Alcoa Mine Clearing to Provide Hardwood Timber for Western Australia’s Shortage
The survival of Western Australia’s ailing hardwood timber industry could hinge on an environmental assessment of alumina giant Alcoa and its controversial plan to clear parts of a state forest. In an unusual twist, the industry is banking on logs from the US-listed company’s mine site expansion in the state’s southwest – which the environmental regulator is examining – after the state banned commercial logging of native hardwood species. The Cook government says the ban will save more than 20,000 square kilometres of karri, jarrah and wandoo state forest for future generations. But the Forest Industries Federation has concerns about where the long-term timber supply for flooring, furniture, firewood and sawdust will come from. Chief executive Adele Farina said the state’s timber mills were initially likely to be fed by Alcoa’s land-clearing for bauxite mining at its Huntly and Willowdale sites on the Darling Range, southeast of Perth. “The sawmills, which are reliant on the larger diameter logs, are really looking to that mine site clearing operation to feed their mills,” she told AAP.
