engage in the kind of parody and sarcasm that I'm trying to avoid. The tone of the thread deteriorates once that starts.
