"The government is allowing Alcoa to do whatever they friggin want," according to a long-term campaigner for better regulation of WA's alumina refineries.
The troubled $6 billion flagship will be out of action "for a number of weeks," just as Santos' customers are desperate for gas to replace supply from the Middle East.
The shutdown of the Yara Pilbara plant comes as a quarter of global trade in ammonia, used for urea fertiliser and mining explosives, is blocked by war.
No profit, falling production, inadequate maintenance, a safety plan in limbo and a big clean-up if exploration fails: challenges aplenty at the Canadian company's only offshore facility.
Chief executive Bill Oplinger told Wall Street the miner had responded to all 60,000 comments on its WA expansion plans—in fact, it responded to fewer than 10, and some were unacceptable.
The WA government will soon decide whether Black Mountain Energy can frack 20 wells near the Kimberley's Fitzroy River, but promised measures to protect the environment and the rights of local people are not yet in place.
Black Mountain's conclusion that its drilling will not affect water resources is without foundation, and threatened species and National Heritage are at risk, according to the Federal environment department.
