Alcoa Expansion and the Future of Forest Mining

This is an historic moment for us in Western Australia.

For the first time in 60 years, public comment is open on Alcoa’s proposed expansion of their bauxite mining operations in the Northern Jarrah Forest, located just south of Byford.

The “End Forest Mining” public forum at the Fremantle Town Hall on Tuesday 29 July 2025 was one of several held across Perth in recent months where industry experts presented on the implications of the proposed mine expansion.

Overview of Alcoa’s operations in the NJF, old growth forests, major trails, and resevoir protection zones – courtesy of WAAFA

Courtesy of WAFA – Donna Chapman

The proposed mine will stretch over 120,000 hectares, in addition to the 28,000 hectares of deforestation that has already been permitted.

The WA Forests Alliance report:

Combined with existing clearing, by 2045 Alcoa alone could have cleared more than 45,000 ha of NJF. When combined with clearing by other companies like South32 and Newmont, this rises to over 72,000 ha – an area larger than Perth’s entire metro footprint. And, if just a quarter of current exploration areas are mined, up to 120,000 ha of NJF could ultimately be lost. The total area impacted may double or even quadruple if considering the effects of fragmentation (Forestry Australia 2022).

US-based “Aluminum Company of America” – Alcoa – has operated under a State Agreement with the WA Government since 1961. Their local bauxite mine is the third largest in the world, and certainly the largest in a biodiversity hotspot.

It’s situated in the only Jarrah forest in the world.

According to the Leeuwin Group, the Northern Jarrah Forest – or NJF – is the world’s most biodiverse temperate forest with 800 plant and 10 endangered animal species, including WA orchids, chuditches, mainland quokkas, and black cockatoos.

The audience heard talks by esteemed Dr Kingsley Dixon, Dr Fiona Stanley, Rusty Geller of the Peel Environmental Protection Alliance, Dr Jeff Bremer & Co, and Amber Fresh, on the various anticipated impacts of mining expansion. They are alarming, to say the least. The presenters were joined during Q&A time by a former, apparent Alcoa worker, who warned the audience that the extent is “much worse” than even the speakers reported.

Alcoa have assured the public that their operations are safe, that pollution is contained, and rehabilitation of the cleared forests is guaranteed.

Not so, according to the fierce rebuttals we heard last Tuesday night at the Fremantle Town Hall – not least limited to:

The ecological devastation and futility of attempting to restore the natural environment to anything close to its prior condition based upon the past 25 years of poor recovery in restored areas;
The harm that breathing in the dust can have for human beings and risk of contamination from the mining residue waste pits in Hope Valley;
The climate damage it could pose by contributing 1.4 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2-e) GHG emissions up to 2045
The social impact it will have on recreational visitors including key parts of the Bibbulmun Track and the Balmoral Trail and POW Camp
The impact it will have on the forest’s capacity to continue regulating rainfall and temperature along the Darling Scarp;
Its demand on our dwindling water supply by requiring 17 billion litres of surface groundwater to facilitate mining and refining, and
The hazardous effect it could have on our drinking water by mining within 1-2km of Serpentine Dam.

In fact, according to our own Water Corporation, “Bauxite mining operations represent the single most significant risk to water quality in Perth Metropolitan and Southwest drinking water catchments” (2022).

Submissions on the proposed expansion known as Alcoa’s Pinjarra Alumina Refinery Revised Proposal (Assessment 2253) and Bauxite Mining on the Darling Range for 2023-2027 (Assessment 2385) close soon on Thursday 21 August 2025.

Further information and the opportunity to make comment on the expansion are available here: https://consultation.epa.wa.gov.au/open-for-submissions/pinjarra-alumina-revised-bauxite-mining-per/

We are all urged to contribute our views on this proposal.