Broome residents call for Parliamentary inquiry into Kimberley Mineral Sands’ Thunderbird mine

A group of disgruntled Broome residents have started a petition calling for the State Government to launch an inquiry into Kimberley Mineral Sands’ nearly completed Thunderbird mine, which is scheduled to start exporting out of Broome Port by early 2024. The groups’ main concern is trucks travelling from the mine site through Broome to the Port of Broome. While the project has been approved for up to 50-round truck movements a day from the mine site into Broome, KMS anticipates there will only be 26 round trips a day in the first stage of operations, which are expected to start early next year. Another concern for the group is the size of the trucks. “We have sought to engage with the EPA, the Government and the Shire of Broome but they are not taking any responsibility for informing the community of the massive changes that we will soon experience or to find out our views,” resident Brendan Renkin said. “So we are asking people to sign an online petition to the WA Parliament and to let others know about it and what Broome is facing. The more people that sign the petition, the more notice MPs will take and the more chance they’ll commit to an inquiry.” In May KMS chief executive Stuart Pether said approvals to use road trains up to 53.5m long on the designated heavy haulage route were already in place, but KMS was applying to use “performance-based standard” road trains because of their safety features and performance. “PBS 60m road trains have many more safety features than standard road trains, including geofencing, live-time tracking, improved braking capacity and audit requirements from Main Roads WA,” he said. The residents’ group also claims the projected 450 mine construction workers needed will add to Broome’s housing pressures and high rents and place further demands on overstretched health and medical systems and police and emergency services. Its petition comes after KMS appointed WA company Creating Communities in May to hold community consultation of the Gubinge Road route to the Port of Broome. The petition is available on the WA Parliament website and closes on July 18.