ADSA president and CEO speaking on ABC News, after WA Greens MP and former Wittenoom mine worker Robin Chapple diagnosed with asbestosis. Copyright ABC News Perth 2020
Don't really see what the difficulties are in cleaning this site up. The fines need to be mixed with concrete into a slurry, then pumped into the mining tunnels to set. Just like they do in the gold mine diggings with the slime left over from gold processing. Once this slurry sets, it's safe and underground. Of course the fact that someone exploded the openings to the diggings makes things a little difficult now, as access to the diggings has been denied. Either way, mixing the fines with concrete and forming concrete blocks to be used in retaining walls and road maintenance would also be good way disposing and making safe these fines, provided the mix is strictly adhered to. However, simply leaving the stuff there now for many years to contaminate the whole Pilbara is not, in anyone's language a good idea.
You have obviously never been there, the tailings, the roads, the creeks, the whole area is covered in asbestos, be it only small amounts in areas still asbestos. They would have to clear hundreds of square kms at a depth of I dunno to clean the site and how much more would they uncover doing this? The answer is I don't know, do you? Nobody knows, doesn't matter now who is resposible it's too late it is done, the thing now is how to clean it up, and where does the waste go? It took many men over many years to dig the stuff out and many died doing so, how many more will die doing what you say? Would you go and do the job? Would you go to Chernobyl and clean up? No, so I say shut up and let nature take over and don't disturb the sleeping giant. I have been there I have seen it, it is a product of mother nature and has been there for millions of years and mother nature will take over given time. Many mines in the Pilbara uncover asbestos every day, it is a natural substance in the Pilbara uncovered by man so leave it to settle and eventually nature will deal with it, digging it up again as you suggest will increase the dangers, not to you, but to the people who do it. It will disturb it and make it airborne and increase the dangers. Natural erosion uncovers asbestos and if people stay away and treat it as a nuclear exclusion zone there will be not danger, it is a very remote area, so stay away and leave it to nature. If you go there which I strongly recomend you not doing, you can see it in the walls of the gorge and being eroded by nature as it has been for millions of years.
