Miner offers nuke waste site

Outback WA would be used as a dumping ground for radioactive waste for the first time under a proposal by the Chinese minority owners of a struggling Mid West iron ore mine.

With the Federal Government casting around for sites that could be used to store nuclear waste, Gindalbie Metals confirmed yesterday that it had put forward a Mid West pastoral station it controls as an option.

But the proposal is likely to run into hurdles amid questions about whether State laws - that cover pastoral leases - would allow it.

Under Gindalbie's proposal, Badja station, a "destocked" pastoral lease covering 113,000ha about 620km north-east of Perth, would be used as a site to accommodate "intermediate-level" radioactive waste.

In return the company would be paid for the service.

Gindalbie's plan comes at a difficult time for the miner, which has been struggling to make money through its minority share of the Karara magnetite operation as the iron ore price tumbles.

In a statement released to the stock exchange yesterday, Gindalbie stressed the waste material would be "low level" in nature and largely come from medical and other scientific procedures.

It also said the plan had been submitted as part of the first stage of a four-step process and it would consult more broadly with the surrounding community as it progressed.

The plan drew mixed reactions as conservationists warned the effects of radioactive waste sites were "grossly underestimated" while backers talked about the economic benefits.

Premier Colin Barnett said any proposal for such a facility would need Commonwealth and WA Government approval and Gindalbie had not yet approached the State.

"Anyone can put forward a proposal and that would be considered," he said.

"There are plenty of sites in WA and we are talking about waste from the medical sector, from geological exploration and the like.

"This is not nuclear waste, this is low level waste that is a result of normal activities - X-rays, all that activity."