Bob Brown Foundation and MMG mining company exchange blows over dam

A spokesperson for the BBF has said MMG could abandon "destructive plans for a new tailings waste dump in Takayna's cathedral-like rainforests" and instead commit to "a twenty-first-century paste fill tailings solution".

Both groups have exchanged heated barbs over the proposed dam.

Ray Mostogl, CEO of the Tasmanian Minerals, Manufacturing, and Energy Council (TMEC), said the BBF continues to spread misinformation about Paste Fill technology and its application in the Rosebery mine ore body.

"The ore body and its 85 years plus of mining does not make paste fill a viable or safe option," Mr Mostogl said.

"MMG would be in breach of its Work Health and Safety obligations if it were to adopt paste technology as espoused by the BBF."

Mr Mostogl said mines that use paste technology (MMG uses paste technology at another site), "still need Tailings Storage Facilities (TSF)".

"Millions of years of compression of rocks cannot be filled with the residual rock and cement - there is produce left over which needs to be stored safely in TSFs."

The CEO said in terms of the threatened masked owls, "more habitats exist outside of the Tarkine," and "that does not mean appropriate controls need to be in place for any threatened species within the Tarkine, but please tell the whole story".

"Jenny Weber claims 495,000 hectares of the Tarkine has universal values.

"I trust Jenny's maths excludes the 2,074 km of roads and tracks, 394 km of highways and major roads, 465 hectares of open cut pits, 93 km of railways and historic tramways.

"56 km of pipelines, 40 km of transmission lines and cleared corridors and the 173 existing and historic mine sites?"

Mr Mostogl said mining, forestry, agriculture, recreation, and conservation have coexisted in the Tarkine for many decades.

"Without any lockups, we can continue to exist together," and "It has been working."

BBF campaigns manager Jenny Weber said the only reason the breeding masked owls' habitat at McKimmie's Creek is still intact is thanks to the BBF's efforts.

Moreover, alongside "the thousands of community members who have defended it from flattening for MMG's proposed heavy metal mine waste dump".

"It's time for MMG to release all their feasibility studies into the viability of paste fill technology at their Rosebery mine," Ms Weber said.

The BBF campaign manager said Mr Mostogl is a mining lobbyist whose role depends on selling mining as an industry that can "coexist" in Takayna.

"However, it does not as mining flattens, digs up and decimates ecosystems."

Ms Weber said Mr Mostogl "cannot tell us what species and outstanding values have been lost in the history of mining" and "logging in Takayna because it has been malicious destruction of one of Earth's last wild places".

Ms Weber said the mining and logging destruction of Takayna has contributed to the climate and biodiversity crises.

"Protecting Takayna is a powerful climate solution and will help mitigate the global heating and extinction problems."

According to the BBF campaigner, the Australian Heritage Council states Takayna is 95 per cent intact.

"A place so precious for its unique natural values needs urgent protection from further destruction," Ms Weber said.

Mr Mostogl said facts that dispute BBF's "claims" about MMG's tailings dam are included on MMG's website.

"[The website] provides publicly accessible information regarding why the paste fill solution claimed by the BBF does not suit Rosebery nor does paste negate the need for a Tailings Storage Facility," Mr Mostogl said.